Art and music festival honors Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

On Monday, January 18, the Cleveland Museum of Art will open its doors for a daylong, free festival of art and music in celebration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Family-friendly activities, storytelling and song will fill the galleries to promote Dr. King’s vision of understanding and acceptance.

[1]Budding artists can create prayer flags and attach their messages to the museum’s Spirit Trees, while visitors of all ages are invited to use a specially designed map to search for specific works of art in the museum’s 1916 building. Hear inspiring tales from the Cleveland Association of Black Storytellers, or join members of the museum’s own security staff, who will offer insights regarding their favorite artworks in “If These Walls Had Ears.”

In the afternoon, musical presentations take center stage in the museum’s east wing, café, and rotunda. Performers include the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Jazz Trio and Vocal Ensemble, the Cleveland Music School Settlement’s Cello Quartet, and Motivation Through Excellence.

Monday also marks the final day for the museum’s landmark special exhibition Paul Gauguin: Paris, 1889 (tickets required). The show re-creates on a smaller scale the radical independent exhibition that Gauguin organized with his artistic disciples on the grounds of the 1889 Exposition Universelle and explores how the artist created his signature style.

Times and other details regarding the Martin Luther King Jr. Day events can be found on the museum’s web site [2].