School Tours Grades 3-12

All guided tours must be reserved at least three weeks in advance. For groups of more than 30 visitors, a guided tour is required to view the galleries. For questions, email tours@isgm.org or call 617 278 5147 Monday through Friday, 9 am–5 pm. Tour options and pricing are subject to change.

Groups of 30 and fewer high school students may choose to visit the Museum on their own with General Admissions tickets. If your group is in grade 8 or younger, you must reserve a guided tour. Due to the small size of our galleries, please divide into groups of five or fewer with one adult chaperone per group to explore the Museum. Outside tour leaders and guides are not allowed to teach in the galleries. Please contact tours@isgm.org or call 617 278 5147 to purchase group visit tickets.

Guided visits to the Gardner Museum for grade 3-12 classes provide engaging opportunities for students to make personal connections to art, while also supporting curriculum goals. Our discussion based tours encourage close looking, critical inquiry, evidence based reasoning, and student teamwork. Each hour-long visit provides a general introduction to Isabella Stewart Gardner and the Museum's history, and focuses on approximately four works of art or galleries.

Group size: 2-45 people.

Pricing: $6 per student. Includes Museum admission. One chaperone is admitted free for every ten students.

Tour Times: Tours are available Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 11:30 am, 12:45 pm, 2:15 pm, and 3:30 pm, and select Thursday evenings upon request.

REQUEST A GUIDED TOUR

Virtual guided experiences and tour accommodations are available with advance request, including touch tours, and American Sign Language interpretation. For more information, email tours@isgm.org.

Please choose from one of the themes below. All virtual visits support Massachusetts Curriculum State Frameworks and the Common Core.

INTRODUCTION TO THE GARDNER MUSEUM (Grades 3-12)
This tour is designed to introduce students to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and its namesake founder, and to facilitate a discussion about four highlights of the Museum’s collection. Our educators can help you select highlights to meet your curricular needs.
 

STORY HUNTER (Grades 3-12)
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is full of narratives. Students will explore the ways in which stories from the classical past to the present—including ones students create on their own—can help us understand ourselves and the world.
 

QUESTIONING POWER (Grades 6 -12)
This tour uses works of art from across cultures to explore visual representations of power. Together, we’ll consider who has historically had access to power and how image-making conveys both secular and religious authority. Weaving in visual analysis with historical context, students will critique how power is expressed in the past and present.
 

ARCHITECTURE: BUILDING ON A LEGACY (Grades 6-12)
Celebrate the architectural innovations of the Gardner Museum’s New Wing, designed by the acclaimed Renzo Piano Building Workshop. This tour will focus on the architecture and sustainable features of the New Wing and how it relates to the design choices that Isabella Stewart Gardner made when creating the original Venetian-style building. With stops in both the New Wing and the historic Palace, visitors will consider the ways in which space and materials shape our experiences with art.
 

RENAISSANCE AT THE GARDNER (Grades 9-12)
On this tour, students will investigate the Renaissance within the context of European art and explore the influence of antiquity and medieval art. Through highlights from the Museum’s collection, students will explore the significant cultural, artistic, and scientific achievements of the Renaissance and reflect on how Isabella Stewart Gardner was inspired by this period in her installations.

FALL 2024 EXHIBITIONS: October 10, 2024 - January 20, 2025 (All Ages)
Explore three exhibitions from radically different artists who remind us of the importance and complexity of families. This tour will include Manet: A Model Family; Mary Ellen Mark: A Seattle Family, 1983-2014; and/or Mickalene Thomas: Sandra, She’s a Beauty, 2009. All tours also include stops in Isabella Stewart Gardner’s historic collection.  

REQUEST A GUIDED TOUR

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum offers limited scholarship funding each year for groups that demonstrate financial need. If you are interested in applying for scholarship assistance, please review the guidelines below and apply here.

How do I know if I qualify?

Funding for groups attending the Gardner is based entirely on need and priority is given to Title 1 schools. If you are a school applying for funding your student eligibility should be at least 25% based on the free and/or reduced -school lunch program. If you are a nonprofit organization, faith-based group, shelter, ESOL or ABE program, or community group, you must validate that 25% of the population served is classified as economically disadvantaged (eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit) and you have 501(c)(3) status.

Groups that receive funding must complete a post-visit survey. They may be asked to complete a letter of thanks to our sponsors.

What does the funding cover?

Funding for onsite Museum visits will cover the per-person admission cost of attending the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for a guided tour. Funding is not available for buses, student lunches or self guided visits.

Funding for virtual museum visits will cover setup and facilitation of a remote guided experience of the Gardner Museum.

In order to extend funds to as many groups as we can, we may offer partial funding based on your group’s needs and our program costs. Groups that receive full funding will have the entire visit cost covered, while those that receive partial funding will be asked to pay $35.00 for each Museum Teacher guiding their onsite or virtual tour.

We receive many requests from groups, and try to match every request with appropriate funding whenever possible, but group scholarship funds are limited. Funding is awarded on a first come, first serve basis. Submission of an application does not guarantee funding.

How do I know if I received funding?

When we have received your application and visit request, we will check them against our tour calendar and current funding opportunities, and email you to confirm visit dates and funding amounts.

All visitors are admitted through the museum entrance at 25 Evans Way. Please arrive no earlier than 15 minutes ahead of your tour time. We request that all participants arrive together, prior to the tour time. When the entire group has arrived you will be greeted by a Museum staff member, who will provide a brief orientation.

If possible, leave bulky items at home or on the bus so you can comfortably enjoy your visit. All backpacks, packages, large purses, umbrellas, and coats, must be left at our complimentary coat check. Please use pencils only to write or sketch in the galleries. If you haven't already, please let us know if you have any special requests or require any support or accommodations to make the most of your visit.

Please call the Tour Coordinator at 617 278 5147 on weekdays, or the Box Office at 617 278 5156 on weekends, if you are behind schedule. Late arrivals may receive a shortened tour; groups that are more than 30 minutes late may not receive a tour.

A limited number of free and metered spots are available near the Gardner Museum. We also offer discounted parking at the next-door Simmons School of Management Garage and are walking distance from the lots at the Museum of Fine Arts. Directions & Parking

Please note the Simmons Garage does not have bus parking. Buses may drop off and pick up passengers in front of the Evans Way entrance. The City of Boston has designated the north side of Huntington Avenue between Belvedere Street and Massachusetts Avenue for bus parking. See map at Guidelines for tour buses in Boston.