These uptown museums welcome your crying babies and fussy toddlers. For free.
Moms and dads hesitate before bringing little ones to a museum. Worries about how their child might behave usually keep parents and kids at home. And families miss out.
The three museums in the Levine Center for the Arts – the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture and Mint Museum Uptown – are changing the way families with young children visit museums.
In September, they rolled out Stroller Tours, a program that offers free guided tours at 10:30 a.m. the second Wednesday of each month through May. Each tour lasts about an hour and one museum hosts each month. The experience is geared toward parents and their small children.
It’s an introduction to art in a friendly environment.
The next Stroller Tour is Feb. 12 at the Gantt Center. Tia Warren, the visitor experience associate, will lead the group through the Gantt’s “Painting Is Its Own Country” exhibit.
“It features 26 different artists of color,” Warren said. “It gives kids a chance to look at cool art, that’s very colorful and is really good for their overall development.”
Making parents feel welcome
Stroller Tour participants meet in the lobby of the museum. The tour guide, or docent, greets the group and reviews the layout of the museum, including restrooms and a nursing area. The tour is designed for flexibility – parents can peel off for diaper changes or nursing at any time.
“It will be a docent who has experience with children,” said Laura Allison, gallery program manager at the Bechtler. “We really want you to feel at home and comfortable. We have the docents explain that we’re comfortable with fussing, crying and all of that.”
The museums use the Visual Thinking Strategies model to help parents talk to their children about the art. They use these three questions to prompt a thoughtful discussion about the art: What’s going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can you find?
“It’s really a great way of engaging viewers and especially young viewers, to look and think critically about what they’re experiencing,” Allison said.
Kathy Kent took her 6-year-old daughter and one-month old son to the Stroller Tour at the Bechtler in October.
“I thought it was a great experience because often I’m apprehensive about bringing potentially screaming children to a museum or an art installation,” said Kent, 39. “So, it was a really comfortable and inviting way to enjoy artwork.”
Attracting new visitors
A committee of representatives from each of the Levine Center institutions meets monthly to generate ideas for programming, especially ideas that will bring new people to the museums. Stroller Tours is modeled after the successful Art Break, a similar tour from 12-12:30 p.m. the third Thursday of each month.
When the committee researched stroller tours at other institutions, they found that the most successful programs engaged the parents as well as the children, according to Joel Smeltzer, the head of school and gallery programs at The Mint. The docents leading the tours answer questions from the tiniest in the audience, while other times directing their information to the adults in the group.
“It’s just as much for the parents,” Smeltzer said. “If they’re getting something out of it, they’re more likely to bring their children back.”
Register for Stroller Tours through the museum hosting the program that month. Guests are asked to bring single strollers for easy maneuvering. Each registered guest receives a pass to return to one of the museums within a year.
Stroller Tours
What: A 45-60-minute guided tour through the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture
When: 10:30 a.m. Feb. 12
Where: 551 S. Tryon St.
Cost: Free
This story is part of an Observer underwriting project with the Thrive Campaign for the Arts, supporting arts journalism in Charlotte.
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This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 12:20 PM.