LAFAYETTE, La. – Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folklife Park will open its doors free of charge to all Museum Day ticketholders on Saturday, September 18, 2021, as part of Smithsonian magazine’s 17th annual Museum Day, a national celebration of boundless curiosity in which participating museums emulate the free admission policy at the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington DC-based museums.
The annual event allows museums, zoos, and cultural centers from all 50 states to emulate the spirit of the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington, D.C.-based facilities, which offer free admission every day, according to a spokesperson for Bayou Vermilion District & Vermilionville.
Museum Day goes beyond getting visitors through museum doors—it acts as a springboard to empower and help advance the hopes and ambitions of the public, particularly school-aged children and those in underrepresented communities. It represents a national commitment to access, equity and inclusion.
With many public spaces being shut down for a year or more, Museum Day 2021 celebrates the reopening of museums after long closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme, Experience America, represents the return to, and resurgence of, the country's diverse cultural experiences, in the safest possible way. While tickets will be free of charge, participating museums will have safety precautions in place for this year’s event.
Vermilionville’s mission is to increase appreciation for the history, culture, and natural resources of the Native Americans, Acadians, Creoles, and peoples of African descent in the Attakapas region through the end of the 1800s. Through historic interpretation and conservation along the Bayou Vermilion, we strive to educate guests on the interactions of these groups and the connections between past and contemporary folklife, thus empowering guests to apply these lessons from our shared histories.
For Museum Day 2021, Vermilionville will showcase the "Watershed Exhibit" which introduces the dynamic interconnections of planetary heat distribution due to the seasons, seasonal weather phenomenon, the water cycle, the life cycle of plants and animals, the physics of watersheds, the effects of water on humanity, and the effects of humanity on water, according to the spokesperson.
Vermilionville will also showcase an exhibition titled "Museums: From Curiosities to Caretakers of Culture." This exhibition will look at the history of museums in general and of Vermilionville. It will provide education on the important and prestige of the American Association of Museums' Accreditation, as well as the role Vermilionville plays in the cultural-educational landscape of the Attakapas region. the Living History museum's permanent exhibitions will demonstrate the "Caretakers of Culture," while Wunderkammers (Cabinets of Curiosities) will be curated and installed to demonstrate the "Curiosities" part of museum history.
Museum Day tickets will be available for download at Smithsonianmag.com/MuseumDay beginning August 18, 2021. Visitors who present a Museum Day ticket will gain free entrance for two at participating venues on September 18, 2021. One ticket is permitted per email address. A list of participating museums, which will be continually updated as more museums continue to register, can be found at Smithsonianmag.com/MuseumDay.
For more information, visit Smithsonianmag.com/MuseumDay.
------------------------------------------------------------
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
To reach the newsroom or report a typo/correction, click HERE.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox. Select from these options: Breaking News, Evening News Headlines, Latest COVID-19 Headlines, Morning News Headlines, Special Offers
