Release Date: August 3, 2004

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART PROVIDES FREE-LOAN TEACHING RESOURCES

The Art of Romare Bearden teaching packet (Click here to order this image.)

Washington, DC--The National Gallery of Art education division provides teaching materials through its Free-Loan Teaching Resources Program. Multiple copies of more than 120 slide programs, multimedia programs, videocassettes, CD ROMs, DVDs, videodiscs, and teacher packets are available to educational institutions, community groups, and individuals throughout the United States. The program fosters awareness of the visual arts and makes the Gallery's collections accessible to a broad audience beyond the Gallery's walls. In 2003 more than 200,000 borrowers participated in the Free-Loan Teaching Resources Program.

In March 2004 a new online tool--the Loan Material Finder--was inaugurated on the National Gallery's Web site. It provides detailed program descriptions of all the resources, which can be selected by artist, subject, curriculum, or format. A printed version, the Education Resources Catalogue, is also available upon request.

The Free-Loan Teaching Resources Program meets national standards in the visual arts for kindergarten through grade 12. A variety of artists, subjects, techniques, and styles are covered, and many programs contain suggestions for related activities, as well as questions designed to stimulate discussion about the art and artists and their relationship to cultural and historical issues.

TYPES OF LOANS

Direct Loans: This option is intended for use by schools, organizations, and individuals. Requests should be received at least one month prior to anticipated use. Resource materials may be kept two weeks, or longer, upon special authorization.

Affiliate Loans: This alternative is intended for large organizations--such as school systems, instructional resource centers, museums, art centers, healthcare facilities, libraries, and public and instructional television stations--that act as affiliate distributors in order to provide their audiences more immediate access to the Gallery's free-loan extension program. Organizations with noncommercial television capacity may request permission for broadcast and/or duplication of selected videocassette programs from video master tapes after completion of a special written license agreement.

HOW TO ORDER

The cycle for receiving materials is as follows: Request, Schedule, Ship, Presentation, Return, and Inspection. Users must pay return postage at the media mail rate. To ensure timely delivery of materials, all requests should be made well in advance of the planned presentation date to:

/education/classroom/loanfinder

or, using the printable order form, faxed to (202) 842-6937, or mailed to:

Department of Education Resources
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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