USC Pacific Asia Museum


Join Donate
46 North Los Robles Avenue
Pasadena, California 91101
Open Wednesday through Sunday 10am to 6pm
Translations Chinese Simple Chinese Traditional Japanese Korean Espanol
USC Pacific Asia Museum
Collection Highlight

Join our Mailing List


TOURS

School Tours

USC Pacific Asia museum is closed for a seismic retrofit between July 2016 and May 2017. We will start 2017-2018 school tours registrations in August 2017. Please check this page for updates.

Specially trained docents guide the students in interactive explorations of the museum’s treasures that promote learning, understanding, creativity and critical thinking. Art workshops are led by professional teaching artists and enhance the experience by providing students an opportunity to create art while learning more about Pacific Asia.

Field trips are comprised of a 1-hour guided tour and a 1-hour art workshop, unless otherwise requested. Groups of 29 students or fewer take the tour followed by the art workshop.

For Group of 30-60 students, we ask that you divide your group in half in advance. Half of your students will go on a tour, while the other half participates in the workshop. The two groups will then switch to give students both experiences.

California Standards Addressed:

CA Visual and Performing Arts Standards:
1.0 Artistic Perception
3.0 Historical and Cultural Context
4.0 Aesthetic Valuing

CA Department of Education Visual Arts Standards:
2.0 Creative Expression: Creating, performing, and participating in the arts

History-Social Science Content Standards for California Public Schools
World History and Geography: Ancient Civilizations:
6.5 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious and social structures of the early
      civilizations of India
6.6 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious and social structures of the early
      civilizations of China

Common Core Standards Accessed:
Our docent-led tours and hands-on art workshops are in alignment with common core principles.

Guidelines:

General

  • USC PAM provides FREE guided tours for grades 3-12 from schools of all types, on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10 am until 12 pm.
  • NO self-guided school tours or home school programs are offered at this time.

Group Size

  • We can accommodate up to 60 students at one time.
  • We require one adult chaperon for every 10 students. The adults must accompany the students throughout the visit and assist the teacher and/or museum docents in facilitating the tour. Additional adult chaperones are welcome and will be admitted at no cost.
  • Only students enrolled in the program will be allowed on the tour. Please don’t bring siblings or additional family members.

Getting Ready

  • Please allow sufficient travel time to USC PAM. Arrive 15 minutes in advance for a bathroom break. If you are traveling in private cars, please coordinate your arrival time with the drivers. We encourage carpooling because parking in the museum lot is limited. The museum is also a half-mile walk away from the Metro Gold Line, Memorial Park Station.
  • Buses may unload students in the loading zone directly in front of the museum on Los Robles Avenue.
  • All backpacks, paper, pens, pencils, food and water must be left on the bus or in cars.

Lunch

  • Due to limited resources, USC PAM is unable to accommodate school groups for lunch at this time. However, there are a number of public spaces nearby that can serve as lunch sites. Click here for the complete list of nearby public spaces. Click here for a list of nearby restaurants. You can also ask for a hard copy from Visitor Services staff on the day of your visit. 

Family Passes

  • USC PAM provides family passes for each participating student in school groups except for after-school/youth/summer programs. Teachers can pick up the passes from Front Desk after the trip.

Changes, Cancellations and Feedback

  • If you find that the number of students change by more than five, email tours@pam.usc.edu immediately.
  • Cancellations must be emailed to tours@pam.usc.edu ONE WEEK prior to your visit.
  • Please help us to continue to grow and improve our tours. We encourage you to share your comments here.

 

Workshops
Art workshops are led by professional teaching artists and provide hands-on interactive experience. They are FREE to all public school groups that visit during regular school hours within a school year (August to June). They are optional for groups of 29 students or fewer, but required for groups of 30-60 students. Click here for workshop descriptions.

  • Calligraphy Workshop
  • Sumi-e Workshop
  • Pagodas Workshop
  • Animals of Asia Workshop
  • Dragon Workshop
  • Fan Workshop
  • Folktale Workshop
  • Haiku Workshop

A fee will apply for independent schools and after-school/youth/summer programs:

  • $150 for a 1-hour workshop
  • $200 for two 1-hour workshops

Transportation
All schools are responsible for arranging their own transportation to and from the museum. The museum offers limited bus scholarships for Title 1 public schools, available by lottery system. We start taking requests on August 1 each year, and hold the lottery on the 15th of every month as bus funding lasts. All schools will be notified of the results within one week. Awarded schools are required to register with the USC vendor system and invoice the museum for bus cost reimbursement. School bus scholarship lottery for 2015-2016 has been closed.     

How to Schedule
USC Pacific Asia museum is closed for a seismic retrofit between July 2016 and May 2017. We will start 2017-2018 school tours registrations in August 2017. Please check this page for updates.

For questions and special requests, please contact Becky Sun, Education Program Specialist, via tours@pam.usc.edu, or (626) 449-2742 ext. 12.

Looking for Information on Audio Tours or our Weekly Highlights tour? Click here.