Download our Visitor Guidelines & Policies

Free Wi-Fi is available in select locations at the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Coat Room & Lockers are available in the Main Lobby. All backpacks, packages, briefcases, shopping bags, and other excessively large items (larger than 11 x 15 x 4 inches), including recording equipment, must be left in the coatroom in the lockers provided. The museum is not responsible for lost or stolen items.

Smile!

You may end up being part of the art! Photographs are often being taken at the museum in order to update our photo stock. Your image may be featured on the CAM website or future publication materials. Our photographer will be wearing a staff badge and have a camera with a red tag. If you prefer not be photographed, please notify our photographer as you see her in the galleries.

• Download our handy Museum Manners guide to get you started! (English | Español)
• Click Here to view our Art Museum Visitor Guide
• Strollers are permitted throughout the museum. A limited number of strollers are also available free of charge in the coat room off the Main Lobby.
• For the safety of children and the art, large-framed child carriers are not permitted in the galleries. Small baby slings and less bulky child carriers are allowed, but we ask parents to be mindful of their surroundings while walking in the Art Museum.
• Family Restrooms are available on the Ground and First Floors of the Art Museum. Diaper-changing stations are available in all restrooms that are wheelchair accessible.
• Stroller Entrance is available via our DeWitt Entrance, past the main entrance and parking lot, on the east side of the museum, near the accessible parking.
• Visit the Rosenthal Education Center - a free of charge, hands-on art making space with rotating exhibits located on the first floor of the museum. 
• Check out a See Play Learn Kit from the Visitor Services desk to use on your visit! 

The Cincinnati Art Museum offers a full range of Accessibility Programs for our visitors. 

Download one of our custom guides for visiting the Museum:

Social Narrative | Sensory Friendly Guide

• Accessible Parking is available in our north parking lot, just past the main visitor parking lot and entrance. Wheelchair and stroller entry is available via our DeWitt Entrance on the east side of the museum, near the accessible parking. For more information on Directions and Parking please Click Here
• Elevators are located on the First Floor (beyond the Great Hall providing access to the Ground and Second Floors), First Floor (near the Terrace Café providing access to the Second and Third Floors), and First Floor (near the Asian galleries providing access to the Third Floor).
• Wheelchairs are available for use free of charge and are located in the coatrooms near both entrances.
• Wheelchair Accessible Restrooms are available on the First Floor (in the Great Hall), on the Second Floor (in Gallery 213), on the Ground Floor (next to the Fath Auditorium).
• Wheelchair Accessibility is also available in the Fath Auditorium. Please call (513) 639-2971 at least 24 hours in advance of Auditorium events to be sure the necessary seats are properly removed for your visit.
• Service Animals are welcome in the Art Museum. Please check in with the security guard in the front lobby or at the DeWitt entrance upon arrival.
• Sensory Headphones and Fidget Toys are available for rental in our Rosenthal Education Center.
• Assisted Listening Devices are available for your use free of charge in the Art Museum’s Fath Auditorium during lectures and event in that area.
• Visitors who are blind or partially sighted are invited to experience the Cincinnati Art Museum’s collection using descriptive language and hands-on activities in a docent- or staff-guided Touch Tour. Click Here for more information on Touch Tours and Accessibility Programs. Please call (513) 639-2975 for more information or to arrange a tour.
• American Sign Language (ASL) Tours are available of special exhibitions each month. Click Here for more information on ASL Tours and Accessibility Programs. Interpreters may also be provided by the Art Museum upon request for any tour. Arrangements must be made one week in advance by calling our Tour Coordinator at (513) 639-2975.
• Custom Access Tours are available for visitors who are not able to attend our other accessibility programs. Visitors can choose from Touch Tours featuring touchable materials and description for visitors who are blind or partially sighted, American Sign Language (ASL) interpreted tours, tours designed for groups from assisted-living facilities specializing in memory care, and tours for groups with developmental disabilities. FREE. Reservations required four weeks in advance. Please contact [email protected] or (513) 639-2975 for more information or to reserve a tour.

Photography

Photography Policy

Nonflash still photography and video are permitted only on mobile phones or small cameras and recording devices.

• Photography must not disrupt other museum visitors or staff.
• Photography must not limit accessibility to galleries, exhibitions, entrances/exits, doorways, and high traffic areas.
• Photographers and subjects must always stand at least three feet away from artwork at all times. Do not touch artwork.
• Flash photography is not permitted in any area of the museum.
• Camera bags, selfie sticks, stabilization devices such as tripods and monopods, and other large or specialty photographic equipment are prohibited in the galleries (unless approved and accompanied by museum staff).
• Visitor photography is permitted for personal, noncommercial use only.
• Professional photography for portraits require that advance arrangements (at least two weeks in advance) be made with our Special Events Staff by emailing [email protected]. In addition, there is a $250 location fee for professional photography.
• Photographs may not be published, sold, reproduced, distributed, or otherwise commercially exploited in any manner unless approved by the museum in writing. For all requests to reproduce or publish images including artwork or the museum building in any way, please email [email protected].

Sketching and Copying

Copyist Guidelines

Sketching with pencil and colored pencil is permitted in all permanent galleries during our regular hours, and does not require completion of the Copyist Permit form.

Visitors who wish to copy a work of art using other materials must complete a copyist permit issued by the museum at the Visitor Services Desk. Visitors must give the completed copyist permit to the Visitor Services Desk when they visit. Sketching and copying is not permitted in special exhibitions nor of works under copyright.

For the safety of the collection, use of fixatives, sprays, charcoal and pastel is strictly prohibited.

We request copyists maintain a minimum distance of 4 feet from any work of art, and please refrain from using the floors, walls or pedestals as support for sketching.

Do not hinder or impede the flow of traffic in the galleries or to fire exits. Please be advised that a security guard may ask that work be discontinued if a problem is perceived or if galleries become crowded with other visitors.

Copyists must provide their own easel, work materials and drop cloth.

Artists agree to exercise every precaution when working around the art objects in the museum, including, carrying their easel upright in transit and permitting examination of canvas or other copy materials, paint box and other supplies brought into the building each time they are removed from the museum.  No glass containers will be permitted.

Copyists must never make any representation that the copy is anything more than a reproduction.

For group reservations, please contact our Tour Coordinator at [email protected] or 513-639-2975, at least 3 weeks prior to your visit to schedule.