General admission for children 17 years and under is always free

Free

Neighborhood Nights

Map This Block Party

Thursday, August 22, 2019
5 - 9 pm
Throughout the Museum

The Gardner's free, vibrant Neighborhood Night Block Party features the Map This processional, a Big Plans: Picturing Social Reform exhibition-inspired collaboration between designer and Neighborhood Salon Luminary Nathalia JMag and youth from Urbano Project, Sisters Unchained, and Hyde Square Task Force. Dance to street rhythms by Grooversity and DJ Real P, and enjoy performances by the Chez Vous roller skaters, Boston Latin Academy Step Squad, and more!

Bring the whole family to the Gardner for free interactive evenings in our beautiful galleries and gardens. Enjoy performances, hands-on art making, food trucks, a cash bar, gallery games, and free programming both inside the Museum and outside on Evans Way and in Evans Way Park.

Program for the Evening

Within the Museum

In the Studio | Art-Making | 5–8:30 PM
Make a map of the place you call home with Visiting Studio Artist Anthony Peña.

In the Living Room | A Postcard Project | 5–8:30 PM
Send a map-themed postcard to someone special.

In the Jordan Garden | A Portrait Project | 5–8:30 PM
Help create an archive of Boston-dwellers in the current moment by having your photograph taken; embellish and display your photo for others to enjoy throughout the night.

In the Courtyard | Live Music | 5–8:30 PM
Neighborhood Salon Luminary Josh Knowles plays ethereal electric violin and vocals. His album will be available for sale in the gift shop.

In the Galleries | Gallery Games | 5–8:30 PM
Map your journey throughout the Museum! Get started in the Tapestry Room, then head to the Living Room to connect your dots and claim your sticker prize.

In Calderwood Hall | Documentary Screening | 6, 7*, and 8:15 PM
Experience a special screening of Eternally Misunderstood by Vanessa Ly, a moving documentary of interviews with young women whose lives have been affected by incarceration.
*The 7 PM screening will be followed by a talk-back.

Outside on Evans Way

Map This Processional | 6:15, 7 and 8 PM
Throughout the summer of 2019, Neighborhood Salon Luminary designer Nathalia JMag facilitated hands-on textile workshops with local youth-serving partner organizations Urbano Project, Hyde Square Task Force, and Sisters Unchained. The youth explored historical maps from the Gardner Museum's Big Plans exhibition, maps of projected sea level rise in Boston, and community-generated maps as layers of aesthetic material.

Textiles created during the workshops, using sustainable design techniques, will debut tonight during the Map This Processional, and will be displayed at Urbano Project's gallery space on Saturday, August 24, 5-7 PM.

Also Featuring
The Map This Processional kicks off with percussion by Grooversity. Between processions enjoy beats by host DJ Real P, and experience the magic of the Chez-Vous Rollerskaters, Boston Latin Academy Step & Stroll and Dance teams, traditional Chinese dancers, and a line-up of guest drag queens invited by Nathalia JMag. Explore hands-on art making, community tablers, food trucks, lawn games, and more.

Map This

Community Engagement at the Gardner brings together Neighborhood Salon Luminary designer Nathalia JMag; local youth-serving partner organizations Hyde Square Task ForceUrbano Project, and Sisters Unchained; and Olin College engineering students working with advisor Mimi Onuoha to consider the exhibition Big Plans: Picturing Social Reform and to generate alternative maps of Boston communities.

Throughout the summer of 2019, Nathalia has facilitated hands-on textile workshops with youth engaging historical imagery from the Big Plans exhibition, and community-generated maps as layers of aesthetic material. Map-inspired textiles created during the workshops will be further refined by JMag, and will culminate in an outdoor, public processional at the Neighborhood Night Block Party. The works will also be displayed in Urbano Project's gallery space through August.

Learn More about Map This

Nathalia JMag
Nathalia JMag, Map This collaborator

Admission

Free admission from 5–9 pm on select Thursday evenings. Free admission will be available at the Museum entrance on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitors under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Admission includes access to the entire Museum, including special exhibitions. To ensure everyone's experience at the Museum is pleasant, entry may be timed every 30 minutes, with the last entry at 8:30 pm.

This program is supported in part by the Barr Foundation ArtsAmplified Initiative, the Wallace Minot Leonard Foundation, and a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Mass Cultural Council, and administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.

Education and community programs are funded in part by the Josephine and Louise Crane Foundation, Lenoir Charitable Trust, Liberty Mutual Foundation, Janet Burke Mann Foundation, Marriott Daughters Foundation, Rowland Foundation, Pappas Foundation, and the Wells Fargo Foundation. Studio activities are generously sponsored by the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust. These programs are funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives support from the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.