Kids get in free during February School Vacation
Mystic, CT – Mystic Seaport is offering free youth admission with the purchase of one adult admission during the Museum’s Liberty Days program held February 13-14 and 18-21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The winter promotion offers a savings of $15 per child (ages 6 – 17).
Visitors are invited to take part in the following special Liberty Days activities:
- Make a winter craft (all day)
- Build a wooden toy boat keepsake (all day, fee: $5)
- Participate in hands-on story time (11 a.m. – 12 p.m.)
- Make a paper dory (11 a.m. to 12 p.m.)
- Take an African American maritime history tour (1 – 2 p.m.)
- Learn about sailors’ superstitions and tattoos (1 – 2 p.m.)
- Listen to an “African Roots in Maritime Music” program (1:45 p.m.)
- Explore a sailor’s sea chest (2:30 – 3:30 p.m.)
Two free planetarium programs will also be shown daily: “Zoo in the Sky,” a 10:30 a.m. show that uses stories of the animals of the night sky to journey among the stars and “Winter Stars of a Voyage to Freedom,” a 2 p.m. show that details the sky that led the freedom schooner Amistad’s crew to freedom.
Additionally, visitors can explore the Museum’s 19th-century seafaring village; climb aboard the world’s last surviving wooden whaleship, the Charles W. Morgan; and discover the history of the nation’s waterways in Building America’s Canals, a hands-on traveling exhibit organized by the National Canal Museum.
For more information, visit www.mysticseaport.org/libertydays.
“Kids’ Free Admission” offer at Mystic Seaport is not transferable and subject to change without notice. No other discounts apply.
Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929, the Museum is home to four National Historic Landmark vessels, exhilarating exhibits, a re-created 19th-century seafaring village and a fine art gallery. The Museum is open Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $24 for adults and $15 for children ages 6-17. Children 5 and under are always admitted for free. For more information, visit www.mysticseaport.org.
Tags: Mystic, Mystic Seaport, New London County, Winter Activities, Winter Break
Celebrations Recognize Centennial of Twain’s Death, 125th Anniversary of Huck Finn, and Twain’s 175th Birthday
Hartford, CT – “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835,” Mark Twain wrote in 1909. “It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.’”
And with this uncanny prediction, Samuel L. Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, indeed died in the year of that rare occurrence on April 21, 1910. One hundred years later, The Mark Twain House & Museum and The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., will recognize Twain’s role as one of our nation’s foremost literary icons, his incredible legacy as a witty and insightful social commentator, and his ongoing influence on American culture with a 2010 Centennial Celebration of unique events throughout the year. Twain wrote such American classics as Adventures of Huck Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, among others, while living in Hartford, Connecticut.
The events kicked off January 23 with Mark Twain Tonight! starring celebrated actor Hal Holbrook. In collaboration with Hartford Stage, the Oscar-nominated, Emmy- and Tony-award winning actor brought his one-man Twain show, which he has performed more than 2,000 times in more than 40 years, to Hartford. The Hartford was the Presenting Sponsor, and the production was also sponsored by Connecticut Light & Power Company.
The nearly thirty other events include an Adventures of Huckleberry Finn anniversary musical celebration (Feb. 18); the world premiere of a a new adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer at Hartford Stage (April 1); participation in The Big Read, a collaboration with the Hartford Public Library (April though June); a Clemens Lecture by author Wally Lamb (April 7), a Victorian séance with a special cake created by Charm City Bakery (as seen on Food Networks’s Ace of Cakes) (April 21); a Tom Sawyer Day at the museum (June 12) and much more. For a full list of these events, click here.
“The rumors of our centennial celebrations have not been exaggerated!” said Jeffrey L. Nichols, Executive Director of The Mark Twain House & Museum. “In 2010, Twain fans of every age should come to Hartford to recognize the life of Samuel Clemens and his work at the beautiful home where Huck, Jim and Tom were born. Through the generous support of The Hartford, we plan to celebrate this important year in the legacy of Mark Twain with unique events and exhibits that explore his books, his humor, his adventures and his times.”
The Hartford marks a significant milestone of its own in 2010, celebrating the bicentennial of its incorporation and two centuries of service to the communities in which its employees live and work.
In honor of the centennial of Mark Twain’s death, the 175th anniversary of his birth, and the 125th anniversary of the publication of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the United States, The Hartford has made a historic commitment to The Mark Twain House & Museum’s 2010 events. The company will be providing year-long financial support for celebrations across Hartford, Connecticut—the site of its corporate headquarters and Twain’s home for more than 15 years—including its role as presenting sponsor for Hartford Stage’s upcoming world premiere theatrical adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its Twain-related programs and education initiatives.
“We are excited to enter our third century, joining in the celebration of the great works of Mark Twain,” says Connie Weaver, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at The Hartford. “The full slate of events organized by The Mark Twain House & Museum will present the community with an amazing opportunity to experience Twain firsthand, while embracing the rich history of our region.”
Click the link below for a list of the year’s events. Visit the Mark Twain House & Museum website, www.marktwainhouse.org, for updates. Unless otherwise specified, call 860-280-3130 for tickets.
Tags: Exhibits, Hartford, Hartford County, Museums
Keith Padin and John Spinetti in "Forum"
Shelton, CT – There’s still a few chances left to see “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at Center Stage in Shelton. Remaining performances will take place at 8:00 p.m. on February 6th, 12th, and 13th, and at 2:00 p.m. on February 7th.
Broadway’s greatest farce is light, fast-paced, witty, irreverent and one of the funniest musicals ever written – the perfect escape from life’s troubles.
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum takes comedy back to its roots, combining situations from time-tested, 2000 year old comedies of Roman playwright Plautus with the infectious energy of classic vaudeville. The result is a non-stop laugh-fest in which a crafty slave (Pseudolus) struggles to win the hand of a beautiful but slow-witted courtesan (Philia) for his young master (Hero), in exchange for freedom.
For more information visit http://www.centerstageshelton.com or call (203) 225-6079.
Center Stage is a non-profit theatre located at 405 Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton, Connecticut.
Additional shows slated for the 2010 season include The Man Who Came to Dinner, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, On Golden Pond, Miracle on 34th Street, Fiddler on the Roof, and Twelve Angry Men.
Tags: Fairfield County, Shelton, Theaters
Romare Bearden (1914-1988) from BruceMuseum.org
Greenwich, CT – Drawing from the highlights of its own collection, the Bruce Museum demonstrates the powerful relationship between traveling and art-making in its major winter exhibition, Exotic Encounters: Art, Travel, and Modernity in the Collection of the Bruce Museum. The exhibit opened January 23rd, 2010 and currently remains on display.
Take a trip around the world as you explore the remarkable paintings, sculpture, and photography, as well as decorative and utilitarian objects, made by artists ranging from Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and Romare Bearden to a myriad of anonymous craftspeople.
With extraordinary works of art from Europe and the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East, the exhibition illuminates a little-recognized but key aspect of modern aesthetics: the drive to preserve the sensation of exotic encounter that might otherwise vanish into thin air.
The exhibition is supported by Ray and Barbara Dalio and the Charles M. and Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund. For more information, click here.
Tags: Art Exhibits, Fairfield County, Greenwich
Jim “Nappy” Napolitano
Old Lyme, CT – The Florence Griswold Museum will host “Winter Wonderment”, a three day school vacation event for families on Wednesday, February 17 to Friday, February 19, from 10am-5pm.
During school vacation week families will be kept busy and entertained with minds-on, hands-on creative wintertime fun at the Florence Griswold Museum. Kids 12 and under are always free and this week, adults pay the reduced price of $5 per person when accompanied by a child.
Events include:
GUIDED TOURS FOR FAMILIES
Daily at 10:30am, 11:30am, 2:30pm, and 3:30pm
WINTER CRAFTS IN EDUCATION CENTER
Daily from 10am-5pm
Hands-on creativity inspired by the season
FUN SCAVENGER HUNTS
Daily from 10am-5pm
SHADOW PUPPET SHOW
Thursday, February 18, 11am and 2pm
Shadows Around the World
Nappy’s Puppets
Tickets: $5 each. Advance tickets required. Call the Museum at 860-434-5542 x 111.
Join master shadow puppeteer Jim “Nappy” Napolitano for a fun trip around the world as he shares the history of shadow puppets through performance, shadows, and song. Jim Napolitano is a native of Milford, Connecticut, and a graduate of the University of Connecticut’s Puppet Arts Program. After completion of his degree, Jim worked with Bits and Pieces Puppet Theater. He performed around the country and around the world, including The National Culture Center in Japan and The National Theater in Taiwan. Additional information can be found at http://www.nappyspuppets.com/
Tags: All Ages, Children's Activities, New London County, Old Lyme, Puppets, Winter Break
Mystic, CT – Brent Dibner, president of Dibner Maritime Associates LLC , will present “Towpath to Barge Canal” at the Greenmanville Church at Mystic Seaport Saturday, March 20, from 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon.
Dibner’s presentation details the history of the Erie Canal from the early 1700s to modern day canal traffic and provides in-depth information that complements the Museum’s newest exhibition, Building America’s Canals, a hands-on traveling exhibit from the National Canal Museum. Topics include how the Erie Canal was built; along the towpath with mud, manure and crossing towlines; commodities shipped on the canal; the opening of the West via the canal; the men, women and children who worked the barges and how Irish immigrant workers eventually become tugboat owners and captains in the port of New York.
As President of Dibner Maritime Associates LLC, Dibner has assisted a wide range of clients in developing effective strategies and operational programs to compete and grow in global and domestic transportation, logistics, and commodity-based marketplaces. He holds a B.S. in naval architecture and marine engineering from the University of Michigan, an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and has designed merchant and naval ships in the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel.
Coffee and morning snacks will be available.
Tickets are $10 (in addition to Museum admission) and can be purchased online at www.mysticseaport.org/tickets or by calling 860.572.5322. Museum members will be admitted for free.
Founded in 1929, Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum and features tall ships, a re-created 19th-century village, exhibits and a planetarium. The Museum is located one mile south of exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT, and is open Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.mysticseaport.org or call 888.973.2767.
Tags: Mystic, Mystic Country, Mystic Seaport, New London County
Brook Trout (c.1899)
Mystic, CT – Mystic Seaport will examine the rarely seen Charles K. Stillman Collection in “Fishing in the Footsteps of Dr. Charles K. Stillman: A Look into One of Our Founder’s Favorite Hobbies,” the second installment of the “Maritime Surprises from the Museum’s Collections” series held Friday, February 12, from 5:30 – 7 p.m.
The four-part series, hosted at the Museum’s Collections Research Center, allows attendees to view significant items that relate to our nation’s maritime heritage.
As one of the founders of both Mystic Seaport and the Atlantic Tuna Club, Stillman was an avid freshwater and saltwater fisherman who kept detailed records of his extensive New England fishing experiences. Museum Registrar Krystal Kornegay will discuss almost 30 years of fishing journals that Stillman kept from 1900 to 1931. Stillman’s original fishing gear, along with watercolor illustrations from his journals, will also be shown.
Kornegay will further discuss her personal experiences in using Stillman’s journals entries and maps to find some of the locales in which he fished, sharing the distinct changes she has recorded along the way.
Soda and light snacks will be available.
The series continues March 12 and April 9. For more information, visit www.mysticseaport.org.
Tickets are $12 per program (members: $10) and can be purchased online at www.mysticseaport.org/tickets or by calling 860.572.5322. Tickets must be purchased in advance as seating is limited. Free parking is available adjacent to the Collections Research Center in the Museum’s north parking lot.
Founded in 1929, Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum and features tall ships, a re-created 19th-century village, exhibits and a planetarium. The Museum is located one mile south of exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT, and is open Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.mysticseaport.org or call 888.973.2767.
Tags: Mystic, Mystic Country, Mystic Seaport, New London County
Photo Credit: Peter Vanderwarker / Connecticut Magazine
New Britain, CT – Café on the Park at the New Britain Museum of American Art was recently chosen by Connecticut Magazine readers for Best Lunch in Hartford County. The magazine’s 32nd Annual Readers’ Choice Restaurant Poll recognizes restaurateurs and their talented staff for great food, attentive service and inviting atmosphere and its official results were announced in Connecticut
Café on the Park features bistro-style seating adjacent to floor-to-ceiling windows that allow diners to enjoy magnificent view of Frederick Law Olmstead-designed Walnut Hill Park. It offers visitors the opportunity to extend their museum experience with a light lunch or snacks indoors or al fresco on the patio.
Jordan Caterers Design Event Planners of Cheshire & Darien sources and prepares all of the food and beverages in the Café. The menu is seasonal and eclectic, featuring Connecticut-grown products whenever available – gourmet sandwiches and wraps, savory soups and entrées, salads and homemade desserts are available. Current menu selections include Shaker Pot Pie, Grown Up Grilled Cheese
and more.
“With each event we create or venue Jordan partners with, we seek to exceed expectations,” noted Debra Rapoport, co-owner with husband Jeffrey Rapoport. “We feel that this award exemplifies our mantra that excellence is in the details, and we are pleased and proud to be recognized by Connecticut Magazine and its readers for the Café’s Best Lunch – Hartford County win this year.”
Café on the Park is located on the first floor of the New Britain Museum of American Art at 56 Lexington Street, New Britain, CT. 06052 and is open Tuesday – Saturday 11 am – 3 pm and Sunday noon – 3 pm.
Tags: Hartford County, Lunch, New Britain
Mystic, CT – This winter, the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport presents two new workshops teaching artists how to use photography as a creative tool.
“Photographing your Artwork,” held Saturday, January 30, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., will detail the tools and techniques professionals use when photographing a painting for exhibit submission. Instructor Charles Estabrooks will discuss the specific photographic equipment, lighting setup and methods needed to obtain the best image of flat artwork. Specific focus will be placed on digital capture and problem solving techniques, image manipulation and the submission of digital files.
Estabrooks, a professional photographer based out of Westerly, RI, and a graduate of Rensselaer’s School of Architecture, photographs all of the paintings seen in the Maritime Gallery’s catalogs.
Registration is $115 ($100 for Museum members and Mystic Arts Center members). Participants can register now by calling 860.572.5322.
“Successful Paintings from Photographs,” held Saturday and Sunday, February 6 and 7, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., guides artists in using photographic references to create inventive paintings that reflect personal style while avoiding the look of a copied photo. Instructor Harley Bartlett will discuss issues of composition, value and color. Students should bring their own oil, watercolor or acrylic materials and photographs. The instructor will also provide photos if desired.
Bartlett, a graduate of the Pennsylvania School of Fine Arts, is a Maritime Gallery artist and has exhibited his works throughout southern New England.
Registration is $140 ($125 for Museum members and Mystic Arts Center members). Participants can register now by calling 860.572.5322.
For more information, visit www.mysticseaport.org/gallery or call 860.572.5388.
The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport is the nation’s foremost gallery specializing in contemporary marine art and ship models. Through its parent organization, Mystic Seaport, the gallery is proud to offer access to the world’s leading experts in the marine field, and the highest standards of scholarship, integrity and connoisseurship that the nation’s finest maritime museum represents. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and offers free admission.
Tags: Mystic, Mystic Country, Mystic Seaport, New London County, Photography Exhibits, Photography Workshops
Mystic, CT – Beginning on February 2, 2010, audiences at the historic Garde Arts Center in New London will be transported around the world, to the ends of the Earth and into the ocean’s depths to discover the “Faces of Our Planet.” Created by the Mystic-based Sea Research Foundation, National Geographic Society and the Garde, this new five-part series reveals the mysteries and discoveries of the world’s human, animal and geographic faces through film, live performance and multimedia presentations.
The series builds on Sea Research’s long-standing relationship with National Geographic. Terry Garcia, senior vice president of mission programs for National Geographic Society, has been a long-time member of Sea Research’s Board of Trustees and was recently re-elected to a three-year term. In addition, National Geographic has supported Mystic Aquarium’s “Challenge of the Deep” exhibits and co-sponsored Institute for Exploration President and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Robert Ballard’s expeditions, many of which have been featured in National Geographic television specials.
“This series provides the opportunity to strengthen our relationship with National Geographic Society through a co-branding partnership with its National Geographic Live! speakers program,” said Sea Research President and CEO Dr. Stephen M. Coan. “The series also aligns directly with Sea Research’s mission to inspire people to care for and protect our oceans. In providing audiences with inspiring views of the world, we hope these events will foster a deeper appreciation of our planet.”
“We are excited about extending National Geographic’s relationship with Sea Research Foundation into the realm of events and embracing performing arts events that complement and deepen our shared mission,” said Andy van Duym, director of National Geographic Live! “Together with the Garde Arts Center, we look forward to presenting National Geographic’s top explorers to audiences in Connecticut. Patrons can anticipate dynamic events that feature fascinating people with truly captivating stories.”
The “Faces of Our Planet” series was finally realized with the selection of the non-profit Garde Arts Center as both the venue and the regional performing arts partner. The nationally-recognized Garde Arts Center, with its restored 1,450-seat Moroccan-themed movie palace, has decades of success as the regional presenter and host of diverse artistic, cultural and educational programming in southeastern Connecticut.
“We are proud to embark on this exhilarating new theatrical journey, integrating arts, technology, adventure and discovery,” said Garde Executive Director Steve Sigel. “By combining each of our institutions’ audiences with our unique means of engaging, informing, inspiring and entertaining them, we believe we can even more deeply impact our understanding and appreciation of our common connection with and responsibility for the many facets of the planet we share.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Mystic, Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Country, New London County
