Austin Museum Day is here! It’s all happening Sunday, September 17, 2017 — your day to enjoy FREE access to tons of fun exhibits and activities for visitors of all ages at more than 35 Austin-area museums. Museum Day visitors will enjoy all variety of special programming including guided tours, hands-on activities, and more. You can even participate in the Austin Museum Day Instagram contest for a chance to win great prizes! (Just visit this page and scroll down for instructions.)
Last year, nearly 30,000 people visited our town’s history, science, nature, and art museums on Austin Museum Day. This year marks the 20th annual citywide celebration hosted by the Austin Museum Partnership, a consortium of Austin-area museums founded in 1998.
Check the calendar for specifics on what’s happening where and when, and be sure to download the mobile app from the Austin Museum Day website to help plan your day. In the meantime, check out these highlights from a few Austin-area family favorites:
- Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center will be hosting activities all over the Center from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., including family fun in the Luci and Ian Family Garden, a fall-blooming flowers garden tour, story time and a book signing in the store, seed-planting demonstrations, and a presentation on how to coexist with coyotes.
- The Bullock Museum invites visitors to bring the family for special activities inspired by your favorite video games from noon to 3:00 p.m. Visitors will enjoy art- and music-making activities, a selfie challenge, conversations with costumed interpreters, and more.
- The LBJ Library Museum will offer family-friendly activities from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sesame Street’s Grover will be in attendance! You can get your picture taken with him and autographed copies of The Monster at the End of This Book will be available for purchase in the museum store. Benjamin Kramer, vice president of education, KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, will lead a storytime and The River City Pops will be performing songs from PBS shows.
- Are you curious about a fossil or other natural object you have found? If so, bring your discoveries to Texas Memorial Museum from 1-5:00 p.m. on Identification Day! They will have University scientists and experts from Central Texas on hand to identify natural objects such as fossils, bones, rocks, and prehistoric archeological materials.
- Elisabet Ney Museum asks the perennial question: Who Are You Anyways? How do you answer that? How about through art? At this super fun annual family event from noon to 4:00 p.m., live music, demonstrations, exceptional art activities, caricatures, and more will help you discover yourself.
Participating museums include:
- Art. Science. Gallery.
- Austin History Center
- Austin Nature and Science Center
- Austin Toy Museum
- Austin Woman’s Club / Chateau Bellevue
- Blanton Museum of Art
- Briscoe Center for American History
- Brush Square Museums (O. Henry and Susanna Dickinson Museums)
- Bullock Texas State History Museum
- City of Austin Cultural Arts Division
- Dougherty Arts Center
- Elisabet Ney Museum
- German-Texan Heritage Society (Historic 1858 German Free School)
- Harry Ransom Center
- Hill Country Science Mill (Johnson City)
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Landmarks Public Art Program, The University of Texas at Austin
- LBJ Presidential Library and Museum
- Mexic-Arte Museum
- Neill-Cochran House Museum
- Pioneer Farms
- Save Austin’s Cemeteries at Historic Oakwood Cemetery
- Sheffield Education Center
- South Austin Museum of Popular Culture
- Texas Capitol Visitors Center
- Texas Department of Public Safety Historical Museum and Research Center
- Texas Historical Commission
- Texas Medical Association History of Medicine Gallery
- Texas Memorial Museum
- Texas Military Forces Museum
- Texas Music Museum
- Texas State Capitol
- Texas Wendish Heritage Museum (Giddings)
- The Contemporary Austin
- The Williamson Museum
- Thinkery
- UMLAUF Sculpture Garden and Museum
- Waller Creek Conservancy
- Women and Their Work
Visit www.AustinMuseumDay.org to see an interactive map and download the Austin Museum Partnership mobile app for the latest details about Austin Museum Day, participating museums, and program hours.
About the Austin Museum Partnership:
The Austin Museum Partnership (AMP) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that promotes and facilitates collaboration within the museum community for the benefit of the city’s museums and the community at large. Austin Museum Day is held every year on the second-to-last Sunday in September. Discover more at www.AustinMuseums.org. Find the Austin Museum Partnership on Facebook and Twitter (@AustinMuseums, #MuseumDay2017 and #ATXMuseums).
Austin Museum Day is coordinated by a volunteer board and made possible through the support of community organizations and sponsors. Austin Museum Day’s “open house” atmosphere aims to strengthen the metropolitan area’s museum community through increased awareness and accessibility.
