In addition to its regularly scheduled weekend and weekday programs for children and families in December and January, The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced a variety of special activities beginning December 3 and extending throughout the holiday season and beyond, including the Christmas/New Year's school break and "Holiday Mondays" on December 26, 2005, and January 16, 2006. Among the highlights are drawing and gallery workshops, a screening of holiday films, the world-famous Christmas tree and Nativity scene that are on display each year in the Museum's Medieval Sculpture Hall, and programs at The Cloisters, the Museum's branch for medieval art located in upper Manhattan.
Year-round amenities for families at the Metropolitan Museum include special greeters in the Great Hall on weekends and on Holiday Mondays, a "2-for-1" audio guide offer, free printed guides for independent activities within the Museum, family-friendly dining – including a special children's menu in the cafeteria – and a Met/Kids catalogue, Children's Shop, and "MuseumKids" web page.
Special Programs in December
· Saturday, December 3, 6:00-7:00 p.m.: Curator Contact: Dirk Breiding and Helmets and Gauntlets, featuring Dirk Breiding of the Department of Arms and Armor. Through conversation and sketching, families are encouraged to explore how European, Islamic, and Japanese armor mask and protect the head and hands, and how these extremities appear in other works of art.
· Saturdays, December 3, 10, and 17, 2:00-3:30 p.m., and Sundays, December 11 and 18, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Draw, Partner! Observation and Imagination through Drawing in the Galleries, part of the Look Again! series. Using drawing as a tool, works of art in Museum's collection that tell stores of people and places, with lines, shapes, and colors, are explored.
· Saturday, December 3, 1:00-2:00 p.m.: "St. Nicholas Day," a Gallery Workshop for Families at The Cloisters, featuring an hour-long program of gallery tours and art-making activities for children ages four through 12 and their adult companions. For further information, call (212) 650-2280.
· Saturday, December 17, 1:15-1:50 p.m.: Holiday Films for Families, three short films from the Museum's archive that celebrate the season – including A Christmas Cracker (1964), directed by Norman McLaren; The Great Frost (1982), an episode from Virginia Woolf's Orlando, narrated by Hermione Gingold; and Star of Bethlehem: Baroque Woodcarvings (1968), the story of the Nativity retold with small Baroque woodcarvings similar to those on the Museum's Christmas tree.
· Tuesday-Saturday, December 20-24 and December 27-31, 11 a.m.-noon and 2:00-3:00 p.m.: Holiday Family Programs, an hour of stimulating discussion and sketching of the Museum's masterpieces for children ages five through 12 and accompanying adults.
· Monday, December 26, at 11:00 a.m., noon, 1:15 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.: Holiday Monday Family Programs, an hour of stimulating discussion and sketching of the Museum's masterpieces for children ages five through 12 and accompanying adults.
· Tuesday and Wednesday, December 27 and 28, at The Cloisters: Fresco! How Did They Do That?, illustrating, through the handling of tools and materials, how fresco was created in the Middle Ages. Presented in 30-minute sessions running from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. For further information, call (212) 650-2280.
· Throughout the month, the Metropolitan Museum is featuring a special Audio Guide for children in conjunction with the exhibition Vincent van Gogh: The Drawings, on view through December 31. In addition, families can learn at home about the artist's life and art and closely examine four of his many drawings in How Van Gogh Made His Mark, an interactive feature on the Museum's website, located at http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/van_gogh/index.html.
Special Programs in January 2006
· Saturday, January 7, 1:00-2:00 p.m.: "Family Ties," a Gallery Workshop for Families at The Cloisters, featuring an hour-long program of gallery tours and art-making activities for children ages four through 12 and their adult companions. For further information, call (212) 650-2280.
· Saturday and Sunday, January 14 and 15: Degas's Dancers: How Did They Do That?, illustrating, through the handling of tools and materials, how these works of art were created. Presented in 30-minute sessions running from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
· Monday, January 16, at 11:00 a.m., noon, 1:15 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.: Holiday Monday Family Programs, an hour of stimulating discussion and sketching of the Museum's masterpieces for children ages five through 12 and accompanying adults.
Also of special interest to families during the holiday season is the Museum's Annual Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche, on view November 22, 2005 through January 8, 2006. A favorite of New Yorkers and visitors from around the world, this vivid 18th-century Neapolitan crèche scene, embellished with a profuse array of diminutive, lifelike attendant figures and silk-robed angels hovering above, adorns a large candlelit spruce tree. Recorded music throughout the day adds to the enjoyment of this display, and lighting ceremonies are held Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:00 p.m.
The exhibit of the crèche is made possible by gifts to The Christmas Tree Fund and the Loretta Hines Howard Fund.
All programs are free with Museum admission.
Family programs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art are supported by: Uris Brothers Foundation Endowment, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Schein, May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., Pat and John Rosenwald Fund, Aronson Endowment Fund, Staten Island Advance, and The Roberta & Allan Weissglass Foundation, Inc.
Met Holiday Mondays are sponsored by Bloomberg.
The Audio Guide program is sponsored by Bloomberg.
For further information on family activities at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, call (212) 570-3961.
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