MEDIA ADVISORY
From the Smith College Museum of Art
Media contact: Margi Caplan,
The Smith College Museum of Art will host "Free Fun Friday/Free Second Friday"
on August 11, participating in a statewide
summer 2017 program
Northampton, MA August 7, 2017 — The Smith College Museum of Art will offer ten hours of entirely free, fun access to its galleries on Friday, August 11.
“Free Fun Friday” — a day-long special event for all ages — offers new and returning visitors a final free opportunity to visit the long-running show, “The Villas of Oplontis Near Pompeii,” as well as the chance to enjoy the entire museum and free, family-friendly activities.
Following a six-month run at Smith, and showings at two previous museums, the “Oplontis” exhibition will close on Sunday, August 13, after which the rare ancient artifacts will return to Italy.
SCMA's "Free Fun Friday/Free Second Friday" event on August 11 is part of a statewide summer program now in its ninth year, overseen and funded by the Highland Street Foundation based in Newton, MA.The museum will be open and admission will be entirely free from 10am to 8pm.
Like the other 84 partnering cultural institutions in this summer's "Free Fun Friday" program — including the MFA Boston and Jacobs Pillow Dance — SCMA applied for and was awarded a grant to underwrite related expenses such as additional staffing, art materials and light refreshments that will be offered during the second half of the event, known as "Free Second Friday at SCMA."
The 2017 schedule of Free Fun Fridays launched on June 23 and concludes on August 25, giving people of all ages and interests the chance to experience museums and cultural institutions from Boston to the Berkshires and beyond.
The August 11 Free Fun Friday/Second Friday will feature family-friendly self-guided materials and new art activity cards designed to connect young visitors as well as people of all ages with art in the museum's galleries.
Other “Free Fun Friday/Free Second Friday” highlights will include the Holyoke Hummus “Great Garbanzo” Food Truck (11 to 2; cash only) and Crooked Stick Pops (starting at 4pm), along with a Second Friday hands-on art-making activity (from 4 to 7pm). The complete schedule is posted on the museum's website.
Based on the experience of previous area participants such as The Eric Carle Museum and The Emily Dickinson Museum, SCMA hopes to at least double its normal attendance for the day while attracting many new visitors.
The line-up for each Free Fun Friday includes some seven to ten cultural institutions. On August 11 the diverse offerings include Jacobs Pillow Dance (Becket); Worcester Historical Museum (Worcester); Franklin Park Zoo (Boston); and Naumkeag (Stockbridge). See the complete 2017 Free Fun Friday schedule here.
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Photo caption + credit:
Visitors in the current exhibition, “The Villas of Oplontis Near Pompeii” at the Smith College Museum of Art, on view through Sunday, August 13. Photography by Lynne Graves for SCMA