Art Institute of Chicago
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•$18, $12 students and seniors, $2 discount for Chicago residents, free kids 13 and under. Target Free Thursday and Friday 5-9 p.m.
Families visiting the Art Institute will find more areas just for children with the recent opening of the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Education Center in the museum’s new Modern Wing. The center occupies the first floor of the wing and doubles the size of the area previously designated for children and family activities.
“We always have family activities throughout the year and this just adds on to it,” says Chai Lee, the museum’s associate director of public affairs. Movers and Makers, a workshop that combines dance, storytelling and drop-in art activities, launches as part of the new programming. The new space enables the museum to increase educational activities by 30 percent and accommodate more than 1,500 children a day.
With the education center’s free admission, new children’s programs and prime view of Chicago’s skyline and Millennium Park, museum administrators hope to attract many families.
Visit the new kids’ exhibition, “Picture Perfect: Art from Caldecott Award Books, 2006-2009,” at the Curious Corner. The center opened to the public May 16.
