Music, tours, children’s workshops in Museum’s 164-acre Park
Raleigh, N.C. - The North Carolina Museum of Art will host a free family-friendly festival, Earth Day: A Celebration of Art and Nature, on Saturday, April 18, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Museum Park. The celebration features guided Park tours, children’s art workshops, live music on the big stage, and environmental demonstrations throughout the 164-acre Museum Park. The Museum’s celebration, presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, is part of Earth Day Raleigh 2009.
Art and Nature
Visitors of all ages and physical abilities can explore the Museum Park, either through a guided tour or on their own.
• Park tour guides will lead art and nature walks at noon, 1 p.m., and 2 p.m.
• The 164-acre Museum Park contains woodlands, prairie, streams, and walking trails with 13 works of art for visitors to discover, from the enchanting cover of Chris Drury’s Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky to the monumental rings of Thomas Sayre’s Gyre.
Family Activities and Workshops
Children and families will discover fun and easy ways to be green with art activities and creative workshops. These include:
• Mini-basket weaving with recycled plastic bags
• Imaginative sculpture building using reused materials from the famous blue barrels of The Scrap Exchange, a nonprofit creative reuse center in Durham
• Pottery workshop to create nature-inspired works of art with clay
• Letterbox journaling adventure through the Park (similar to a scavenger hunt)
• Recycling relay races and games led by Be Active North Carolina, an organization dedicated to increasing physical activity levels and promoting healthy lifestyles
Music
Throughout the afternoon live performances will include local bands and fan favorites that are entertaining for all ages. Bands include:
• The Old Ceremony, a Chapel Hill-based pop/rock band that regularly sells out local venues with their Beatles, Beck, and Led Zeppelin-influenced tunes
• Carnavalito, a high-energy Latin band
• Sandbox, a twangy, upbeat children’s group known for their sing-alongs
Environmental Education
Environmental educators will share information about ways to incorporate conservation, composting, reducing, and recycling into daily routines. Opportunities include:
• City of Raleigh environmentalists will lead recycling games and teach visitors how to turn trash into treasure, compost kitchen scraps, and create compost bins.
• Prairie Ridge EcoStation Educators will introduce visitors to live program animals— bullfrog, yellow-bellied slider, painted turtle, snapping turtle, and a small water snake—many of which live in the Museum Park and pond.
• East Coast Greenway representatives will discuss the East Coast Greenway Trail, a developing trail system spanning nearly 3,000 miles from Canada to Key West, of which the Museum Park will be a part.
• Dan Gottlieb, director of planning and design, will provide updates on the Museum’s new gallery building and its green elements from
Concessions
Concessions available for purchase will include healthy lunches on compostable serving materials provided by Blue Ridge, the Museum Restaurant, and a selection of Popsicles from Locopops.
Soles4Souls Shoe Drive
In conjunction with Earth Day at the NCMA, the Museum and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina will collect gently worn shoes to be recycled for people in need worldwide. The donations will benefit Soles4Souls, a Nashville-based nonprofit which facilitates the donations of both new and used shoes. The shoe drive kicked off on Tuesday, March 24, and culminates at the Earth Day festival. Collection boxes will be located in the Museum’s Education Lobby March 24 through April 18. Donations will also be accepted in the Museum Park at the Earth Day festival on April 18.
Earth Day at the NCMA is a free event and is open to the public. Additional details can be found at www.ncartmuseum.org or (919) 839-NCMA. Earth Day Raleigh 2009 information is available at www.visitraleigh.com.
The North Carolina Museum of Art’s permanent collection spans more than 5,000 years, from ancient Egypt to the present, making the institution one of the premier art museums in the Southeast. The Museum’s collection provides educational, aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural experiences for the citizens of North Carolina and beyond. The 164-acre Museum Park showcases the connection between art and nature through monumental works of environmental art. The Museum offers changing national touring exhibitions, classes, lectures, family activities, films, and concerts.
The North Carolina Museum of Art, Lawrence J. Wheeler, director, is located at 2110 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh. It is the art museum of the State of North Carolina, and Beverly Eaves Perdue, governor, and an agency of the Department of Cultural Resources, Linda A. Carlisle, secretary. Museum hours are Tuesday–Thursday and Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Closed Monday. Admission to the permanent collection is free. For information, call (919) 839-NCMA, or visit www.ncartmuseum.org.