Education at West
Marvel at contemporary art in the former American embassy!
What is contemporary art? What does an architect do? And what does all of this have to do with the former American embassy? West encourages investigative and critical thinking with its varied educational programme for the 2024-2025 school year!
West offers classes for primary and secondary education on many different levels. Our museum docents make challenging themes such as contemporary art and architecture accessible and relevant to the students. We do this by taking a close look at a large variety of art, approaching everything from the students’ world view, and linking the themes of the classes to fun activities. Students indicate that they enjoy these classes because they are surprising and varied. Teachers appreciate our enthusiastic and knowledgeable museum docents.
Below you find practical information and a description of all of our classes. These classes are also available to book for extracurricular activities. For each class we also link to our lesson notes which elaborate on the content of the classes. These are not available in English, but feel free to contact our educator who can provide more information in English and help you with any further questions!
Lesson goals
Our aim is to teach students the meaning of contemporary art and have them reflect on this. They will familiarise themselves in a playful and active manner with our exhibitions, during which they will be encouraged to share their observations and opinions. Through conversations with each other and our docents they will discover contemporary art. Furthermore, they will employ their own creativity during the accompanying activities, unique to each class. These activities are also described in the lesson notes.
Accessibility
Unfortunately, the former American embassy is not wheelchair accessible. Therefore, we do not recommend booking a class if there are students in the group with difficulties walking, We are able to adapt our classes to special education. We prefer to do this in collaboration with teachers. In our experience, this is the best way to create custom and suitable classes. So please contact us so we can see what we can do for you.
Our programme is available in Dutch and English with the exception of the Escape Rooms. Next to that we also have experience offering education to language classes.
You can always contact us for further information or with specific wishes for your visit. We are flexible and can adapt the classes where necessary!
INFORMATION & CONTACT DETAILS
For who
Primary education – group 5 to 8 – ages 9 to 12
Secondary education – 1st year to the 6th – ages 12 to 18
When
Dates and times on request.
The classes take 60 to 75 minutes.
Guidance
For 1-15 students: at least one actively participating teacher.
For 15-30 students: at least two actively participating teachers or parents.
Costs
100 euros per group, with no extra costs for accompanying teachers or parents.
Max number of students: 30
Should your group consist of 15 groups or less, please contact us. Then we can work out a different price together.
Location
West Den Haag
Former American Embassy
Lange Voorhout 102
2514 EJ Den Haag
www.westdenhaag.nl
Information and advice
Anne Willemsen
educatie@westdenhaag.nl
070.3925359
06.51760399
Our aim is to teach students the meaning of contemporary art and have them reflect on this. They will familiarise themselves in a playful and active manner with our exhibitions, during which they will be encouraged to share their observations and opinions. Through conversations with each other and our docents they will discover contemporary art. Furthermore, they will employ their own creativity during the accompanying activities, unique to each class. These activities are also described in the lesson notes.
Accessibility
Unfortunately, the former American embassy is not wheelchair accessible. Therefore, we do not recommend booking a class if there are students in the group with difficulties walking, We are able to adapt our classes to special education. We prefer to do this in collaboration with teachers. In our experience, this is the best way to create custom and suitable classes. So please contact us so we can see what we can do for you.
Our programme is available in Dutch and English with the exception of the Escape Rooms. Next to that we also have experience offering education to language classes.
You can always contact us for further information or with specific wishes for your visit. We are flexible and can adapt the classes where necessary!
INFORMATION & CONTACT DETAILS
For who
Primary education – group 5 to 8 – ages 9 to 12
Secondary education – 1st year to the 6th – ages 12 to 18
When
Dates and times on request.
The classes take 60 to 75 minutes.
Guidance
For 1-15 students: at least one actively participating teacher.
For 15-30 students: at least two actively participating teachers or parents.
Costs
100 euros per group, with no extra costs for accompanying teachers or parents.
Max number of students: 30
Should your group consist of 15 groups or less, please contact us. Then we can work out a different price together.
Location
West Den Haag
Former American Embassy
Lange Voorhout 102
2514 EJ Den Haag
www.westdenhaag.nl
Information and advice
Anne Willemsen
educatie@westdenhaag.nl
070.3925359
06.51760399
Programs
Primary Education
New! Art Compass: Start your own adventure
For: Group 5, 6, 7 and 8. Also suitable for special education.
During a visit to West, you will discover how much fun it is to take matters into your own hands. Our museum docents will guide the students around the exhibitions, but the students are the ones who decide what we do. By approaching the exhibition from their perspective, art becomes fun and accessible. They will be given their own inspiring booklets to fill in. For example, they will make their own house rules for the museum, interview a work of art and give new names to the pieces. At the end of their visit, the students will have made their own exhibition guide, discovered what contemporary is, and practiced analysing works of art.
The class consists of an interactive tour, during which students will make their own exhibition guide with creative assignments.
Click here for the lesson notes. (These are currently only available in Dutch, but you can contact our educator for further details.)
Wonderful World Expo
For: Group 5, 6, 7 and 8. Also suitable for special education..
By looking at a building, you can often tell what it was made for. Schools, hospitals or stations all look different. But how do buildings look when they were made to exhibit art?
This programme is a special collaboration between West and Architectuurlessen. Together you will design buildings for a World Expo, for which you will take inspiration from the art at West in the former American embassy. After touring the exhibition and looking at the art, you will design a building on paper. What shape will your art building take? After the visit to West an architect will come to your school and together you will make maquettes from your designs. By combining all of your designs you will be making one big artistic world expo right in the middle of the classroom!
The follow-up class will be scheduled separately with the school.
The lesson at West lasts 90 minutes and the follow-up class will occupy an entire morning.
Klik hier voor de lesbrief met meer informatie. (These are currently only available in Dutch, but you can contact our educator for further details).
Please note: Due to the additional class by Architectuurlessen the cost of this lesson is 550 in total.
World Explorers
For: Group 5, 6, 7 and 8. Also suitable for special education.
If you wish to improve the world, make art! The first step to a better world is imagination. Because how do you imagine the ideal world to look like?
Come to West in the former American embassy and together we will journey through your imagination. West is an art institution with varied exhibitions about art and society. After an introduction about the embassy and contemporary art, the students will tour the exhibition. Here they will discover all the different forms art might take, but also all the different reasons artists have for creating. Next, the students work together to come up with their fantasy land and visualise it on their own world map. Students come up with creative ideas and consider themes such as climatechange, politics and culture.
The class consists of an interactive tour and a workshop, during which the students will create their ideal world in small groups.
Click here for the lesson notes. (These are currently only available in Dutch, but you can contact our educator for further details.)
Programs
Secondary Education
Escape Room
For: Practical education, VMBO, HAVO and VWO.
Please note: This programme is currently not available in English! The former American embassy in the Hague has a dark basement. The building used to be heavily guarded and almost no one was allowed in. What exactly was the basement used for?
Even now that West, an art institution, is located in the building, the basement is not always accessible to visitors. After a short introduction about the building and contemporary art, the students get to have a look behind the scenes. Together they get to work in the escape rooms in the different corners of the basement to learn about the history of the embassy and art. Working together is the aim. They are only released when they have found all the information, solved every puzzle and unlocked every lock!
The class consists of a short interactive tour, after which the students will be divided into groups and explore the escape room. Keep in mind that this is an education escape room and differs slightly from escape rooms done solely for entertainment purposes.
Click here for the lesson notes and further details. (These are currently only available in Dutch, but you can contact our educator for further details.)
Art Experts: Made to Measure
For: HAVO and VWO from year 1 to 6.
Come and discover contemporary art at West! We are located in the impressive former American embassy, where we organise interesting and socially engaged exhibitions. So there is much to do!
That is why we would love to hear what your wishes are for the program. Depending on the group and the topics being covered in class, we can change the focus and scope of the class. The foundation of any visit will be the interactive tour, where students practice developing and substantiating their opinions and analysis, but together we can determine the content. Perhaps you would rather talk about the architecture and history of the embassy? Or the art works in the exhibition? Anything is possible!
The class consists of an interactive tour of the building and the exhibitions.
Click here for the lesson notes. (These are currently only available in Dutch, but you can contact our educator for further details.)
