Tours

The Akron Art Museum offers a variety of tour options for all different ages and interest levels.

Complimentary Public “Five Favorites” Tours

On most Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm, museum docents lead “Five Favorites” tours during which they share their current personal favorites on view in the museum’s galleries. These tours are a fun, quick way to become acquainted with the museum’s collection and other exhibitions on view! Call ahead to confirm.

Student Tours

The Akron Art Museum provides quality educational programs and exciting learning opportunities for students and educators from preschool to the university level. School tours, including tours for university students are FREE when scheduled by a teacher, instructor or school official three or more weeks in advance.

To schedule a tour for Pre-K through Grade 12 students click HERE.

To schedule a tour for University students click HERE.

Non-School Youth Group Tours

The museum offers free admission to all children who tour the museum with their daycare, home-school group, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops when scheduled at least three weeks in advance. For these tours, the museum allows one complimentary adult admission for every 10 children on the tour. Additional accompanying adults are charged the reduced admission price of $6 per person.

To schedule a tour for non-school youth groups, click HERE.

Private Tours for General Audiences

All requests must be made at least 3 weeks prior to the tour date.
All requests are subject to docent availability.

Request a private tour by clicking here.

You may also call the museum's tour hotline at 330.376.9186 x247, but requests submitted online are given first priority.

Once you submit your online request, a museum representative will contact you within 3 business days. PLEASE NOTE: Your tour is officially scheduled upon your receipt of mailed or e-mailed tour confirmation materials.

For questions regarding your tour, contact Director of Education Missy Higgins-Linder at 330.376.9186 x229 or mHiggins@AkronArtMuseum.org. Also contact her as soon as possible should any of the
following occur:
• Your confirmation or tour materials contain inaccurate information or do not arrive shortly after you scheduled your tour.
• The number of students changes.
• You must cancel a scheduled tour.
• Your arrival is delayed for any reason.

Gallery space and docents cannot be guaranteed for groups arriving more than 15 minutes late unless the Museum has been notified of the delayed arrival. The Museum cannot extend tour times to accommodate late arrivals. Your tour will end at the scheduled time regardless of when you arrived.

Times
Tours are available during regular business hours: Wednesday - Sunday, 11 am - 5 pm, with the last tour starting at 3:30 pm; Thursdays, 11 am - 9 pm, with the last tour starting at 7:30 pm. The museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Group Size
The minimum number of visitors for a private group tour is 8. The museum can comfortably accommodate groups of up to 50 visitors for adult tours. Large groups will be divided into smaller groups of 10-15 people.

Rates and Admissions
Admission to special exhibitions may include an additional surcharge.
Payment is due upon arrival at the museum and may be paid at the visitor services desk. In order to maximize your time in the galleries and expedite check-in, we ask all groups to pay their admission fees with a single transaction.

• The regular admission rate for adult visitors is $7 per person.
• Tour groups of 15 or more visitors receive the special admission rate of $6 per visitor.
• Senior visitors (ages 65 and up) are $5 per visitor.
• Reciprocal members of other arts institutions receive free admission into the collection galleries, but pay regular admission fees when participating in a docent or staff-led tour.
• Bus and motorcoach groups are eligible for up to two complimentary admissions, one for the tour organizer and one for the group’s bus driver.

Guided Tour Choices

Building & Highlights Tour: An Introduction to the Akron Art Museum
Explore daring architectural ideas and spaces that connect past, present and future as demonstrated by the Akron Art Museum’s recently completed expansion project designed by Viennese architectural firm COOP HIMMELB(L)AU. Docents will lead your group through the museum’s new and renovated spaces in the 1899 and John S. and James L. Knight buildings in addition to introducing you to highlights from the museum’s collection, focused on art produced since 1850. This tour lasts approximately one hour.

Akron Art Museum Collection Highlights Tour (Collection works only)
Sample the treasures currently on view in the more than 12,000 square feet of gallery space dedicated to displaying the Akron Art Museum’s collection. Docents will lead your group through an introduction to the museum’s collection, focused on art produced since 1850 that includes outstanding examples of turn-of-the-twentieth century realism, American impressionism and an eclectic array of late twentieth-century Pop art, surrealist and post-modern works. Prepare to encounter the work of local and international artists, folk artists, rising stars and some of the most established and respected artists in the art world. This tour lasts approximately one hour.

In Our Own Backyard: Exploring Ohio Art & Artists
Discover the multitude of Ohio artists represented in the Akron Art Museum’s collection and the richness and diversity they bring to the galleries. On this guided tour, docents will introduce your group to the inspired visions of Ohio artists and the ways they depicted the both the urban and rural sides of the Ohio landscape. Highlights include a visit to the gallery dedicated exclusively to the works of William Sommer, one of this region's most important historical artists. This tour lasts approximately 45 minutes to one hour.

Mod Squad: An Introduction Modern and Contemporary Art
“Why is that considered art?” “My kid could paint that!” “I just don’t get it.” “I don’t like modern art.” Sound familiar? Modern art can be a puzzle. Let our docents help you put the pieces together! What exactly do artists mean when they talk about abstraction? Explore how abstract artists “see” their subjects and some of the reasons they reinterpret their subjects in less-than-literal styles. Discover how artists took art and ideas in new directions by using line, shape, color and unorthodox materials in innovative and exciting ways. This tour lasts approximately 45 minutes to one hour.

Current Special Exhibitions
For information and descriptions of special exhibitions currently available for tours, visit the current and upcoming exhibitions page.

Eating Lunch at the Museum
Tour groups may pre-order boxed lunches from a special menu or opt for a catered lunch with table service. For more information on eating at the museum, please contact 330.376.9186 x212 or sParker@AkronArtMuseum.org.

Motorcoach Tours
The Akron Art Museum is a motorcoach-friendly site with many different amenities for groups including a special bus pull-off and group tour entrance, handicap accessibility and easily accessible restrooms, a museum store and an on-site café. In addition we provide complimentary admission for the group escort and driver. FAM tours are available for tour operators upon request.

Tour Admission Policy for Non-Profit Social Service Agencies
In an effort to make the visitor experience accessible to all, Akron Art Museum is delighted to offer complimentary tours to beneficiaries of non-profit social service agencies whose clients would otherwise be financially unable to visit the museum.

To schedule a tour for a non-profit, social service agency, click HERE.