Professional Development at the NBMAA

The NBMAA offers full-day or half-day professional development workshops for K-12 educators from varying disciplines. Teachers will explore American art, artists, and movements–and learn how to connect them to classroom curricula and make interdisciplinary connections with other subjects like language arts and social studies.

Using the Museum’s collection to promote creative and critical thinking skills, these workshops include guided gallery conversations and activities centered around your school or district’s teaching focus, such as:

• Integration of visual arts with other subjects
• Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
• Inquiry-based learning
• Relating art and ideas with societal, cultural, and historic context
• Multimodal Learning

Educators may register throughout the year or districts may book their own workshop in advance by working closely with the Learning and Engagement Department.

Half Day Professional Development:

• Duration: 3 hours
• Cost: $30 per teacher

Full Day Professional Development (minimum 8 teachers):

• Duration: 6 hours
• Cost: $50 per teacher

Contact us to plan a workshop specially adapted to your needs. Email [email protected] for current fees or to schedule a program. 

Please Note: Our 2025 Election Day Professional Development is at capacity, please check in next summer for 2026 details.

Hear from Past Attendees:

"The sessions you designed, focusing on the Creative Process, were tailored perfectly to meet the needs of our K-12 Visual Arts teachers. As always, you welcomed every participant, making sure they were comfortable in the museum and understood the goals and intent for the day.

The museum setting offered a unique opportunity to connect with a local resource and engage in collegial problem-solving and gallery discussion. We had a fantastic time exploring studio offerings where staff immersed themselves in processes with innovative materials, which sparked many new possibilities for our classrooms. It was inspiring to see 90 teachers from surrounding districts come together, using the New Britain Museum of American Art's incredible collections and current exhibitions as a springboard for aesthetic conversations.

Everyone left with valuable resources to support instructional strategies, particularly in enhancing student self-efficacy in the creative process. Your hard work and dedication was completely evident in the effectiveness of this collaborative experience." - West Hartford Visual Arts Educators