Virtual and In-person Field Trips

Virtual Field Trips to the Albany Institute

Bring the museum into your classroom through virtual field trips! The Albany Institute of History & Art is offering virtual tours for schools & groups. Available programs include:

• Ancient Egypt: Art and Culture (Grades 3-8)
• Art, Artists, & Nature: the Hudson River School (Grades 4-12)
• Hudson River School STEAM: Art & the Environment (Grades 4-12)
• Traders & Culture: Life in Colonial Albany (Grades 3-8)

Virtual programs are 45 minutes and include an interactive gallery presentation followed by a Question & Answer session. Each program is led by a museum educator who engages students and answers questions in live chat. Post visit materials will be provided to help extend these programs to meet your curriculum goals.

Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams are currently available.

Pre-Recorded Tours

Attend a virtual field trip on your own time with pre-recorded school tours!  Available programs include:

• Ancient Egypt: Art and Culture 
• Art, Artists, & Nature: the Hudson River School
• Traders & Culture: Life in Colonial Albany

Each video is 20-30 minutes long and includes presentations by museum educators about a variety of objects within each specific exhibition. Post visit materials will be provided to help extend these programs to meet your curriculum goals.

FREE: Pre-recorded field trips are offered free of cost. To receive the video link please email Victoria Waldron with the name of your school/organization and the grade/age level you teach at waldronv@albanyinstitute.org.

In-Person Field Trips to the Albany Institute

*Update August 2021:Masks are required for all program participants regardless of vaccination status. 

The Albany Institute of History & Art is offering in-person group tours with careful new COVID safety adaptations. Available programs include:

• Ancient Egypt: Art and Culture  (Grades 3-8)
• Art, Artists, & Nature: the Hudson River School (Grades 4-12)
• Hudson River School STEAM: Art & the Environment (Grades 4-12)
• Traders & Culture: Life in Colonial Albany (Grades 3-8)
• Discovering the Museum (Grades PreK–1)

The Albany Institute is happy to offer limited in-person field trips for groups under the following conditions.

1. Groups will be limited to 20 participants per 2 hour program for field trips to the Ancient Egypt and Traders & Culture exhibit. The Hudson River School exhibit has a maximum participant number of 40 for a 2 hour program.

2. In accordance with current CDC guidelines, all group program participants are required to wear face masks during their visit to the Albany Institute of History and Art, regardless of their vaccination status. 

3. One chaperone for every ten students is required.  Those chaperones are admitted free.  Additional chaperones will be charged the regular adult admission fee of $10.00.                                                                                   
4. In-person tours may be postponed or shifted to virtual programs in the event of changes to COVID-19 cases in New York State or government guidelines relating to COVID-19 social distancing protocol.

COST: In-person field trips are priced by participant. A one hour program is $6/person and there is an additional $1/person fee for an additional, hour-long art activity. Program funding may be available; please see details at the bottom of this page.Any questions about in-person field trips should be sent to Victoria Waldron at waldronv@albanyinstitute.org or 518-463-4478 ext 404.

CALENDAR AVAILABILITY

All tours must be booked 2-4 weeks in advance. Please refer to the calendar below for program availability:

School Program Funding Available

Current Offerings:

• Title One Designated Schools: Programs are available free of cost thanks to the Review Foundation
• CSDA Field Trips: The Albany Institute of History & Art currently is able to offer City School District of Albany classrooms free of cost programs thanks to the generous support of the Carl E. Touhey Foundation.

Other Funding Sources to Support your Field Trips:

• BOCES: Arts and Enrichment, and Arts in Education programs support field trips with the Albany Institute. Contact your local BOCES to apply for program support.  

• BOCES Arts and Enrichment for the Capital Region BOCES, Champlain Valley BOCES, Greater Southern Tier BOCES, Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES, Questar III BOCES, Sullivan BOCES, and Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES: https://artsandenrichment.org/

• Teaching the Hudson Valley Explore Award support available for Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rensselaer, Rockland, Saratoga, Ulster, or Westchester county schools and educational groups.