TMA’s exhibitions are often accompanied by lectures and public programs that offer additional context to the artworks on view. We provide regularly scheduled art programming designed for specific audiences, including:
Museum as Sanctuary
TMA’s Museum as Sanctuary program focuses on community collaborations that highlight the benefits of creative expression and language acquisition through artmaking and in-gallery activities. Since 2010, TMA has worked with organizations serving immigrant and refugee audiences in Tucson. This program began with a single partner, Owl & Panther, with the purpose of developing a series of expressive arts workshops. In 2016, with the support of a grant from the Institute of Museum of Library Services, TMA expanded its network of partners.
School partnerships
Students visit TMA weekly for both hands-on and gallery-based learning opportunities. One of these partnerships is with Davis Bilingual Elementary, which began in 2009. These students visit every Wednesday afternoon throughout the school year. Since 2012, students from Imago Dei Middle School enjoy arts activities on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, from time to time, on Saturdays.
The Art of Memory
TMA’s education department has been partnering with the Alzheimer’s Association Desert Southwest Chapter since 2007 for the museum’s Art of Memory. This program is designed for people with early to mid-stages of dementia and their care givers. In-gallery conversations and hands-on artmaking take place on Friday mornings during the academic school year.
VA’s Southwestern Blind Rehabilitation Center
TMA’s Southwestern Blind Rehabilitation Center’s (SWBRC) program’s mission is to provide blinded Veterans with skills necessary to achieving greater independence in their everyday lives. This program takes place on a quarterly basis and consists of two-hour, educator led gallery “touch tours” along with visual description of the artworks.
Youth Summer Art Camp
TMA’s popular summer art camp, which runs from early June through early August, sparks the imaginations of young artists ages 5 – 13 years old. Campers improve their skills in drawing, painting, sculpting, printmaking, and collage through in-depth lessons and inspiration from TMA’s collection works and works on view in the galleries. Each weekly session is led by local teaching artists and TMA’s art educators.
Adult Art Classes
Throughout the year, TMA offers artist-led workshops in a variety of mediums.
