FREE: Register now to Celebrate the Year of the Rooster with FCCNE at the MFA!

It's free admission all day long at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. You can explore Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese art and traditions while enjoying activities, demonstrations, and performances throughout the day. Great for all ages.

10:00 - 12:00 - Come by to meet up with FCCNE families and friends and share a wish for the New Year.

FCCNE will be in Gallery 231, in the American wing off the main inner courtyard, with low key activities and a place to meet and connect with each other. Meet FCCNE board members and other families and adoptees - we look forward to seeing you there!

Here's a schedule for the day:

Community Arts Initiative Partner Spotlight
10 am–4 pm | Education Center in Druker Family Pavilion, Room 159 - Students from the MFA’s ten Community Arts Initiative partner organizations created a collaborative project of red envelope prints inspired by Lunar New Year themes. Drop in to view the installation and make your own print to add to the community work of art.

Lion Dance: Gund Kwok
11:30 am–12:15 pm and 1:30–2:15 pm | Remis Auditorium - Watch a festive Chinese Lion Dance performance by Gund Kwok Asian Women’s Lion and Dragon Dance Troupe. Join Gund Kwok after their performance for an interactive opportunity to try on some costumes and learn some techniques.

Free performance ticket required. Limited availability: first come, first served. Performance tickets available at Remis Auditorium Box Office starting one hour before show times.

Talk: Celebrating Têt, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year
Noon–1 pm | Alfond Auditorium

Enjoy an interactive roundtable discussion about how Têt is celebrated across generations and from coast to coast. Meet co-presenters Pham Hương, Director of Community Organizing, and Hứa Carro, Youth Programs Assistant Director, both from Vietnamese American Initiative for Development, Inc. (VietAID); Dr. Trân V. Thành, Boston College School of Social Work; and Trân Vũ Thu-Hăng, MFA Associate. Q & A in either Vietnamese or English welcome following the talk.

Free talk ticket required. Limited availability: first come, first served. Talk tickets are available at Alfond Auditorium ticket desk starting 30 minutes before show time.

ASL interpretation.

Music: Gapi
3:30–4:30 pm | Remis Auditorium

DoYeon Kim and Chase Morrin, known as Gapi, present a concert of compositions for gayageum and piano, influenced by Korean traditional music with a modern twist. Kim and Morrin have developed a sound that is both freely improvised and structured within complex forms. Their performance features Korean pieces dedicated to the Lunar New Year, including “The Shaman” (translated), seeking good luck for all in the new year.

Free performance ticket required. Limited availability: first come, first served. Performance tickets available at Remis Auditorium Box Office starting one hour before show times.

Tours, Talks, and Walks

Art of Asia: Highlights Tour in Mandarin
10:30 am and Noon | Meet at Sharf Visitor Center

Join a one-hour tour in Mandarin Chinese, featuring masterpieces from the Museum’s Asian art collections. Led by Irene Chang, an MFA Associate guide.

No English translation.

American Sign Language Highlights Tour
11 am | Meet at Sharf Visitor Center

Visit masterpieces from the Museum’s collections on this one-hour tour, led by trained Access Guide, Sharon Applegate.

No spoken English translation.

Spotlight Talks: Art of Asia
1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 3, 3:30, and 4 pm | Level 1: Galleries 176 and 179 and Level 2, Art of Asia, Oceania, and Africa: Galleries 271, 274, and 285

Drop in to enjoy an educational talk about the MFA’s Art of Asia collections, including works from Korea, Vietnam, and China. Visit any of the galleries at any of the times listed to hear a 15-minute talk spotlighting these Asian masterpieces.

ASL interpretation available at 1:30 pm in Gallery 176, at 2 pm in Gallery 179, and at 2:30 pm in Gallery 274.

Demonstrations

Gong-Fu
10:30–11 am and Noon–12:30 pm | Shapiro Family Courtyard

Enjoy an interactive demonstration of Gong-Fu—Chinese martial arts. Children from Wah Lum Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy perform a lion dance to ring in the New Year. Presented in partnership with the Chinese Culture Connection.

Vietnamese Dance and Martial Arts
1:30–1:40 pm | Shapiro Family Courtyard

Master Tân Nhât Bích and students from the Boston Bình Đinh Academy of Vietnamese Traditional Martial Bình Đinh Academy of Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts perform.

Meditation
10:30–11 am and 11:30 am–Noon | Gallery 280

Calling all early risers—wake up and meditate with the rooster. Learn techniques and the fine art of the rooster. Learn techniques and the fine art of meditation with Elyse Foster. All ages welcome.

Saebae
11 am–Noon, 1–2 and 3–4 pm | Gallery 250

Participate in a traditional bowing and greeting ceremony practiced in Korea during New Year celebrations, hosted by members of the Korean Cultural Society of Boston.

ASL interpretation available from 3 to 4 pm.

Art-Making Activities

Door Guardians
10 am–4 pm | Gallery 271

Traditionally, door guardians are placed on the fronts of doors on New Year’s Day to keep bad spirits away. Create your own Lunar New Year guardian door hangers inspired by works of art in the galleries.

Bok Jumoni
10 am–4 pm | Shapiro Family Courtyard

It is a Korean New Year tradition for children to bow in respect to their elders in a ceremony called saebae. Following the ceremony, children are given money and mementos to put in small bags called bok jumoni. Make your own bok jumoni for keeping coins and tokens.

Red Envelope Printmaking
10 am–4 pm | Education Center in Druker Family Pavilion, Room 159

Red envelopes—often filled with money—are traditionally given out during the Chinese New Year. The color red symbolizes good luck and is said to keep evil spirits away. Create and print your own design on red envelopes to ring in the New Year!

Family Art Cart
10 am–4 pm | Sharf Visitor Center

Choose from activities designed to guide you through the galleries with fun facts, scavenger hunts, games, and more. Art Cards are available with tactile graphics, large print and Braille.

Available every Saturday and Sunday through June in the Shapiro Family Courtyard from 10 am to 4 pm.

See the MFA website for schedule updates here.