MFA Celebrates Juneteenth
Free Admission and Programming on June 19
By: MFA - Jun 09, 2021
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), will offer free admission to all on Saturday, June 19, in honor of Juneteenth. Free timed-entry tickets—including general admission and special exhibition tickets to see Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation and Monet and Boston: Legacy Illuminated—will be available to reserve online starting at 10 am on June 15.
The MFA will also host outdoor activities and programs to celebrate Juneteenth—the oldest nationally recognized commemoration of the ending of slavery in the U.S.—and honor the contributions of Black artists, scholars and creative voices to the City of Boston. Drop-in activities will include art making, Spotlight Talks focused on artwork by the MFA’s artist-in-residence Rob Stull and musical performances curated by BAMS Fest. In the evening, the Museum will host a free outdoor screening of Summer of Soul, presented in partnership with the Roxbury International Film Festival, before the film’s wide release in theaters and on Hulu on July 2. The outdoor activities and film screening do not require a ticket.
Additionally, on June 16 at 6 pm, the MFA will host "Disruption by Design: A New Path to Liberation," a virtual conversation with BIPOC leaders from across Boston. Panelists include Bithiah Carter, president of New England Blacks In Philanthropy; D’Wayne Edwards, founder of PENSOLE Footwear Design Academy; Betty Francisco, CEO of Boston Impact Initiative; Makeeba McCreary, Patti and Jonathan Kraft Chief of Learning and Community Engagement at the MFA; and Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez, artist and co-founder of Street Theory. The panelists will discuss the need for disruption in their industries, their personal stories of seeking and achieving liberation in their careers, the impact they hope to make with their own positive disruption, and what liberation looks like on individual and collective levels.
Juneteenth dates back to June 19, 1865, when news of the Civil War’s end reached Galveston, Texas—nearly two and a half years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The MFA has hosted a community celebration marking the holiday since 2013.