Community Day at The Aldrich

Six and a half hours, one campus, nothing to pay at the door. Community Day is The Aldrich's third annual open house, and it turns the whole Museum and grounds over to free activities for every age, all of it orbiting the current exhibition The Aldrich Decennial: I am what is around me. Guided tours, hands-on art making, family activities, live music, a new performance, and programs run in partnership with Connecticut community organizations.

Families can start the morning with a special Story Time presented with the Ridgefield Library, which does require pre-registration, then spend the day making art in The Studio and exploring the Sculpture Garden. There is a scavenger hunt with stops indoors in the galleries and outdoors in the garden, and Make-Modern joins The Studio with a textile arts activity for anyone who wants to get their hands into materials.

Outdoors, Connecticut Music Therapy Services runs an interactive music activity from 12 noon to 2 pm, and Pop Art! Kids brings a playful outdoor art experience from 1 to 3 pm. Woodcock Nature Center returns again this year with nature-based experiences. Running all day is Do the Dots, a participatory piece from artist and creative director Bri Emery, where color, attention, and guided sensory exercises build into a collective visual body map that grows as more visitors add to it.

Here's the shape of the day. Story Time with the Ridgefield Library at 10:30 am. The Caudatowa Garden Club seed exchange from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, bring seeds to swap or just take some. A Sculpture Garden tour at noon led by Aldrich Educator Mike Murray with Barbara Hartman of the Caudatowa Garden Club and Roberta Barbieri of the Ridgefield Conservation Commission. Drop-in art making and textile work in The Studio from 12:30 to 4:30 pm. Indoor exhibition tours at 1 pm and again at 3 pm.

Don't miss the 2 o'clock. Decennial artist Anindita Dutta debuts a new performance, The Dream of Being, from 2 to 3 pm.

Lunch is handled. Chez Lenard will be on campus with their gourmet hot dogs and Bridge Street Premium Ice will have a range of sorbet flavors, both available for purchase.

Generous support for Third Saturdays and Community Day comes from Fairfield County Bank, the Ridgefield Rotary Club, the Ridgefield Thrift Shop, and the Wadsworth Russell Lewis Trust Fund. Family programming is supported by Michele Cotler Bronkesh and Noah Bronkesh.