Sensory Friendly Sunday is a monthly event designed for kids, teens, and adults with sensory processing differences, autism spectrum disorder, or developmental disabilities. The galleries will be closed to the general public, allowing visitors to enjoy the museum in a calm environment with accommodations such as quiet spaces, fidgets, and sunglasses available. Experience a selection of current exhibitions, make art, or watch a short film. All friends and family members are welcome.
In June, explore the exhibitions Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody, Tetsuya Yamada: Listening, and Motion Capture: Recent Acquisitions in Media and Performance.
This June through September (weather permitting), play a free round of mini golf on the Walker’s rooftop between 8 and 11 am. The one-of-a-kind course features distinctive, artist-designed holes and an unrivaled view of the Minneapolis skyline.
To support the health and safety of visitors at increased risk for Covid-19, masks are required at Sensory Friendly Sunday for visitors over age 2. Accommodations are available if someone in your party is unable to tolerate masking. Please email access@walkerart.org or call 612-375-7561 for more information.
This program was created in consultation with the Autism Society of Minnesota (AuSM) and the University of Minnesota’s Occupational Therapy Program.
Admission Tickets
While walk-ins are welcome, we encourage you to reserve your space ahead of time. Sensory Friendly Sunday is typically less busy 8–9:30 am and busier from 9:30 to 11 am.
Activity Information
Art-Making Activity, 8–11 am
Join teaching artist Alexandra Beaumont in the Art Lab to create a colorful light catcher to hang in your window during the bright summer months.
Gallery Activity, 8–11 am
Watch a video of artist Keith Haring creating a large, patterned painting, then try filling a page with your own patterned drawing.
Short Film: Join by Todd Davis, 8–11 am
Stop by the Bentson Mediatheque to watch a short stop-motion animation featuring a group of inventive characters who get together to throw a dance party. The three-minute film will loop from 8–11 am. This is a relaxed screening with sound reduced. Visitors are free to come and go, move, and otherwise make themselves comfortable in the space.
Accessibility
The short film will be captioned in English.
Skyline Mini Golf is partially accessible. All holes are playable from the perimeter if guests are unable to step onto the holes.
The exhibition Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody includes subjects related to politics, sexuality, and the body. Several works in the exhibition contain mature content and nudity. One room in Gallery 1 includes sexually explicit imagery. Visitors do not need to walk through this room to access the rest of the exhibition. Activities planned for this event focus on kid-friendly artworks.
Videos on view may include flickering effects or sounds that change in volume, pitch, and tone. One room glows with colorful light.
The exhibition Motion Capture: Recent Acquisitions in Media and Performance features two video rooms with reduced light levels. The videos include flashing, flickering, or disorienting visual effects and sound that changes in volume, pitch, and tone.
To prepare for your visit, check out this Social Narrative.
For information about accessibility, or to request additional accommodations for this program, call 612-375-7564, or email access@walkerart.org.
For more information about accessibility at the Walker, visit our Access page.
Bio
Alexandra Beaumont is a textile artist and dancer. She was born and raised in South Carolina to a Jamaican father and American mother, both working musicians. After working in New York City as a menswear designer, she returned to a fine arts practice, incorporating her love for fabrics and hand sewing. She now lives in Minneapolis, where she makes work centering themes of personal reconstruction, community, and celebratory display. Her first solo exhibition, Version, was presented at Ridgewater College in Minnesota in 2022. She is a 2022 recipient of the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Fund grant and a 2023 Forecast Early Career Project grantee. Beaumont is a member of PF Studios in Minneapolis, and contributes to the development team of Public Functionary, a gallery, performance space, and café supporting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists in the Twin Cities.
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