The Arkansas Arts Center is hoping to help families add a cultural kick to their Labor Day weekend. On Saturday, the museum hosts another of its Family Festivals, giving kid-friendly activities a twist to complement the center’s latest exhibition: Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London.
The exhibit has been open since June, but Saturday’s event will be an opportunity to make the themes of the exhibit and life in the 18th and 19th centuries more accessible to people of all ages, says the center’s director of education, Louise Palermo.
“We want to bring the families in to see our collections and our exhibitions and see how art museums can be very engaging and a family event,” Palermo says.
The festival, which is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, will be held on the center’s lawn and in the atrium. Palermo says organizers plan to connect the event to the Kenwood House exhibition by playing traditional 18th- and 19th-century games such as blind man’s bluff and croquet.
“We’ll also have some stations set up to work on doing some portraiture and have some biscuits — the British way of saying cookies — and other treats,” Palermo says.
Family festivals are typically held at the center two or three times per year. In the past, themes have included an all-American picnic for a Norman Rockwell exhibit and papyrus-making lessons during an Egyptian art exhibit. Palermo says more festivals are scheduled for later this year, including another tied to a portraiture exhibit and one featuring an exhibit of work by Mark Rothko. A family-friendly guide to the Kenwood House exhibit is available now, Palermo says, and she’s currently working on guides for other collections in the museum.
“We try to find a way to interpret the exhibitions in a way that people of all ages can enjoy them,” Palermo says.
Entry to Saturday’s festival is $5 per person for non-members or $20 per family. The event is free for Arts Center members. Visit arkarts.com for more information.