- We’re open today from 12 pm to 5 pm
- Purchase tickets
- Join mailing list
- Join as a member
- Donate
Learn
As an artist-centered institution, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is guided by the belief that artists are innovative thinkers, who offer unique perspectives on our world. Learning at The Aldrich engages visitors of all ages with artworks and ideas from these artists, fostering a public space for critical discourse.
Our programs take place in person at the Museum when possible but currently most stream remotely through our website during the limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These include:
- Public Programs—talks, tours, performances, workshops, community events, and more that invite new interpretations of the art on view, exchanging perspectives of our complex society and world
- Family Programs—intergenerational virtual tours, at-home activities, and birthday parties give children and families new ways to learn together through contemporary art
- Teen Programs—individual internships, group fellowships, and other opportunities to access the world of contemporary art by working directly with artists and Museum staff
- Educational Programs—virtual tours and learning opportunities that provide direct access to exhibitions through unique and unexpected experiences for schools, universities, clubs, homeschool groups, cultural institutions, learning pods, and more by bridging art with multidisciplinary subjects to meet various learning goals
Pages
Public Programs
Participate in a broad range of programs designed to deepen understanding and engagement with the works of art on view, focused on interactive experiences around contemporary culture.
The Studio
The Studio is a dedicated space for learning and making for visitors of all ages to explore ideas, questions, and develop meaning around contemporary art and culture.
Children and Family Programs
The Aldrich offers a variety of virtual engagement opportunities for families, inviting peer-to-peer learning and intergenerational exchange.
Teen Programs
We are invested in the artists, leaders, and thinkers of tomorrow by providing opportunities for teens to engage with contemporary art and museum careers through Aldrich Teen Fellows and Internships.
School Programs
The Aldrich partners with preschools, elementary, middle, and high schools, universities, community groups, and home-schooled individuals to collaborate on virtual programs and offer digital resources.
Accessibility Programs
The Aldrich supports access to our exhibitions for individuals with a range of abilities through multiple partnerships with regional organizations, reciprocal Museum memberships, scholarship opportunities, and free admission for SNAP/EBT card holders and veterans.
Group Tours
If you are interested in our virtual guided visit options or if you are a teacher interested in virtual school tours please email us at aldrichedu@thealdrich.org.
Camp Aldrich
Join us at The Aldrich for a full-day, week-long arts experience with Museum Educators and practicing artists. Campers explore the Museum’s three-acre campus and incorporate the world around them into their art.
Each week, campers will be guided through art-making workshops and activities led by professional, practicing artists and our dedicated team of camp counselors. Weeks are themed and tailored to specific age groups for the ultimate creative learning environment, culminating into a celebration for family and friends on Friday evenings of the works that the campers have developed throughout the week.
Selected Upcoming Events
See all
June 10, 2023 |
Public Programs, The Studio
Art-Making Workshop: Creating with Copper
Join Aldrich Educator Susie Buckley as she guides participants through engraving soft copper sheeting to create a landscape work. Inspired by the artist Matthew Barney's Bayhorse, a five-panel series of landscapes made on copper plating included in the current exhibition Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art.
June 11, 2023 |
Group Tours
Exhibition Tour: Elements of Prima Materia
Please join us for a special tour of Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art led by Anna Serotta, Associate Conservator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anna will lead participants through the exhibition’s galleries focusing on a selection of elements represented in the show.
June 17, 2023 |
Third Weekend, Children and Family Programs
Story Time for Kids: Color the Sky
Bring your budding artists to The Aldrich for Story Time, in collaboration with the Ridgefield Library! Together, we will explore themes of color and birds! We will look at artwork called The Shape of Blue by Rachel Berwick and learn about the cobalt-colored indigo bunting. Then, we will move to the Museum’s Studio to create our own blue colored birds!
June 21, 2023 |
Group Tours
Seniors-Only Tour
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of highlighted works from our current exhibitions, guided by Aldrich Educator Holly Lapine, reserved specifically for senior adults ages 60 and above!
July 1, 2023 at 10:00 am |
Children and Family Programs
Mommy & Me Multi-Sensory Workshop with Pop Art! Kids
Join Rosie from Pop Art! Kids for an art class quite unlike any other. At this Mommy & Me workshop, you can expect your little artist to freely explore original and age-appropriate themed sensory stations inspired by The Aldrich’s current exhibitions. Through different materials and textures, we will be bringing the exhibits to life with this hands-on experience.
July 10 at 9:30 am to July 14, 2023 at 4:00 pm |
Camp Aldrich
AT CAPACITY - Camp Aldrich: Week 1 (Grades 1-3)
Join us at The Aldrich for a full-day, week-long arts experience with Museum Educators and practicing artists. Campers explore the Museum’s three-acre campus and incorporate the world around them into their art.
July 15, 2023 at 10:30 am |
Children and Family Programs
Story Time for Kids: Pandora
Bring your budding artists to The Aldrich for Story Time, in collaboration with the Ridgefield Library! Together, we will explore how artist Amy Brener uses everyday trinkets and throwaway objects to create body shields and read Pandora by Victoria Turnbull. Then, we will move to the Museum’s Studio to create our very own artworks made with found objects!
July 15, 2023 at 1:00 pm |
Group Tours
All Ages Discovery Tour
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of The Aldrich’s current exhibitions guided by a Museum Educator!
July 17 at 9:30 am to July 21, 2023 at 4:00 pm |
Camp Aldrich
AT CAPACITY - Camp Aldrich: Week 2 (Grades 1-3)
Join us at The Aldrich for a full-day, week-long arts experience with Museum Educators and practicing artists. Campers explore the Museum’s three-acre campus and incorporate the world around them into their art.
July 19, 2023 at 1:00 pm |
Group Tours
Seniors-Only Tour
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of highlighted works from our current exhibitions, guided by Museum Educator Holly Lapine, reserved specifically for adults ages 60 and above!
July 20, 2023 at 6:30 pm |
Public Programs
Oppenheimer Film Screening and Artist Conversation with Bryan McGovern Wilson
Please join artist and director Bryan McGovern Wilson and artist, writer, and curator Richard Klein for a live conversation and film screening of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
July 24 at 9:30 am to July 28, 2023 at 4:00 pm |
Camp Aldrich
Camp Aldrich: Week 3 (Grades 4-6)
Join us at The Aldrich for a full-day, week-long arts experience with Museum Educators and practicing artists. Campers explore the Museum’s three-acre campus and incorporate the world around them into their art.
July 29, 2023 |
Artist Program, Public Programs
Prima Materia Panel Conversation with Artists
Join us for a panel conversation on Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art with exhibiting artists Rachel Berwick, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, and Winston Roeth, moderated by the exhibition’s curator Richard Klein.
August 14, 2023 at 3:30 pm |
Children and Family Programs
Mommy & Me Multi-Sensory Workshop with Pop Art! Kids
Join Rosie from Pop Art! Kids for an art class quite unlike any other. At this Mommy & Me workshop, you can expect your little artist to freely explore original and age-appropriate themed sensory stations inspired by The Aldrich’s current exhibitions. Through different materials and textures, we will be bringing the exhibits to life with this hands-on experience.
August 16, 2023 at 1:00 pm |
Group Tours
Seniors-Only Tour
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of highlighted works from our current exhibitions, guided by Museum Educator Holly Lapine, reserved specifically for adults ages 60 and above!
August 17, 2023 at 5:30 pm |
Member Event, Group Tours
Raven Halfmoon Tour with Chief Curator Amy Smith-Stewart
Please join us for an evening tour of Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers led by Chief Curator Amy Smith-Stewart. The tour will cover an overview of the exhibition, highlighting a selection of Halfmoon’s stoneware sculptures from the past five years.
August 19, 2023 at 10:30 am |
Children and Family Programs
Story Time for Kids: Just Because
Bring your budding artists to The Aldrich for Story Time, in collaboration with the Ridgefield Library! Together, we will explore how artist Carlos Vega tells a story through his fantastical and detailed lead painting and read Just Because by Mac Barnett.
August 19, 2023 at 1:00 pm |
Group Tours
All Ages Discovery Tour
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of The Aldrich’s current exhibitions guided by a Museum Educator!
September 23, 2023 |
Public Programs
Musical Performance: Transonic Homes
The second live performance installment of the Aldrich Box, a year-long traveling exhibition, is Transonic Homes, a solo musical performance by musician, composer, and collaborator Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache).
The performance will take place outdoors in the Museum’s Sculpture Garden on Saturday, September 23rd at 7pm, weather permitting.