Indigenous Peoples' Day Open House at MFA

Free Admission for Indigenous Peoples’ Day at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Massachusetts

to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day at the MFA. This year, we’re offering free admission—including access to “Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore”—for Massachusetts residents. Enjoy gallery tours, engaging family art-making activities, and more! Indigenous Peoples’ Day recognizes and honors the heritage of Native Americans and Indigenous peoples and the histories of their many nations and communities.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day at the MFA is part of the Fenway Alliance’s Opening Our Doors festival, a celebration of the Fenway Cultural District.

Events and Activities

Meet Local Partners

  • 10 am–3 pm
  • Shapiro Family Courtyard
  • Stop by to talk with representatives from the North American Indian Center of Boston, United American Indians of New England, Indigenous Peoples’ Day Massachusetts, and Italian Americans for Indigenous Peoples’ Day about their organizations and the work they do.

Drop-In Art Making: Pottery

  • 10 am–4 pm (last entry 3:45 pm)
  • Druker Family Pavilion
  • Create your own pottery inspired by the many traditions of Native North America! Activity created in consultation with Mashpee Wampanoag artist Haley Peters.

Guided Tours

  • 11 am, Noon, 1 pm, and 2 pm
  • Meet at Sharf Visitor Center
  • Wondering where to start your visit to the MFA? Experience the Museum on a free 60-minute guided tour. Led by knowledgeable guides, look closely at artwork across the MFA’s collections. Learn more about old favorites and discover something new! Participants of all ages and experiences are welcome.

Zenni Optical Vision Screenings

  • 10 am–3 pm
  • Riley Seminar Room
  • Come by for free vision screenings and pick up some exclusive Zenni swag. Zenni Optical believes that clear vision is a right, not a privilege, and is committed to making high-quality eye care accessible to every individual, especially the youngest members of our community.

First Light Foundation

  • 11 am and 1 pm
  • Shapiro Family Courtyard
  • Meet Annawon Weeden, a proud member of the Mashpee Wampanoag, Pequot, and Narragansett tribes and a cultural instructor for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Cultural Resource Department. Born and raised in Charlestown, Rhode Island, Weeden passionately shares his tribal culture with the public. Alongside his cultural work, Weeden is an artist and environmental educator, promoting Indigenous art and education through the First Light Foundation.

Art-Making Demo by Haley Peters

  • Noon and 3pm
  • Gallery 168
  • Haley Peters (Mashpee Wampanoag) utilizes traditional techniques of pinching and coiling clay and traditional tools of bone and shell to create forms that reference historic Eastern Woodland vessels. While being inspired by the making of historical vessels, they often find joy in exaggerating and pushing these forms and methods to extremes.

Community Perspective: Nipmuc Baskets

  • 12:30 pm
  • Gallery LG34
  • Gather with Kim Toney (Nipmuc), coordinating curator for Native American and Indigenous collections at the John Carter Brown Library, to learn more about the MFA’s Nipmuc collection.

Community Perspective: Ancestors and Place

  • 1 pm
  • Gallery LG26
  • Join Elizabeth Solomon and Jenny Oliver (both Massachusett at Ponkapoag) as they share their experiences working on the exhibition “Ancestors and Place: Indigenous North American Prints,” which features more than 30 works—most of them recent acquisitions—by Indigenous artists from the United States and Canada

Community Perspective: Art of Attire

  • 2 pm
  • Gallery 234
  • Join Layla Bermeo, Kristin and Roger Servison Curator of American Paintings, and Marina Tyquiengco (CHamoru), Ellyn McColgan Associate Curator of Native American Art, as they discuss “Art of Attire,” a recent installation centering Indigenous clothing and cultural exchanges.

Hawk Henries

  • 2 and 3:15 pm
  • Shapiro Family Courtyard
  • Hawk Henries is an artist, composer, and flute musician of the Chaubunagungamaug band of Nipmuc. He expertly crafts Eastern Woodlands flutes through ancestral and contemporary techniques. His transformative performances create contemplative spaces for unity and meaningful reflection on how we each have the capacity to make change in the world. Through music, discussion, and a note of humor, he weaves a calm, engaging, and thought-provoking experience.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) is in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1870, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, stands on the historic homelands of the Massachusett people, a site that has long served as a place of meeting and exchange among different nations. As a museum, we acknowledge the long history of the land we occupy today and seek ways to make Indigenous narratives more prominent in our galleries and programming. We can all learn more about the Massachusett people, who continue to be the stewards of this land, by visiting massachusetttribe.org.

When: 
Monday, October 14, 2024 10am-5pm
Prices: 
FREE
Phone: 
617.267.9300
A Landmark Summer Experience at Landmark School in Beverly Massachusetts prepare students for success in the fall and beyond.

Babson Farm Quarry Self-guided Walking Tour at Halibut Point

Kids will enjoy this tour of the Halibut Point State Park and Quarry with a focus on its stone-cutting history!
Take a self guided tour at one of Massachusetts most beautiful locations!
7:00 am to 6:00 pm

Saugus Iron Works Park Grounds & Estuary Walk

Take a hike along the Saugus River Estuary ande explore the Saugus Iron Works Park grounds in Massachusetts
Learn about the natural world in Saugus while ecploring the park ground ast the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site in Massachusetts.
7:00 am to 7:00 pm

A Colorful Christmas at Castle Hill

A Colorful Christmas by the Sea is a weekend of festivities hosted by the Trustees of Reservations at Castle Hill in Ipswich Massachusetts
Visiting Castle Hill at Christmas is a time-honored tradition. Don’t miss this year’s Travels with the Cranes. Each room in our 1920s mansion is decorated for the holidays drawing inspiration from Crane travels around the world, including Paris, Japan, Egypt, and New York.
10:00 am to 8:00 pm

Deck The Halls: Hammond Castle

A holiday themed tour of Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester Massachusetts
Come to Hammond Castle for the 6th annual Deck The Halls holiday celebration. Hammond Castle Museum will be dressed for the holidays inside and out. Delight in the enchanting ambiance of Christmas and White Birch trees, meticulously arranged garlands, festive wreaths, and the warm embrace of...
10:00 am to 4:00 pm

CraneOutdoors: Sunday Family Snowy Owl Prowl

Join the Trustees of Reservations at dlife Refuge in Ipswich Massachusetts in search of the Snowy Owl!
Wide-open coastal sites are the location of choice for wintering Snowy Owls; common perches are dunes and salt hay staddles. In winters past, these owls have been frequent visitors to the Crane Wildlife Refuge.
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

A Christmas Carol Panto

Theater in the Open celebrates the holidays with their interpretation of Dickens' Christmas Carol at the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport!
Bah, humbug! Theater in the Open celebrates the holiday season with this Dickens classic, presented in true TITO style. So be prepared for anything to happen!  
3:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Trustees Winterlights at Stevens Coolidge Place

The Trustees of Reservations Winterlights at the Stevents-Coolidge Place North Andover North Andover.
Winterlights is back! Join the Trustees for a magical outdoor experience at Stevens-Coolidge House & Gardens, and see the gardens aglow with your favorite light installations as well as marveling at new components. Bring the whole family for a fun and safe outdoor experience. Winterlights runs...
4:30 pm to 8:00 pm

Monday, December 23

Saugus Iron Works Park Grounds & Estuary Walk

Take a hike along the Saugus River Estuary ande explore the Saugus Iron Works Park grounds in Massachusetts
Learn about the natural world in Saugus while ecploring the park ground ast the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site in Massachusetts.
7:00 am to 7:00 pm

Babson Farm Quarry Self-guided Walking Tour at Halibut Point

Kids will enjoy this tour of the Halibut Point State Park and Quarry with a focus on its stone-cutting history!
Take a self guided tour at one of Massachusetts most beautiful locations!
7:00 am to 6:00 pm

Sing & Dance with the Music Man

Sing & Dance with the Music Man Brian Doser in Hamilton visit Massachusetts
Come join the fun at Community House Of Hamilton & Wenham Monday, Thursday and Saturday mornings at 10am for 30 - 45 minutes of great music with Brian Doser! Sing and dance with the Music Man during a family concert, featuring familiar and original tunes, performed by local dad and musician,...
10:00 am to 10:45 am

Deck The Halls: Hammond Castle

A holiday themed tour of Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester Massachusetts
Come to Hammond Castle for the 6th annual Deck The Halls holiday celebration. Hammond Castle Museum will be dressed for the holidays inside and out. Delight in the enchanting ambiance of Christmas and White Birch trees, meticulously arranged garlands, festive wreaths, and the warm embrace of...
10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Lego Time at MPL

Children in grades 2 and up are invited to come to the Manchester Massachusetts Library's Lego Club
Drop-in, unstructured Lego building fun! Come with friends or come to make new ones, this program is for kids ages six and up. 
3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Tuesday, December 24

Saugus Iron Works Park Grounds & Estuary Walk

Take a hike along the Saugus River Estuary ande explore the Saugus Iron Works Park grounds in Massachusetts
Learn about the natural world in Saugus while ecploring the park ground ast the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site in Massachusetts.
7:00 am to 7:00 pm

Babson Farm Quarry Self-guided Walking Tour at Halibut Point

Kids will enjoy this tour of the Halibut Point State Park and Quarry with a focus on its stone-cutting history!
Take a self guided tour at one of Massachusetts most beautiful locations!
7:00 am to 6:00 pm

Music Together - Tuesday in Marblehead

Marblehead, Beverly Farms, Hamilton, Salem, Peabody Music Together
Music Together® is a research-based music & movement program for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and the grown-ups who love them. Music Together® of Salem classes make it easy for parents/primary caregivers to play a crucial role in activating their child's music development. Classes are 45...
10:00 am to 10:45 am

Deck The Halls: Hammond Castle

A holiday themed tour of Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester Massachusetts
Come to Hammond Castle for the 6th annual Deck The Halls holiday celebration. Hammond Castle Museum will be dressed for the holidays inside and out. Delight in the enchanting ambiance of Christmas and White Birch trees, meticulously arranged garlands, festive wreaths, and the warm embrace of...
10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Wednesday, December 25

Christmas Day

12:00 am to 11:59 pm