Docent-led tours are led by experienced gallery educators who interact with students to engage them in detailed looking, discussion, and critical thinking about works of art in the collection. Please consult the list of tours by using the links to the left to select the docent-led tour that is appropriate for your students' grade level and your area of interest. Docent-led tours meet Illinois State Goals in Fine Arts and numerous goals and standards in English, Language Arts, Social Sciences, Science, and Math.

Tour Lengths

Most docent-led tours are one hour in length. Exceptions are tours for younger children such as the ABCs of Art for Pre-K–2nd grade and Museum Introduction tours for grades 1–2, which are both 45 minutes in length. European Art, Art of France, Art of Spain, Art Traditions of the United States, and Modern and Contemporary Art tours are 90 minutes for students in grades 9–12. Creative Writing and Seeing through Drawing tours always are 90 minutes in length. Tours with studio sessions are two hours total.

Tour Dates and Times

Second-semester docent-led tours will be offered Monday–Friday from January 31 through May 27. Tour times are 10:00, 10:30, 11:30, and 12:00 unless otherwise indicated. Please note that not all tours are available at all times. All online applicants receive a registration receipt upon submission and tour applications are processed and confirmed by our scheduling office within five business days. An e-mail tour confirmation is then sent. If a tour becomes unavailable after an application is submitted, applicants will be notified by e-mail and asked to re-apply for a different time or date.

Illinois Learning Standards

All tours meet Illinois Learning Standards in Language Arts, Social Sciences, and Fine Arts. See below for details.

Language Arts
Goal 1 Reading: All tours
Goal 2 Literature: All tours
Goal 3 Writing: Art and Creative Writing
Goal 4 Listening and Speaking: All tours

Social Sciences
Goal 16 History: All tours
Goal 18 Social Systems: All tours

Fine Arts
Goal 25 Language of the Arts: All tours
Goal 26 Creating and Performing: Seeing through Drawing; Really Big and Really Small; Me and My World; and Lines, Shapes, Colors
Goal 27 Arts and Civilization: All tours

Foreign Languages
Goal 29 Culture and Geography: Arts of France, Arts of Spain, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Introduction to Impressionism

Questions? Please e-mail the Student Tours office at studenttours@artic.edu.