Student groups can soak up the California sunshine in the Greater Palm Springs area and also take in myriad arts enrichment opportunities.
“The variety of art in Greater Palm Springs is diverse, from a world-class permanent collection and exhibitions in the Palm Springs Art Museum to striking murals in Indio and Coachella, as well as public art throughout the nine cities of our Southern California oasis,” says Robyn Gallegos, senior travel industry sales manager with the Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitor Bureau.
With three locations, the Palm Springs Art Museum is one of the most popular arts attractions in the area. Visitors can see a collection of more than 11,000 objects as part of its rotating exhibits. The museum’s foundation and mission focuses on modern and contemporary art, and that collection includes 3,000 sculptures, paintings and prints, and 2,000 fine art photographs (plus 40,000 negatives). The museum’s most recent addition is the architecture and design collection, a display of drawings, textiles, furniture pieces and photographs, which complement its main “permanent exhibit”—the museum buildings themselves.
Student groups can take a self-guided tour in downtown Coachella to see the Coachella Walls, large colorful paintings that celebrate the lives and struggles of local residents—many of whom are immigrant farmworkers. One of the first murals depicts the 1965 grape boycott; others show the struggles of Latina women, and children who introduced breakdancing to a Cambodian village after being deported from the United States. Twentynine Palms also has many unique murals to discover.
With so many art museums, galleries, performing arts venues and festivals, like the yearly Indian Wells Arts Festival, the area can also provide visiting students a lesson in history.
“There are historical museums that feature cultural art from the past and highlight how the destination was settled, beginning thousands of years ago with the Cahuilla Indians and then again in the mid-1800s as non-Native Americans began to explore the West,” Gallegos says. “While here exploring our art, students can also learn a lot about history, experience the flora and fauna of the desert, and visit Joshua Tree National Park, where they can hike to an abandoned gold mine that’s still standing from the days of the California Gold Rush.”
She also provides this helpful tip: It is super easy to get around Greater Palm Springs.
“Unlike in other parts of Southern California, there’s no traffic. There’s also a wide selection of hotels and resorts at many price points, and plenty of transportation companies cater to groups.”
For more information, email Gallegos or go to palmspringsoasis.com.
Top photo: Coachella Walls mural, American Woman
Photo by Greater Palm Springs CVB
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Broadway in Chicago Group Sales
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Shear Madness
