Cut, paste and explore! The AGO has your recipe for an art-filled Family Day and March Break

Gallery announces special hours for Family Day and March Break; discounted family passes available online now

TORONTO – This winter, the secret ingredient for artful family fun is the AGO! Drop-in programming for all ages takes over the museum this Family Day and March Break, and to accommodate all the dancing, karaoke singing, zine writing, collage art, paper food making and recipe sharing, the AGO is offering up special hours.

Normally closed on Mondays, the AGO will be open on Family Day (Monday Feb. 18) from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Beginning on Saturday, March 9 (with a special opening on Monday, March 11), the AGO will open for nine straight days of March Break programming. All drop-in programs and activities are included with the price of regular admission.

Visitors can save $10 off the cost of a family pass on both Family Day and March Break when they purchase tickets online in advance at www.ago.ca. AGO members always receive free admission.

FAMILY DAY (February 18, 2019) 

Inspired by the larger-than-life artworks on view in Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noires, it’s a collage party of epic proportions this Family Day at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). With activities taking over the entire museum, here’s a taste of what you can do:

• Learn some cool new moves at our all-day dance party led by house dancers from FlowHer House Collective. New classes will be starting every hour in Walker Court, beginning at 11 a.m.
• Take a break from all the dancing action and check out the art of Maddy Mathews, on view in Walker Court.
• Create your own collage masterpiece during the all-day collage party happening in the Dr. Anne Tanenbaum Gallery School.
• DIY time! Create your very own ‘zine’ with guidance from Jonathan Valelly, editor of legendary Toronto literary magazine Broken Pencil.
• Hit all the right notes in our family karaoke lounge in Gallery Italia and sip on a colour changing lemonade.
• Head to the AGO’s Weston Family Learning Centre and create your own puzzle, build and rebuild your very own ready-made sculpture or take a break and recharge your batteries in the quiet zone.

MARCH BREAK (March 9 – 17, 2019)

This March Break, join AGO artists in residence Natalie Ferguson and Toby Gillies for nine straight days of art-making fun, as they present Secret Ingredient, an interactive artmaking feast in Walker Court. The Winnipeg-based art duo invites visitors of all ages to create paper versions of their favourite foods, share recipes and stage their own food photos, before proudly displaying their creations on a massive banquet table.

Many activities are inspired by the upcoming exhibition Impressionism in the Age of Industry: Monet, Pissarro and more and will take over the entire museum every day from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Here are some of the additional activities on offer:

• Join the paper plane party and customize, fold and decorate paper airplanes and colourful flying spinners – then launch them from the Gallery School balcony!
• Feel the need for speed on the AGO racetrack and use mini-putt sticks to push your ball over the finish line in Galleria Italia.
• Get creative and decorate your very own paper boat, then put your craftsmanship to the test and see if you can make it float.
• Visit the AGO’s Weston Family Learning Centre to join in on the table sized colouring mural, or take a family-friendly tour departing every hour.

For more details on how to book tickets or for programming details, be sure to visit www.ago.ca.

ABOUT THE AGO
Located in Toronto, Canada’s largest city of 5.9 million, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is one of the largest art museums in North America. The AGO’s collection of close to 95,000 works ranges from cutting-edge contemporary art such as Untilled by Pierre Huyghe to European masterpieces such as Peter Paul Rubens’s The Massacre of The Innocents; from the vast collection by the Group of Seven to works by established and emerging Indigenous and Canadian artists; with a photography collection that tracks the impact of the medium with deep holdings of works by artists such as Garry Winogrand and Diane Arbus; and with focused collections in Gothic boxwood miniatures and Western and Central African art. Drawing on this collection—as well as collaborations with museums around the world—the AGO presents wide-ranging exhibitions and programs, taking special care to showcase diverse and underrepresented artists. A major expansion designed by Frank Gehry in 2008 with lead support from the family of Ken Thomson makes the AGO a highly-photographed architectural landmark. Visit ago.ca and follow @AGOToronto to learn more.

The Art Gallery of Ontario is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Additional operating support is received from the City of Toronto, the Canada Council for the Arts and generous contributions from AGO members, donors and private-sector partners.