The Met Hosts Annual Lunar New Year Festival to Celebrate Year of the Dog

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will host its annual Lunar New Year Festival on Saturday, February 24, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.Lunar New Year Festival: Year of the Dog will feature dozens of engaging programs—for visitors of all ages—that reflect traditions from across Asia. 

Dance and music performances, including bamboo flute playing by Kojiro Umezaki and a percussive concert with Gamelan Dharma Swara, along with artist-led workshops and interactive gallery activities will take place throughout The Met Fifth Avenue as part of the festival celebration. All Lunar New Year Festival programming is free with Museum admission. 

Lunar New Year Festival: Year of the Dog is organized by The Met’s Department of Education.

“Each year the Museum’s Lunar New Year Festival engages diverse communities and provides opportunities for people of varied backgrounds and traditions to share and celebrate their culture,” said Sandra Jackson-Dumont, the Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education. “This year’s festival highlights the Year of the Dog. As always, we want everyone to know the doors of the Museum are wide open and the Lunar New Year Festival illustrates that—an inspiring cultural celebration that brings together members of varied communities and backgrounds, ideas and traditions.”

Performances

Visitors will be able to participate in many of the festival performances that will take place in various areas within The Met Fifth Avenue during the six-hour celebration. Performances include a colorful parade through the Museum’s Great Hall led by the Chinese Center on Long Island Lion Troupe and New York Chinese Cultural Center, Japanese bamboo flute music played by Kojiro Umezaki, Balinese tunes with Gamelan Dharma Swara, and music by Japanese composers around the world performed by The Met’s Quartet in Residence, Aizuri Quartet.

The Met Quartet in Residence: Aizuri Quartet is made possible by the Grace Jarcho Ross and Daniel G. Ross Concert Fund.

Art Activities and Demonstrations

Several artist-led workshops will be offered throughout the Museum as part of Lunar New Year Festival: Year of the Dog. Visitors can try their hand at several different creative stations—painting Chinese fans, decorating masks, and designing word puzzles. Artist and author Kam Mak, who designed nine Lunar New Year stamps for the U.S. Postal Service, will lead a stamp-making workshop. The entire family is invited to create Indonesian shadow puppets with the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, participate in a Wu-Wo tea ceremony with Ten Ren Tea and Ginseng Co., and take part in a hand-pulled noodle demonstration with a master chef. The Museum will highlight this year’s zodiac animal by offering a gallery Scent Tour, inspired by dogs’ keen sense of smell, and lessons on guide dog etiquette with trainers from the Guide Dog Foundation. Bilingual Storytime will be presented throughout the day (this program is best for ages 3 and up).

Related Installation

To celebrate the Lunar New Year, The Met is presenting Celebrating the Year of the Dog in the Charlotte C. Weber Galleries for the Arts of Ancient China. On view through July 4, 2018, the installation is drawn exclusively from artworks in The Met collection and features seven works in pottery that depict dogs through the use of colorful glaze. The works illustrate the animal’s close association with Chinese daily life.

General Event Information

More about the event, including directions to programming throughout the Museum, will be available at the information desk inside the main entrance at Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street and in the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education, located near the ground-floor entrance at Fifth Avenue and 81st Street. All Lunar New Year Festival programs are free with Museum admission. Suggested Museum admission is $25 for adults, $17 for seniors (65 and over), and $12 for students. Children under 12 who are accompanied by an adult are free.

A full list of festival programming, along with further details and a schedule of events, is available on The Met website. 

Lunar New Year Festival: Year of the Dog will also be featured on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter using the hashtag #MetFest.