Become a Lifelong Learner

The 19 museums in the Houston Museum District enjoy a shared passion for promoting “lifelong learning” – the voluntary pursuit of knowledge and understanding throughout one’s lifetime. The museums present classes, publications and events throughout the year to enrich the lives of members and guests no matter what age – from the pre-kindergarten years on through retirement.

The Children’s Museum of Houston presents exhibits and events that encourage children to explore — as well as to equip parents to respond to curious questions.  On March 27, at the River Oaks Country Club, the museum invites patrons to a lecture by Wendy Mogel, author and internationally acclaimed clinical psychologist and parenting expert. Luncheon proceeds will support museum programs that build parenting skills, provide information on child development and engage families in the joy of learning together. To purchase individual or table sponsorships, contact Emma Ebbs at (713) 535-7269 or [email protected].

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The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston offers a variety of educational programs throughout the year. Through regularly scheduled events for children, teens, and adults, the museum is dedicated to creating exciting ways for visitors to access and enjoy, as well as learn more about contemporary art and artists. The museum also has a Teen Council, a group of motivated young people (ages 15-19), who are committed to bringing the art of their time to their peers. They meet regularly to explore the arts and create youth-oriented programming and events.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science offers two Family Fun Labs this spring.Each program starts promptly at 9 a.m. and includes a fun, interactive class, admission to the Wortham Giant Screen Theater, entrance to the related museum exhibit and general admission. Classes are for children ages 4-12 who must be accompanied by an adult. On Tuesday, March 12 the lab offers live animal encounters with insects and arachnids, the film “Flight of the Butterflies 3D” and a tour through the Cockrell Butterfly Center. The Wednesday, March 13 labexplainswhat separates a mammoth from a mastodon, takes guests on an Ice Age class tour and shares the film “Titans of the Ice Age 3D.”

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The Buffalo Soldiers National Museum works to share and perpetuate the history, tradition and outstanding contributions of America’s Buffalo Soldiers from the Revolutionary War to present. The museum offers educational outreach, historic research, field trips, performances, exhibits, teacher workshops and resources to disseminate knowledge about the Buffalo Soldiers and their service in the defense and development of the United States.

The Holocaust Museum Houston offers several important exhibits, closing in March, that support the museum’s mission of sharing the lesson that humankind must strive to live together in peace and harmony.  “Inheritance: Stories of Memory and Discovery,” a selection of still-life montages by photographer Leslie Starobin, depicts personal belongings salvaged by families during the Holocaust. The exhibit is on view through March 24. Lisa Rosowsky’s “Blood Memory: a view from the second generation,” explores the “second generation” experience as the daughter of a hidden child and refugee from the Holocaust. Also closing March 24, this retrospective explores themes of repression and loss. Through March 29, “Fragments: Architecture of the Holocaust, An Artist’s Journey through the Camps” features photographer Karl Koenig’s exploration of the remains of 10 Nazi concentration camps. The Holocaust Museum Houston augments exhibitions with teaching materials in its Laurie and Milton Boniuk Resource Center and Library.

Since opening in September of 2001, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft has emerged as an important cultural and educational resource for Houston and the Southwest. HCCC reaches thousands of children a year through educational and outreach programming. Visitors will see the full range of the creative process, from how an object is made to why the artist decided to create something “just that way.” The Craft Garden, behind the building, demonstrates the living connection between how plant materials are grown and used to create things.

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The Houston Center for Photography houses its own Learning Center, offering more than 250 workshops to the general public each year. Workshops are held on-site in the critique room and digital darkroom as well as off-site in the field or at the facility of a partner organizations. HCP’s educational calendar is published quarterly.

The Jung Center of Houston offers more than 100 courses, programs and conferences every year in the fields of psychology, philosophy, the humanities, religion and the expressive arts. The center’s library and bookstore contain the most complete collection of books on Jungian subjects in the Southwest. Also available in the bookstore, an extensive collection of classes and lectures on CD. March programs include “Creativity, Madness, and the Unlived Life” (March 15-16) with Ann Bedford Ulanov, “Self-Compassion and Emotional Well-Being” (March 30) with Kristin Neff , “The Suppression of the Powerful Feminine” (March 14)  with Dominic Walsh, and “Ethics in the 21st Century” (March 6-27), a series featuringB. Jill Carroll.

Rice University Art Gallery hosts its “Professors’ Perspectives” series in March to complement the gallery’s “Wheel of Everyday Life” installation.  The series begins on March 6 with Beckham Dossett exploring “Branding the Everyday.”  On March 13 Jeff Kripal continues the discussion with “The Paradoxical Unity of the Sacred and the Profane.” Visitors may bring lunch and listen to a 20-minute talk starting at noon. The gallery will provide drinks and dessert.

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The Czech Center Museum Houston encourages people to learn about themselves and their roles as global citizens in art, music and history. Established in 1995, the museum was created to celebrate, share and promote the rich cultural abundance of a major Slavic ethnic group and their history – serving as an essential resource for learning about one of our nation’s diverse cultures and its interwoven history with others.

Three museums are banding together to help children develop a lifetime love of art. The Lawndale Art Center, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Houston Center for Photography plus 17 other partnering non-profits will offer hands-on art and photography activities at the Green Mountain Energy Creative Zone in the Bayou City Art Festival, March 22 – March 24 in Memorial Park. Each nonprofit partner receives a portion of the proceeds obtained from the festival weekend. Volunteers are needed. To help, contact the volunteer coordinator at each organization.

At 7 p.m. March 20, the Houston Zoo presents naturalists Brad Josephs and Paul Brown exploration of “Adventures with Bears and Wildlife Journeys in North America: Traveling to some of our continent’s most treasured natural places.”While admission to the talks is free, reservations are requested.

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The Rothko Chapel engages visitors in the difficult questions of conscience and fosters passionate debate. In March, its Vatican II@50 series looks at the impact of the Second Vatican Council, convened 50 years ago in 1962 by the enormously influential Pope John XXIII. The series concludes this month with  “Jewish-Catholic Reconciliation: Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going?” by Rabbi David Rosen and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo (lecture, March 4); “Musical Traditions of Judaism and Christianity Explored through the Psalms in Collaboration with the University of St. Thomas, (performance, March 7) andThe Transformed Experience of Sisters since Vatican II, by Sister Pat Farrell, V (lecture, March 14).

The Rothko also presents a series in honor of its 2013 Óscar Romero Award recipient Blanca Velázquez, a champion of worker rights and dignity in Mexico. March lectures includeMexico Today: A Portrait of Contemporary Mexican Society,” with Dr. Katharine Donato on March 19, “Slow Justice is No Justice: The Mexican Case” by Jose Calderoni on March 21 and “Economic Justice: Labor Rights as Human Rights,” Joie Chowdhury  on March 29. On March 24, the chapel will screen the film, Monseñor: The Last Journey of Óscar Romero, a portrait of  Archbishop Óscar Romero of San Salvador, who was murdered March 24, 1980, because of his courageous defense of the poor.

The Health Museum offers classes, field trips, family workshops and camps  to stimulate our curiosity about the human body and health.Stop by during Health & Wellness Week, March 11- 16 for dissection demonstrations of the brain, heart and eye.Or, enroll your students in the Health Museum’s brand new Spring Discovery Camp − Don’t Bug Me! for ages 5 through 13. Campers will feast on edible bugs, perform hands-on dissections and take a field trip to a butterfly center. Finally, the UT Brain Night, on Thursday, March 14, invited the whole family to a free event hosted by the UT Health Neuroscience Research Center.  Participants have a chance to ask doctors all about the body’s most important organ – the brain.

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The Asia Society Texas Center has created a workshop series to help teachers remain lifelong learners. The Educator Night series combines a two-hour workshop with a performing or visual arts experience. Designed for K-12 and university instructors, these programs introduce educators to Asian art, culture, economics, government, music, and theater. March programs include “Photography, Culture, and Identity” on Tuesday, March 5 and “Culture and Identity in Taiwan with Filmmaker Hu Tai-Li” on Saturday, March 23, which includes the film  “Returning Souls” by Hu Tai-Li and a violin performance by Cho-Liang Lin. Participants receive applicable G/T hours from the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented.

The John C. Freeman Weather Museum, the first and only museum of its kind in the nation, opened its doors in April of 2006 in the Houston Museum District to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. Founded and operated by meteorologists, the Weather Museum is a project of Weather Research Center, a Houston, Texas based non-profit educational and research organization. In-depth guided group tours by appointment are available. The museum also offers weather camps, weather labs, scout merit badge classes, weather talks, and teacher workshops throughout the year. The museum will host three weather camps in March: Spring Weather Wonders (ages 5-7)  on Tuesday, March 12; Spring Weather Navigator (ages 7-11) on Wednesday, March 13, and Spring Storm Navigator (ages 12-17) on Thursday, March 14.

The Menil Collection has a unique program planned for Monday, March 11 and Tuesday, March 12. Renowned French playwright, screenwriter, author and actor Jean-Claude Carrière brings to the foyer of the Menil Collection a one-man rendition of the story of Mahabharata, the longest Sanskrit epic. Carrière will recall his eleven years in India studying the work, and the resulting nine-hour stage version of The Mahabharata, directed by Peter Brook, which premiered in 1985. Scriptwriter or director for 170 films including The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Chinese Box, Carrière’s work spans six decades.  Founder and President of the French State Film School, he was awarded the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest honor.

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The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
offers a wide range of lectures, guided tours, gallery talks, concerts, readings, performances, and symposia throughout the year. Stop by in March for “A Woman Clothed with the Sun: The Immaculate Conception in the Art of Spain” at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, March 1, 1:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. Saturday, March 2, “Master, Model, Icon: The Artistic Legacy of Francisco de Goya” at 1:30 on Friday, March 8 and 4 p.m. Saturday, March 9. The topic of discussion on March 15 and 16 will be “The Three Faiths of Abraham,” presented by Dr. B. Jill Carroll, an internationally recognized expert on issues of religious tolerance, philosophy of religion. On March 22 and 23, the museum will offer “Dressed for Success: Spanish Royal Fashions,” presented by the museum’s curator of European art, Dr. Helga K. Aurisch.