Educational Tours

Engaging with contemporary art is a great way to encourage students to connect with the world around them and helps develop creative and critical thinking skills.
 

516 ARTS offers free tours for all ages, with a particular focus on students and learning communities.

Tours may be scheduled 9am through 5pm, Monday through Saturday, and generally, last 45 - 60 minutes.

 

Information & Scheduling:

Whether you wish to request a guided tour or reserve space for a self-guided visit for your group, please contact us at 505-242-1445 or email daniel@516arts.org

Prepare for your visit with this handout.

Why visit 516 ARTS Contemporary Museum?

 

College level:

516 ARTS engages with timely themes such as the environment, immigration, and the north/south axis of cultural exchange with a focus on Latin America.

The interdisciplinary and experimental nature of the exhibitions offers opportunities for connecting with a wide array of disciplines and college education engagements.

Our tours offer learning and discussion opportunities for the current exhibition. Instructors are welcome to request additional information for the class and tours to be altered to better suit their needs.

 

K-12:

Tours at 516 ARTS are an opportunity for a stimulating field trip and allows teachers to reinforce APS Visual Arts Content Standards 2, 5 and 6.

Our tours offer lessons related to the current exhibition, and teachers are welcome to request that tours be altered to better suit their needs.

Tours at 516 ARTS are composed of two parts: engagement/observation and discussion. For K-12th grade students, engagement/observation with the art is facilitated by a docent who asks students to describe the art they see. Students are taught new vocabulary and are provided with opportunities to use the words they learn in a discussion as they express their own interpretations and opinions of the art in the exhibit.
While each exhibit offers different themes, techniques, and ways of looking, some typical discussion questions include:

Grades K-3:

How does the artwork tell a story?
 

How does the artwork connect to what is going on in our own lives? How does seeing and interacting with art help us to think about what is going on around us?

Grades 9-12:

What is art? Why do artists make the choices they make? How does the artist connect us with contemporary issues and ideas?