Hundreds ‘Catch the Cool ‘at QMA

Families enjoyed a fun-filled day at the Queens Museum of Art – complete with treasure hunts, outdoor activities and live musical performances.
Over 1,600 participants came out to celebrate “Catch the Cool” – an event held on Saturday, June 18, at the museum sponsored by Cool Culture, a New York City-based non-profit that provides low income families access to cultural institutions.
The event allowed parents to show their children that museums can be a fun, educational experience, said Malikka Karteron, a member of Cool Culture’s advisory council.
“They’re having fun at the cultural institution, but at the same time, it helps them with the foundation for their academic careers,” she said.
One of the organization’s goals is to help children learn through experiencing art. It helps to develop their numerical, reading comprehension and analytical skills, Karteron said.
But it also offers parents that may be unfamiliar with museums a way to make them more appealing for their children.
The event featured a treasure hunt where Cool Culture representatives handed out art scavenger hunt cards. Parents and their children had to search for objects they saw in the museum’s galleries.
“The great thing is that the cards feature activities that help parents turn looking at art into a meaningful educational experience,” said Barbara Palley, educational manager at Cool Culture. “Parents with very little museum experience have the resources to guide their children through an educational and fun experience in front of a piece of artwork.”
There were also live musical performances and other outdoor activities around Flushing Meadows-Corona Park for families to enjoy.
Cool Culture provides over 50,000 families throughout New York City free admission to over 90 cultural institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Modern Art and The Brooklyn Museum.
The non-profit provides these families – most of whom are low-income – with a card that allows them to bring up to five members to any of the institutions that partner with Cool Culture.
“During these hard economic times, it provides them [parents] with something to do with their families,” Karteron said.