Tours & Field Trips

Tours at WMA are composed of both gallery and studio time and are geared towards K-6 grades, with flexibility built in for middle and high school students as well. WMA welcomes groups of public, private, and home school students throughout the year to learn from exhibitions, with the guidance of Art Educators and fun, volunteer docents.

On tours of our galleries, students will be led by one of our trained docents as they learn about select pieces on display. We encourage students to ask questions and tell us their thoughts on the works they encounter. Studies have indicated that using Content Framing Questioning when looking at art can boost literacy and comprehension skills just as they do when discussing literature, so we ensure that students on tour are asked about the artwork they see using Content Framing Questions. Asking these types of questions also increases observational skills, which are important in many professions, from medical workers to law enforcement officers. By encouraging students to talk about what they see, students leave our galleries knowing that art is for everyone, and that anyone can talk about and appreciate art!

The standard cost per student for tours is $5, but may vary by activity or length of field trip. Please contact Alexandria Turner, School Programs Coordinator and Art Educator, at aturner@wiregrassmuseum.org, or call 334-794-3871 for more details and to schedule your tour. Due to WMA’s summer camp and outreach schedule, tours will not be available for booking from June 5 – July 28, 2023.

In addition to school tours, WMA provides one hour tours of our galleries for adults. The cost is $3 per participant. Groups may also participate in self-guided tours (no cost associated), and we encourage visitors who would like to do a self-guided group tour to call ahead so that museum staff are ready to welcome you. Please ensure that an appropriate amount of chaperones are attending your self-guided group.

While you’re planning your next trip to WMA, educators can click here for WMA’s free, standards-based lesson plans, which are inspired by works of art from the museum’s collections, and are categorized by grade and subject matter.

Bus On Us

Bring your students to the Wiregrass Museum of Art during the 2022-2023 school year with our Bus on Us program, a partnership between WMA, Dothan City Schools, and Houston County Schools to provide reimbursed bus transportation for PreK-12 field trips to the museum. We want every student in our local school systems to experience regular visits to WMA so they can benefit from new exhibitions and hands-on art education to cultivate lifelong learning through visual art. Each Dothan City and Houston County school receives reimbursement for 8 buses covering the system-approved cost of mileage and bus driver time to the museum, during the tour, and after the museum tour for up to 3 hours.

“WMA’s student tours are an amazing option for a local field trip with free transportation! The tours provide an engaging art experience for students of all academic levels. The docents maintain students’ attention and their hands-on lessons make everyone feel like an artist. ” – Crystal Forehand, visual arts teacher at Kelly Springs Elementary School

Learn more about WMA’s partnership with Dothan City Schools for grade-specific learning needs here.