WHAT’S BEING OFFERED LOCALLY?
The Cheshire Public Library is at the forefront offering online books, magazines, virtual storytimes and events for kids and book discussions and classes for adults. Please check them out and sign up for the newsletter to say in touch and up to date with their offerings and online activities. https://www.cheshirelibrary.org/ It’s all for free. Support your public libraries!
Our neighbors across the street at West Main Music Academy have been programming live virtual concerts and continuing to offer music classes over zoom. Check out their Facebook page.
The Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven is offering online classes, check out their interesting offerings.
The Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven (ECOCA) has several digital offerings for April, including 2 open calls for artists and virtual crit groups.
If you a classical music fan, check out the beautiful offerings by the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the summer home of the Yale School of Music. You can also watch them on Instagram.
For the natural history lovers in your family The Peabody Museum has many digital offerings, including fascinating microscopic images of thousands of invertebrates, wonderful visual inspiration for artists.
The Eli Whitney Museum has been offering many of their wonderful, wooden project kits for ‘take-out’ – as well as improvised art challenges for their Instagram page. Sing up for their newsletter to stay current.
Southington Community Cultural Arts has many inventive and playful art video demonstrations on their Facebook page.
WHAT ABOUT THE GREAT MUSEUMS OF THE WORLD?
They are pretty much all at your fingertips. Nothing beats seeing great works of art in person, but with virtual tours, we can visit the great museums from the comfort of our couches. A wealth of knowledge and inspiration awaits your exploration.
There are many ways to explore the cultural treasures of the world at the British Museum. One particularly pleasing way to learn about humanity is by exploring this global timeline of objects and art created by Google Cultural Institute for The British Museum.
Google Arts & Culture is an amazing research to discovering museum collections around the world. There are so many ways to explore the works and even the buildings themselves. This illustrated history of the Musée D’Orsay strikes a chord for me, telling the long and difficult story of how an imperiled historic industrial building became a cultural treasure for Paris. Sound familiar?
From the Norman Rockwell Museum nearby in Massachusetts, The Uffizi in Florence, or explore the holdings of the Pinacoteca de Sao Paulo in Brazil. You have the world of art to explore from your kitchen table. Google will even take hardcore foodies to some of the most remote parts of the world.
WHAT ARE THE ACTORS DOING?
No performers are working in theater or film now. What is everyone doing? Some of your favorite actors may be offering just what you need right now. Would you like Patrick Stewart to read you a poem every day? Who wouldn’t. He is recording a Shakespeare sonnet daily. Just for you.
John Kransinski is stuck at home like the rest of us. With the help of his kids and his very impressive file of contacts he is offering up Some Good News (SGN) a very earnest DIY news program dedicated to the positive things happening in the world right now. If you want to be cheered up, check out his episodes on YouTube.
PUZZLES?
So many possibilities.
I love doing crossword puzzles and have a yearly subscription to the online New York Times puzzles. I can’t start my day without doing it and the subscription price ($39.95) is my annual gift to myself. The subscription gives you access to a vast archive of crossword and many other visual and word puzzles. There is a vast puzzle community out there and if you want to explore without committing to a big subscription, you can start at a site like this http://www.patrickspuzzles.com/
FROM OUR NATION’S CAPITOL
You may have heard about the Lunch Doodle with Mo Willems! He offered 15 charming sessions for kids (and adults!) complete with a customizable certificate your child can earn for completing his doodle course.
Lunch Doodle with Mo Willems was brought to you by the Kennedy Center, which has so many digital offerings in many genres of music, dance and art. Spend some time and check it out.
Another one of our country’s significant cultural institutions, the Library of Congress, also offers some wonderful video education and inspirational opportunities. If you have a Dav Pilkey fan at home, enjoy this series of videos he’s made showing how to draw some of his famous character.