The Metropolitan Museum of Art is expanding its Friday night programming in a bid to attract more evening visitors to the New York institution. Dubbed MetFridays, the new initiative will keep the museum open until 9 p.m. and add classes and performances.
On its first night, January 30th, the MetFridays has scheduled string quartet Ethel and friends at the Great Hall balcony and is offering a gallery talk on storytelling in Greek and Roman Art. It’s main event will be the “Jazz and Colors At The Met: The Masterworks Edition”, a museum-wide musical performance featuring 15 different jazz groups performing the same two musical numbers in 15 different galleries. Each group will add its own musical style to the songs, which are “Blue Nile” by Alice Coltrane or “Night and Day” by Cole Porter.
Exhibitions on view currently include Thomas Hart Benton murals, and a trio of major exhibitions closing Sunday, Feb. 1, concerning El Greco, the history of “mourning” fashion and “Bartholomeus Spranger: Splendor and Eroticism in Imperial Prague“.
Friday events in coming weeks will include drawing classes and other musical performances.
The Met has launched a new webpage for its initiative where visitors can find out the events for each Friday night, as well as their times and locations. All events are free with a “recommended” museum admission of $25, less for students and seniors.
