August & September Free First Saturday
Free First Saturdays feature free gallery admission on the first Saturday of every month, plus performances, games, art-making, and kid’s films from 10 am to 3 pm. Family friendly food options are available or bring something from home to snack on in the lounge or in the garden.
August Free First Saturday Garden Party: Groove
Photo: courtesy William Hall, Polyglot
Saturday, August 5
Performance: Ants, 10:30 am, 12 noon, 2 and 3 pm
Discover the power of collaborative play with the interactive roving performance of Ants by Australia-based Polyglot Theatre.
This task-oriented performance is a delight to see unfold, as children work hard to communicate with the Ants and each other to help search for crumbs. The crumbs, hundreds of them, form beautiful wavering lines, transforming a space with constantly changing patterns. Ants is an enchanting performance that investigates the nature of work and children’s relationship with their environment.
Ants will be performed for free four times a day at various locations across the Walker campus from August 3-6.
Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, August 3, 4, and 6: 11 am, 12 noon, 2 and 3 pm
Saturday, August 5 Free First Saturday: 10:30 am, 12 pm, 2 and 3 pm
Join us at the Walker for a free sensory-friendly performance on Friday, August 4 at 11:00 am. To create a supportive performance for families and children with sensory sensitivities, the sensory-friendly Ants performance will include:
- Lowered noises and sounds
- Performers have training and prior experience working with children with sensory sensitivities
- Extra staff support
- As always, participants are welcome to talk and move around as much as they please!
Performance: Okee Dokee Brothers, 11 am
Photo: courtesy Alex Johnson of Alex Johnson Photography
Dance, clap, and sing along in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden as the Okee Dokee Brothers bring their passion for the outdoors to the heart of their Americana folk music.
About Okee Dokee Brothers
As childhood friends growing up in Denver Colorado, Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing were always exploring the outdoors. Whether it was rafting down their neighborhood creek or discovering hiking trails through the Rocky Mountains, Joe and Justin were born adventurers. Now, as the GRAMMY® Award-winning Okee Dokee Brothers, they have put this passion for the outdoors at the heart of their Americana Folk music.
Joe and Justin record and perform family music with a goal to inspire children and their parents to get outside and get creative. They believe this can motivate kids to gain a greater respect for the natural world, their communities and themselves.
The four-time Parents’ Choice Award winners have garnered praise from the likes of NPR’s All Things Considered and USA Today, and have been called “two of family music’s best songwriters.”
Performance: DJ Frank Lyon
10-11 am and 12-3 pm
Frank Lyon plays records and makes work in the Twin Cities as himself, and duo OUECHA. He first began sequencing and presenting “other people’s music” as a child, and developed his style over the next 30 years throughout the United States via collecting music, but also playing music, watching movies, listening to people talk or not talk, reading philosophy, and playing catch (mostly frisbee). It has all only become more thoughtful. His technique has formed recently around a certain wish for dynamic inclusion and intimacy via stringing together recordings from around the world, around time, and around feelings. As though any moment has a multiplicity of poetic truths that lie latent, Frank labors to find that truth in an improvised collective soundtrack, and share in that announcement-discovery with his fellow listeners. Becoming conscious of these mostly unutterable and powerful meanings brings us closer.
September Free First Saturday Garden Party: Move
Photo: courtesy Gary Mulcahey, CORPUS
Saturday, September 2
Performances: Les moutons (The Sheep), 11 am and 1 pm
In this whimsical and wordless performance, a rural country scene is re-created in an urban setting. Travel to a strange and hilarious universe as the Toronto-based performance group CORPUS takes families through a carefully studied, surrealistic overview of sheep behavior.
Les moutons will also be performed on Sunday, September 3 at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm.
Performance: Ambassadors of Culture, 12 pm
Photo: courtesy Travis Anderson
Enjoy a free performance by Ambassadors of Culture, a cross-cultural collaboration between veteran musicians Dalmar Yare and Holly Munoz. The group tells traditional and modern stories with a sound of Somali music mixed with a dash of reggae, pop, and indie rock.
Interview: The Ambassadors | The Cedar Cultural Center
The Most Necessary Band in Minnesota – Mn Artists
Performance: DJ Mickey Breeze
10 am-12 noon and 1-3 pm
DJ Mickey Breeze is a 16 year-old DJ, musician, producer, teacher, and entrepreneur of 6 years. Primarily based in the Twin Cities, his goals are to play on stages across the world, and to make his mark as one of the artistic, intelligent youth doing positive things in his community and abroad.