The Met to Host Teens Take The Met! Festival on Friday, May 12

Photo by Filip Wolak

Teen Evening and Semi-Annual Event Features Museum-Wide Activities, Workshops, and Performances

Over 3,000 teens from New York's five boroughs will come together at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday, May 12, from 5 to 8 pm, for Teens Take The Met!—an innovative, teen-centric evening of creativity and activity. The twice-yearly Museum-wide program began in October 2014, and has emerged as one of the most anticipated festival evenings at The Met. The event allows teens—many of whom are visiting The Met for the first time—to immerse themselves in hands-on experiences while exploring the Museum. The spring edition will introduce teens to the spectrum of activities available to them across the City with workshops, performances, art making, demonstrations, films and more, offered by over 50 youth and cultural organizations participating in the evening. Teens Take The Met! is free for all teens (age 13 or older) with a middle school or high school ID.

The event is made possible by Bonnie J. Sacerdote and the Gray Foundation.

WNYC is a media partner of Teens Take The Met!

Throughout the evening, teens will be invited to "Drop in and Dance" with Mark Morris Dance Group Arts Immersion 2017, create Bojagi-inspired wearable jewelry with The Korea Society, experience virtual reality with New York Film Academy, join a "Living Sculptures"dance workshop with Teens@Graham in the European Sculpture Court, participate in a performance of "Romeo & Juliet, an East Harlem Remix" with Epic Theatre Ensemble in the Vélez Blanco Patio, stop by a Polaroid photo station with the NYU Tisch Department of Photography and Imaging; engage in book making with the NYC Writing Project; digital music with Building Beats; and more. All of The Met's exhibitions will be open including Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between and the Cantor Roof Garden exhibition, The Theater of Disappearance by Adrián Villar Rojas.

Partner organizations will present a variety of interactive experiences inspired by the Museum's collection of 5,000 years of art from around the world, as well as their ongoing work with teens. (The list of partnering organizations is below.)

Sign Language interpretation, assistive listening devices, sighted guides, large print and Braille information, and a designated quiet space will be available, as will free snacks and a photo booth.

Teens will pick up their special-event wristbands at either of two of the Museum's Fifth Avenue entrances (81st Street or 83rd Street), where pop-up performances by teen singers will entertain the crowds during check-in, and the wristbands will provide access to teen-only activities throughout the building. A live feed of audience-created posts on Instagram and Twitter, using #metteens, will be projected on the wall of the Great Hall.

"Teens Take The Met! is one of the most powerful and energetic evenings of the year—it's when teens can connect with the Museum on their own terms and find their creative voice," said Sandra Jackson-Dumont, The Met's Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education. "Now that this event is in its third year, we see young people who came to The Met for the very first time a few years ago, returning again for another immersive, creative experience and to connect with old friends and meet new ones. It's a dynamic evening enhanced by the wonderful support of parents, schools, and our community partners."

The event will be featured on The Met's website, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via the hashtag #metteens.