Art and Culture

This weekend, Target (you know, that place where you buy diapers and bathroom cleaner and toys and the occasional dress or shirt) presents Arts & Wonder, a free family event with free general admission to six of San Francisco's leading museums and free art activities and performances.

This weekend-long marathon of free family fun kicks off Friday, July 16, 2010 from 5–8:45 pm at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, where you can turn Target's canine mascot Bullseye into a work of Andy Warhol-inspired "Pup" art and watch a ballet performance celebrating the work of Impressionist painter Edgar Degas. General admission and activities and performances are free, but if you want to see the Birth of Impressionism exhibition (highly recommended!) you'll have to get a special timed ticket—$15 for adults, $10 for children 6–17, and free for kids 5 and under.

If you're looking for a fun and unique overnight experience for the family, why not consider sleeping over at a museum? Local institutions including the California Academy of Sciences, the Aquarium of the Bay, and the USS Hornet Museum all offer exciting programs where families, youth groups, and classes can spend the night. It'll kind of be like the movie Night at the Museum, except that the dinosaurs and dioramas won't come alive after hours (we hope)!

The California Academy of Sciences launched its new Penguins and Pajamas program this summer. Kids 6 and over and their adult chaperones can camp out overnight at the museum on June 18, July 16, and August 13, 2010. Starting at 6:30 pm, overnight guests can explore the Academy after hours, attend a special penguin talk, and take in a planetarium show. Settle in for storytime before bed with cookies, milk, and Pierre the Penguin, the Academy's new children's book about its famous wetsuit-wearing penguin. Breakfast is in the Academy Café, and the whole experience ends at 8:30 am.

Did you know you can visit most of the city's major museums for free every month? Just about all museums have one day a month set aside as a free day. They all aren't on the same day, too, so if you plan it right you can take in several museum outings without having to pay a thing.

Note that most museums still charge for special exhibitions, although usually your general admission fee will be deducted from the total.

First Sunday of the Month

• Asian Art Museum—Target Free Sundays include special family programs.

First Tuesday of the Month

• de Young Museum—Free Tuesday does not apply to special exhibits, but general admission to the rest of the museum is free.
• Legion of Honor
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
• Cartoon Art Museum—"Pay What You Wish" Day
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

First Wednesday of the Month

• Bay Area Discovery Museum
• Exploratorium

Masque Unit Junior Theatre presents Cinderella, its 48th live musical production for children. Written and adapted by Jim Eiler from Charles Perrault’s beloved classic, the story is presented through the eyes of a wise, comical Fairy Godmother. She and her fairy helpers create potions like the Sneeze Polka to aid an honest and unpretentious Cinderella in overcoming her domineering stepmother and zany stepsisters. Prince Charming, his near-sighted father, an enchanted coach, a glass slipper, and catchy original music add to this tale where love and forgiveness triumph over jealousy and ambition. Audiences will leave smiling and humming the whimsical melodies for days to come.

Public performances take place at the Marin Center's Showcase Theater on Saturday, March 6 and Sunday, March 7 at 1 and 3 pm. Tickets are $8, and you can order them by calling Marin Center Box Office at (415) 499-6800

Masque Unit Junior Theater of Marin was established in 1961 by a group of women who saw a need to provide live theater experiences at a reasonable cost for the youth of Marin County. Masque Unit is a non-profit organization of volunteers who combine their talents in costuming, writing, choreography, set design, producing and on-stage performing. Learn more about Masque Unit at www.masqueunit.org.

King Tut is in the news again this week. While it seems he had some pretty miserable health problems, he also had a lot of really beautiful and amazing stuff, much of which is on view through March 28, 2010 at San Francisco's de Young Museum. If you haven't seen the show yet, this weekend may be the time to do so, because it's free! That's right, this Saturday and Sunday, February 20 and 21, admission to Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs will be absolutely free, courtesy of the generous folks at Target

The only catch is that the free tickets to see Tut are handed out on a first-come, first-served basis, and a limited number of people can go through the exhibition each day. Expect the free tickets to be gone early in the day. There's a limit of four tickets per adult, and tickets will be timed and dated. The museum box office will open at 8:30 am on Saturday and Sunday; the first exhibition entry is at 9 am.

Gung hay fat choy! Sausalito's Bay Area Discovery Museum opens on a Monday (something that happens rarely) for its annual Chinese New Year Festival. The festivities take place on February 15 (President's Day) from 10 am to 5 pm. At the this celebration of the Year of the Tiger, the whole family can find something to do. Create a traditional lucky red envelope (li-cee), kite, or beautiful paper lantern, try your hand at calligraphy, or make your own traditional sweet wontons (they’ll even fry them up for you).

You can also learn about the Chinese zodiac and enjoy an exciting performance by the Dragon Horse lion dancers (10 am) and the lion dancers of the Marin Chinese Cultural Group (2 pm). Lion dance performances take place in the museum's Festival Plaza.

Stark Ravens Historical Players present Panto! The Musical Fairy Tale Adventure on February 13, 14, 20, and 21, at the Little Theater on the Drake High School campus, 1327 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in San Anselmo. Matinee show times are 11:30 am and 2:30 pm Saturdays and Sundays.

This all-new Panto! delivers an outrageously original twist to some traditional fairy tale favorites. By sewing together Cinderella, Aladdin, the Big Bad Wolf, enchanting fairies and more, it delivers a refreshing family tour-de-force which gets all ages laughing and singing. The second major musical panto from Bay Area-based Stark Ravens Historical Players, this original show will help introduce Americans to traditional British pantomime. This year's program will again feature a Punch and Judy puppet show prior to curtain time.

Advance discount tickets $15; $20 at the door. Children 4 and under are free with accompanying adult. Visit www.pantomarin.com for more information and to order tickets online. You can also purchase tickets at Doodlebug (641 San Anselmo Avenue, San Anselmo) and D'Lynne's Dancewear (1850 4th Street, San Rafael).

Let your kids’ imagination run wild and create the ultimate gingerbread house with candy canes, gumdrops, frosting, and other treats at the Bay Area Discovery Museum this holiday season. The 12th Annual Gingerbread Architecture Extravaganza starts on November 29 and runs through December 23. Registration is open now. Cost is $25 per gingerbread kit and pre-registration is required, so register online at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Make sure to register as soon as you can, because the event does sell out.

Dates and times:

• Saturdays: November 28, December 5, 12, and 19
• Sundays: November 29, December 6, 13, and 20
• Weekdays: December 21–23
• Times: 11 am, noon, and 1 pm