Welcome to the Children’s Museum of the Arts, a hands-on art museum dedicated to engaging young artists ages 10 months to 15 years in viewing, making, and sharing art. Stop by during our general hours and you will find a variety of open workshops led by our staff of teaching artists.
CMA is a non-profit art museum that combines contemporary art exhibitions and hands-on art-making studios for children ages 10 months to 15 years.
Workshops change every day, check our calendar for featured workshops. If your child enjoyed their visit, they can also take a class, camp, or private lesson in a range of topics.
CMA’s general admission price of $13 per person covers all of the workshops and exhibitions throughout the space, including all materials. On average, CMA spends $26 for every person served. So the admission price helps us ensure you have a memorable, authentic arts experience. All of CMA’s fee-based programs provide critical funds to our free community programs, bringing the arts to thousands of low income or at-risk children, in public schools, hospitals, community centers, temporary housing facilities, and in special programs here at CMA. Every visit to CMA helps to support these programs. You can continue to help our mission by donating today.
CMA’s programming has been developed for families with children ages 10 months to 15 years, but our contemporary exhibitions are designed to engage visitors of all ages. We encourage children and adults to make together!
Unless your child is signed up for a registered After School semester, Art Colony camp, private lesson, or part of the YAK program, all children must be accompanied by an adult while at CMA.
One adult is required per every three children that enter the museum.
Strollers are not allowed beyond the CMA Entrance Lobby. In the Lounge we do offer some space to store a few collapsible strollers.
There are unsupervised coat closets in the lobby. We do not have lockers or a ticketed coat check. We do not advise leaving anything of value in the coat closets. CMA is not responsible for any lost or stolen items.
CMA’s workshops are designed by our staff of teaching artists and change daily, featuring diverse materials and techniques. We list all gallery workshops, guest artist workshops, and special events on our calendar.
Sign up is only required for the Sound Booth, some gallery workshops, and the Clay Bar. For information on how to sign up for the Clay Bar, please see below.
The Clay Bar is one of our busiest stations, so sign up upon arrival is required. Here’s how it works on busy days:
Quick tip: The best times to visit the Clay Bar are Mondays during general hours.
Please note: Due to the popularity of this workshop and the limited number of seats, we recommend that families with more than 3 children sign up for multiple sessions. (Note: all children should be 5 years or older) Adults should only stand in line for their own children, not multiple children from multiple families.
Drop In is a session held in the stART Studio when the museum is closed to the public. Exclusively for children ages 10 months to 5 years old, drop-in sessions happen every Monday through Friday from 10:45 AM – 12 PM and Wednesday from 1:45-3 PM. These sessions offer young children the chance to create art, sing songs with our staff, or play with Flubber! To learn more, visit our stART Studio page.
As you will be using paint, glue, and other messy materials, we recommend wearing clothes that you don’t mind getting a little dirty. We do provide some smocks for children to wear.
Yes! You can “Pay As You Wish” every Thursday from 4-6 PM!
Yes, CMA is wheelchair accessible and is continuously working towards creating a more inclusive museum environment. To learn more about our access programs, click here.
Yes, the Lobby has tables and chairs where you are welcome to eat a quick snack. We also have a limited selection of snacks available for sale at the front desk. We kindly ask that visitors refrain from eating or drinking in the Gallery or Studios. Ask at the front desk and we can recommend some of our favorite local restaurants. If you’re in the mood for coffee, tea, or baked goods, our neighbors at Seven Grams Caffe (Charlton and Varick Streets) offer 10% off your purchase when you present your CMA sticker.
Yes, you are welcome to take a break and come back to the museum later that same day. Hold onto your admission sticker and receipt for reentry.
Please Note: To best accommodate all our visitors, we do not offer reentry on busy days. Thank you for your cooperation.
Yes, our group visits allow for schools and camps to experience a personalized, educational museum tour and workshop session visits must be scheduled in advance. Learn more by visiting our Group Visits page.
Unfortunately, we do not offer discounts to groups other than our school and camp group visits.
Yes! Download our Social Story to help your family prepare for your visit to CMA!
Please find all of your sound recordings on our Soundcloud page, appropriately named, WCMA.
All clips can be found through CMA Clips Vimeo page. To find your clip, follow the these steps:
No. Unfortunately, CMA does not have storage for all the artwork made each day. We do have bags for you to take home all of your creations!
Yes! CMA is a new member of ACM (Association of Children’s Museums. CMA Members can now visit over 200 museums participating in the ACM Reciprocal Network and receive 50% off general admission for up to six (6) people. Learn more about CMA Membership here.
Please send your donation request form to Abbigail at awillingham@cmany.org. Best of luck with your event!
Yes, CMA has a small store available at the front desk. You may also purchase gift certificates for a membership, stART Studio Drop-in session, or family passes at the front desk or by contacting Sean Gilfeather at sgilfeather@cmany.org.