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Free First Thursdays

April

Thursday, April 7, 2022 3 - 9 pm
Throughout the Museum

Join us on the first Thursday of every month for a restorative evening of discovery and community. Museum admission is free from 3 pm through 9 pm. Explore art, architecture, art-making activities, and seasonal horticulture displays in the Palace. The Café is open late for dinner and drinks.

Special program this month

Visiting Curator of Performing Arts Helga Davis hosts SEEDS, a celebration of the plants in the Gardner collection, and explores how these living works of art plant seeds of inspiration in all of us and our communities. The first plant reading is at 4:30 pm and the second begins at 5:30 pm. A tribute to the Museum's many plant species will take place in the lush Courtyard, featuring live music by jazz harpist Charles Overton and his ensemble. At 7:15 pm, Tariq Al-Sabir and his 12-piece band will perform new arrangements compositions of Stevie Wonder's seminal soundtrack Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants in Calderwood Hall.  Seating for the performance in Calderwood Hall is first come, first served for general admission ticket holders. 

Art-making activities in the Bertucci Education Studio are inspired by SEEDS and by the Gardner's iconic annual hanging nasturtiums display. Join Polly Thayer Starr Studio Artist Rayna Lo in the Bertucci Education Studio to explore and draw plants from the courtyard. Decorate and take home your own nasturtium seed packet along with drawing plants from life.

How to Reserve Tickets

Advance registration is required for free timed entry tickets. Reserve your ticket online by clicking the RESERVE YOUR TICKETS button above.

COVID-19 POLICY

The Gardner maintains its mask requirement for free and ticketed events in Calderwood Hall. Masks must be worn over the mouth and nose while in Calderwood Hall. Please contact the Box Office at 617 278 5156 for further information. 

Free days are supported in part by the Wallace Minot Leonard Foundation.

The Neighborhood Salon is supported in part by the Barr Foundation ArtsAmplified Initiative and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Studio activities are generously sponsored by the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust.

Education and community programs receive support from the Vertex Foundation, Rowland Foundation, the Richard K. Lubin Family Foundation, the Wagner Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Yawkey Foundation, The Beker Foundation, Liberty Mutual Foundation, GRoW @ Annenberg, The Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation, Thomas Anthony Pappas Charitable Foundation, and Janet Burke Mann Foundation.

The Museum also receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts.