Photo: Walker Art Center
Join us on the Walker hillside for art, music, fun, and sun! The first weekend of the month, you can enjoy free music performances as well as activities for kids and families (and folks of all ages!). Ease into summer by exploring the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden or visiting the galleries to see the new shows. You can also find tours, art-making activities, and other fun events throughout the summer.
FEATURED EVENTS
Skyline Mini Golf
May 20–September 26
Play a round on the Walker’s rooftop this summer, with unbelievable views of the Minneapolis skyline. The one-of-a-kind course features 10 distinctive, artist-designed holes—including two new additions created in collaboration with Native Youth Arts Collective.
Tickets are $10 ($8 Walker members and ages 7–18); free for ages 6 and under with paid adult.
Summer Tours in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
June 1–September 30, 2021
Enjoy the great outdoors while experiencing world-class contemporary art on informative and fun tours led by the Walker’s knowledgeable guides. You’re guaranteed to discover something new, whether it’s your first visit or your 51st!
Tours are free and open to the public. These tours are designed for adult audiences, but participants of all ages are welcome.
Every Friday at 5:30 pm and every Sunday at 12 noon. A typical tour lasts 60 min. Join us on Sunday, June 20 at 12 noon for a special Father’s Day–themed tour!
Hillside Jazz: Present Tense
Next generation jazz visionaries make their Twin Cities debuts and chart new pathways forward. They each capture the virtuosity, passion, and commitment to racial and social justice that has driven the jazz vanguard for decades. Offering the sound of tomorrow through some of the most vital voices of today in a free outdoor summer concert series on the beautiful Walker hillside.
Hillside Jazz: Present Tense: Irreversible Entanglements featuring Moor Mother
Thursday, June 3, 7 pm
Hillside Jazz: Present Tense: jaimie branch’s FLY or DIE
Friday, July 2, 7 pm
Hillside Jazz: Present Tense: Joel Ross Good Vibes
Friday, August 6, 7 pm
Free First Saturday: Welcome Back!
Saturday, June 5, 10 am–3 pm
Join us to kick off summer with a party on the Walker hillside! Dance to music spun by DJ Michel.Be, catch a performance by Drag Story Hour, and pick up an art kit to get creative in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden or at home!
Hillside Performances
Three hourlong performances will each feature DJ Michel.Be spinning tunes for a dance party and a performance by Old Man Zimmer, Doña Pepa, and Sid Sity from Drag Story Hour. Join us at 10 am, 12 noon, or 2 pm!
SculpTour 2021
June 10–August 12
SculpTours are back! SculpTour is a workout/dance tour of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden designed by choreographers Abigail Whitmore and Annika Hansen. This 40-minute, all-abilities program will give you a kinesthetic interpretation of the sculptures in the Garden while showing you moves to shake it out.
Sensory Friendly Sunday June 2021
Sunday, June 13, 8–11 am
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 the Walker’s current exhibitions, Five Ways In and The Paradox of Stillness, and grab an art kit to make art at home!
Open Air Art for All
June 17, July 15, August 19, 6–9 pm
Drop-in on the Walker hillside for a choose-you-own-adventure art-making experience! Local artists will be stationed across the hillside with materials and instructions for creative activities open to all ages and experience levels. Try kite-making, a meditative mandala coloring session, or create your own sculpture with natural materials. Instructions available in English and Spanish.
Friday Art-making in the Garden
June 18–August 27
This summer, join us on Fridays from 10 am to 1 pm for free, drop-in art-making activities in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden! There will be a new project each week and all art supplies will be provided.
These sessions are for ages 4 and up, no prior registration is required. Drop-in dates may be cancelled the day-of due to inclement weather. Materials will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis and supplies are limited.
Walker educators will be stationed in the Garden and we’ll have signs to help point you in the right direction!
Artist Talk: Rayyane Tabet
Saturday, June 12, 2 pm
Join artist Rayyane Tabet and curator Victoria Sung as they discuss his newly opened exhibition. This opening day program will be held outdoors on the Walker hillside, where the artist has transformed the museum’s 60-foot-long wall of glass windows into a transparent blue landscape.
Hillside Beats: Honey + Fresh Fruit
Thursday July 1, 5–9 pm
We are bringing the dance floor to the Walker hillside for an evening inspired by the likes of Mariah, Britney, and Whitney. Quinn Villagomez hosts a full fashion moment, where the pathway becomes a runway. DJ Larry Peace warms us up with tunes, before Quinn and Rox go live on their show Fresh Fruit on KFAI. See the debut of Honey, a dance landscape of individuals in pursuit of expression, inspired by the bodies, movement, and music of club spaces. Performance space as dancefloor, dancefloor as agent of release, escape, and reunion. Choreographed by Scott Stafford, original soundscape by Grammy-winning producer and DJ David Morales.
Jordan Weber Community Garden Opening Day Celebration
Saturday, July 10, 11 am–3 pm
Celebrate the new community garden in North Minneapolis! Enjoy music, poetry performances, food, and gardening demonstrations as Jordan Weber’s public art project (deep roots) opens in the neighborhood. The vacant plot adjacent to the garden will also be activated with a pop-up farmer’s market featuring local vendors.
See the garden in its full form with blooming plants and veggies, check out Weber’s sculptural raingarden, and meet the many community partners that helped make this project happen, including the artist, Marcus Kar, and volunteers from Youth Farm.
Free First Saturday: Move to the Music
Saturday, July 3, 10 am–3 pm
It’s time to celebrate summer in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden! Bring the whole family and groove to music spun by DJ Chamun, discover the world of movement through aerial and balance circus acts, and pick up an art kit to get creative in the Garden or at home!
Hillside Performances
Three hourlong performances will each feature a dance party with DJ Chamun and a presentation from Circus Duo Shannon and Laura. Programming during each time block will be the same. Join us at 10 am, 12 noon, or 2 pm!
Free First Saturday: Garden Party
Saturday, August 7, 10 am–3 pm
The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is the place for summer fun! Dance to music from Alma Andina, hear a beautiful story about gardens by Mélina Mangal, make art inspired by the plants surrounding us, and learn about how we can take care of the environment.
Hillside Performances
Three hourlong performances will each feature a reading of Jayden’s Impossible Garden by Mélina Mangal and a performance by Alma Andina. Programming during each time block will be the same. Join us at 10 am, 12 noon, or 2 pm!