Mon 1/16
With schools and government offices closed Monday January 16 for the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and legacy, you’ll find a lot going on, including museums not typically open Mondays opening their doors for special activities and many offering free admission.
The Maltz Museum is offering free admission fro 11am-5pm, a great time to tour its permanent exhibition as well as its current special exhibit, Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement, which fits perfectly with today’s holiday. Retired pastor of Cleveland’s Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss Jr. will speak & do a book signing at 1pm with his book Dancing in Darkness based on Dr. King’s teachings.
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Severance Music Center, home of the Cleveland Orchestra, holds its free community day starting at noon. There’ll be performances throughout the afternoon by groups such as the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, the student music program Crescendo!, musician from the Cleveland Orchestra and a gospel ensemble. It’s free and no tickets are required.
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The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is offering a free-admission “Discovery Day” from 10am-5pm. Throughout the day, scientists from the museum staff will be doing talks and presentations, and at noon in the Murch Auditorium Dr. Nicole Burt the museum’s curator of human health and evolutionary medicine will host a panel discussion on community health with local experts in the field.
At the Rock Hall, which is also offering free admission (timed ticket reservations are required), you can hear R&B singer Charity Evonna perform on the lobby stage at 11am, with singer/songwriter/rapper JAMPOP performing at 1pm. They’ll be playing Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on loop in the Main Exhibition Hall all day and screening their 2021 and 2022 virtual MLK Day programming in the Foster Theater.
From 10am-4pm the Cleveland Museum of Art will hold doing special programming in its Ames Family Atrium and its galleries relating to the theme “It Starts with Me: Cultivating a Beloved Community Mindset to Transform Unjust Systems.” Activities include storytelling, hands-on art making and reflective writing prompts.
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The Akron Art Museum, also not normally open Mondays, will also be offering free admission from 11am-5pm with photos from its own collection relating to Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement on display in its lobby all day.
Finally, the Cleveland History Center (Western Reserve Historical Society) and the Great Lakes Science Center are also open and offering free admission and special programming on Monday.
One Response to “Area Museums & Cultural Institutions Offer Special MLK Day Programming”
Angie Lowrie
The Cleveland History Center will also be open for free to the community on Monday, January 16. Guests can visit any time 10am-4pm. Rides on the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel will be available for $3 each.