Mon 1/20
As usual, institutions across the region celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday holiday by opening their doors on a day they’re not typically open, and offering free admission and special programming. (University Circle is even offering a special shuttle between the area’s museums and other organizations offering programming.)
One of those is Severance Music Center with their all-day MLK Community Open House & Day of Music for all ages, with activities and performances throughout the building from 11:30am-5pm. Performers include The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, Blakk Jakk Dance Collective, Tiamoyo Chorale, the Stix Quintet, DJ Lily Jade, the Dance Centre, and students from Cleveland Orchestra Learning Programs. No tickets are required.
Across the way, the Cleveland Museum of Art will be open from 10am-5pm with special activities relating to his work and his legacy. They include a musical performance in the contemporary galleries by young classical guitarist Damian Goggins, film screenings, a poetry reading, a dance performance, gallery tours and printmaking with Zygote Press, among other things.
On the other side of Wade Oval, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History will be open on Dr. King’s birthday, a day when it’s normally closed, with free admission. It will have a number of special activities and offerings including a series of posters and historical photographers on display of his visits to Cleveland, MLK-themed buttons to collect, a “share your dream” board and a video storytelling space you can contribute to. There’s also free hot chocolate!
hYou can take that shuttle up East Boulevard and stop at the Western Reserve Historical Society, also free, and check out several exhibits that explore Black history. One is History in Their Hands: Black Photographers in Cleveland, Ohio, 1968-Present, with their chance to meet the associate curator and some of the photographers. Traveling exhibitions from the Smithsonian feature materials from thev1968 Poor People’s Campaign and the Poor People’s March on Washington, organized by Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and carried out following his assassination.
The Rock Hall will be free on MLK Day with special programming that includes an “I Have a Dream” wall where you can share your own dreams; Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech being played all day on a loop; protest sign making; and performances by local artists Esther Fitz, the Fleshman Singers and the Rainey Center dancers. It’s open from 9am-6pm. Go here to reserve admission tickets.
The Maltz Museum will be open from 11am-5pm with free admission. It will have hands-on activities for kids, members of the Cleveland Association of Black Storytellers telling civil rights stories, and a screening of a film about an activist who opened the door of the University of Florida Law School to Black students.
Greater Cleveland Congregations, the area organization that brings different religious groups together to advocate for justice and human rights, is hosting a meeting from 10am-noon in honor of Dr. King called “A GCC Prophetic Conversation — where do we go from here: chaos or community?” It takes place at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church and is open to all. There will be programming for teens and children of all ages as well.
And if you’re down in the Akron area, you’ll find the Akron Art Museum atypically open from 11am-5pm, also with free admission, In addition to being able to see pieces in its regular collection by Black artists such as Nick Cave and Rashid Johnson, there will be an open studio and the New York International Children’s Film Festival’s Celebrating Black Stories short films screening in the auditorium.
Cleveland, OH 44106
Cleveland, OH 44106
Cleveland, OH 44106
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106
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Beachwood, OH 44122
Cleveland, OH 44106
Akron, OH 44308