Arts Education at the QCA

Gallery tours, stage and musical performances, art and creativity camps, juried exhibitions for school-age artists, art lessons and activities delivered to your school by our traveling Artmobile. These activities and more are available through our Arts Education program.

Your art connection

We help teachers take art beyond classroom walls, connecting students to the stories and history behind the Quick collections. Let us plan a program or tour that wows your students.

Gallery tours and all art education activities are free, school day performances have a nominal fee, and the Quick Center can pay for your bus transportation costs the day of your visit.

Please schedule a tour by completing and submitting our online Gallery Tour Request Form.

We will then contact you to determine which gallery activities are appropriate for your students' ages and your study focus. We'll work with you to plan the best tour for your students.

Remember, tours and art programs are available free of charge for all students.

School bus grants are available to help regional school districts bring their elementary, middle and high school students to exhibitions, performances and other programs at the Quick Center.

You need to submit two things:

a completed School Bus Grant Application
a quote from the transportation company your school will be using to bus students to and from the Quick Center.

Applications should be submitted one month prior to your visit. Notification usually takes about two weeks after the receipt of the request. Funds will be disbursed in the form of a check mailed to the school on the day of your visit to the Quick Center.

Please note: Bus grants are available for Quick Center/Dresser-Rand Challenger Learning Center tours only when you book a tour and art activities at the Quick Center lasting two hours in length.

Questions?

Contact Sean Conklin, Assistant Curator
(716) 375-4032
Send an email

Young people's school day performances

Magic School Bus Each year the Quick Center hosts a series of daytime performances for young audiences.

Some feature performances by the same accomplished musicians visiting campus as part of the Friends of Good Music's Performing Art Series. Others are productions by professional theater companies catering to young and family audiences.

Performances include a Theaterworks USA presentation of "The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System," a Kit's Interactive Theatre presentation of "Pioneer Travel on the Oregon Trail" and more.

Learn about the entire lineup at Young People's Performances.

Juried art exhibitions for young artists

Each year the QCA conducts art exhibitions for young artists from across the region. We're pleased to announce that the exhibitions for the 2022-2023 school year.

Juried exhibitions for young artists are as follows:

Elementary School: Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022, to Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023
Middle School: Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, to Sunday, March 19, 2023
High School: Tuesday, April 11, 2023, to Sunday, May 21, 2023

For submission deadlines and guidelines, opening reception information and more, visit our Juried Exhibitions for Young Artists webpage.

QCA Experiences

The Quick Center offers a number of programs aimed at expanding arts education opportunities for young people, as well as a professional development program for art teachers.

Programs include:

Artistic Explorers, a program designed to spark the imagination of our youngest community members.
Summer Opportunities, programming aimed at sparking the imagination and creativity of young art lovers.

Learn about all of these programs by visiting our QCA Experiences webpage.

The QCA Artmobile

The Quick Center's ArtMobile provides traveling art outreach programs to six neighboring counties in New York and Pennsylvania, with visits to requesting nonprofit organizations serving all ages and art levels.

The ArtMobile provides access to the Quick Center’s collections of original works as well as quality art lessons and activities. To request a visit from the ArtMobile, use our online form below.

Click here to find scheduled ArtMobile visits for the summer of 2023.

Sean Conklin

Assistant Curator and Museum Educator

(716) 375-4032

Send an email

St. Bonaventure University