From “Maybe” to “Approved” – Winning over your administration for your next tour!
You have the destination in mind. Your students would love it. You can already picture the performances, workshops, and experiences that could make the trip unforgettable.
Now comes an important step: getting your student trip approved by administration.
Every school and district handles student travel differently. Some approvals are relatively simple, while others require multiple forms, administrative review, Board of Education approval, approved vendors, insurance documentation, and specific deadlines.
The best way to make the school trip approval process easier? Start early, know what your administration needs, and build a trip with a clear educational purpose.
At Educational Performance Tours, we’ve been planning customized student travel experiences for performing arts groups for more than 30 years. With former educators, performers, arts administrators, and student travel professionals on our team, we understand what makes an incredible trip for students, and what administrators need to see before approving it.
Here are our tips for getting your next performing arts trip approved.
1. Ask About Your School Trip Approval Timeline First
Before announcing the trip to students or getting too far into planning, find out exactly how your school or district handles overnight student travel.
Start by asking your administration:
- How far in advance does a student trip need to be submitted for approval?
- Who needs to approve the trip? My administration? The district?
- When are approval meetings held?
- Are there specific forms or supporting documents required?
- Does the district require the tour operator to be an approved vendor?
Approval timelines can vary considerably from one district to another. If your trip requires a board vote, for example, missing a submission deadline could mean waiting until the following month’s meeting.
Knowing the process from the beginning allows you and your tour operator to work backward from those deadlines.
EPT Tip: Tell your EPT Tour Director about your school’s approval process as early as possible. Our team can help provide itineraries, pricing, insurance information, vendor documentation, insurance information, parent fliers for meetings, and other materials your administration may request.
2. Make Sure Your Tour Operator Is an Approved School District Vendor
Many school districts have specific requirements regarding the companies they are permitted to work with.
Before committing to a student tour operator, ask your school administration or purchasing department whether the company must be an approved district vendor.
If Educational Performance Tours is already an approved vendor with your district, great! If not, ask what is required for a new vendor to become approved.
EPT regularly works with schools and districts across the country and can easily provide the company documentation necessary to help facilitate the vendor approval process when applicable.
Taking care of vendor requirements early can help prevent administrative delays later in the planning process.
3. Establish a Clear Educational Purpose for the Trip
One of the most important parts of getting a school trip approved is demonstrating why the experience is valuable for your students.
For a performing arts group, the educational connection can be incredibly strong.
Your itinerary might include:
- A customized music, dance, or theatre masterclasses
- A clinic with a professional artist or educator
- A student performance at a meaningful venue
- A performance exchange with another school’s performing arts program
- A university workshop or campus tour
- A Broadway show or other professional performance
- A behind-the-scenes performing arts experience
- A museum, historical site, or cultural institution
When presenting the trip to administration, don’t simply explain where students are going. Explain what they will gain from being there.
Student travel gives young performers opportunities to apply what they have learned in rehearsal and the classroom to real-world experiences. Extraordinary Tours don’t just simply show students the world, they show students what’s possible. After all, some classrooms don’t have four walls.
4. Create the Right Balance of Education, Performing Arts & Fun
A strong performing arts student trip shouldn’t feel like a vacation disguised as a field trip.
But it also shouldn’t feel like five straight days of school away from school.
The best student itineraries find a thoughtful balance between education, performing arts experiences, cultural exploration, and fun.
Our team includes former educators and performing arts professionals who understand exactly what that balance should look like. We’ve been on the educator’s side of the equation, and we understand the responsibility that comes with taking students out of the classroom and away from home.
We know an itinerary needs enough educational value to support the goals of your program, meaningful performing arts opportunities that students couldn’t experience at home, and enough fun to make students excited to participate.
5. Show Administration a Thoughtful, Well-Rounded Itinerary
When you submit your school trip for approval, your itinerary should demonstrate that the experience has been planned intentionally.
Instead of simply filling each day with tourist attractions, consider what role each component plays.
A well-rounded performing arts itinerary may combine:
Education: Workshops, clinics, museums, historical sites, university visits, or industry experiences.
Performance: Student performances, festivals, adjudications, exchanges, or professional performance opportunities.
Inspiration: Broadway shows, concerts, dance performances, backstage experiences, and opportunities to interact with working artists.
Exploration: Iconic attractions, neighborhoods, landmarks, sightseeing, and age-appropriate free time.
Connection: Group meals, shared experiences, and opportunities for students to experience a new destination together.
Together, those components create something much more valuable than a sightseeing trip.
They create an extension of your performing arts program.
6. Be Ready for the Logistical Questions
Educational value is important, but administrators also need to feel confident that the practical side of the trip has been considered.
Be prepared to answer questions about:
- Transportation
- Hotel accommodations
- Student supervision and chaperones
- Meals
- Overall trip cost
- Student payment schedules
- Insurance
- Safety and emergency procedures
- Accessibility
- On-site support
- Cancellation policies
You certainly do not need to navigate all of these questions alone. Your EPT Tour Director is happy to answer any & all questions, direct you to the sections of your EPT Proposal where you can find this information, and can help you anticipate administrative questions and gather the information you need before submitting your proposal.
7. Bring EPT Into the Planning Process Early
One of the biggest misconceptions about working with a student tour operator is that you need to have your trip figured out before reaching out.
You don’t.
Sometimes the starting point is simply:
“I’d love to take my students to New York next spring.”
That’s enough for us to start a conversation.
We will help you determine which experiences make sense for your students, build a customized itinerary, develop preliminary pricing, and create a trip that supports the educational and artistic goals of your program.
And because our team has decades of experience working with schools, we can help you think about the trip through an administrator’s eyes, too.
What is the educational purpose?
What will students gain from the experience?
How is the itinerary structured?
What safeguards and logistics are in place?
Why is this trip worth taking?
When those answers are clear, you are giving your administration a much stronger proposal to consider.
