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Visit the ICA during school vacation week for hands-on art-making and gallery fun! Create a colorful geometric masterpiece with tape and paint, and become a Line Collector in our galleries with a game designed by Peter H. Reynolds, author of The Dot! 

Participation is drop-in on a first-come, first-served basis. Last entry 30 minutes before closing.

Art Lab: Zig Zag Painting

Bank of America Art Lab, 1st Floor

Combine lines and color to create a unique painting! Layer lines of tape to form a pattern, add colorful paint to your canvas, and peel away your tape to reveal geometric designs. 

The Line Collector Scavenger Hunt

4th Floor Galleries

Become an art agent and find lines, shapes, and colors across the galleries! Enjoy this interactive scavenger hunt designed by Peter H. Reynolds, author and illustrator of the The Dot, created in collaboration with FableVision Studios/Reynolds Center TLC and Project AMI (Art + Museums Interacting).

Free Admission for Youth

Youth 18 and under always receive FREE museum admission. The ICA is committed to providing access to the art and artists of our time—and we do this with the incredible support of our community. Explore the +1 Membership: a free ICA membership program for youth 0-18.

Questions? Reach out to us at familyprograms@icaboston.org.

Create and connect through an interactive Bank of America Art Lab installation by Boston-based artist Yenny Hernandez. Experience her stunning mural depicting gratitude in bloom, showing how appreciation can grow within each of us. Reflect on the gratitude in your life through hands-on art-making and more!  

Make a vessel 
Let gratitude bloom! Use colorful paper, decorative tape, sculptural elements, paint pens, and more to create a 3D vessel as a portrait of gratitude.  

Gratitude exchange 
Carry your appreciation forward! Choose a colorful prompt card to write or draw your own response and add to our community display. 

Token of thanks 
Receive a sticker designed by the artist as a token of appreciation for your participation. As supplies last, one per visitor. 

About the Artist

Yenny Hernandez (she/her) is a muralist and graphic designer who uses vibrant color and storytelling to transform public spaces. Her work spans bold lettering, narrative imagery, and abstract compositions, with the goal of creating immersive environments that spark joy and connection. By blending design expertise with community voices, she reimagines blank walls as dynamic spaces that invite people to feel inspired and included. 

Free Admission for Youth

Youth 18 and under always receive FREE museum admission. The ICA is committed to providing access to the art and artists of our time—and we do this with the incredible support of our community. Explore the +1 Membership: a free ICA membership program for youth 0-18.

Questions? Reach out to us at familyprograms@icaboston.org.

Get inspired by Caroline Monnet’s Man-made Land! View the Art Wall installation and feel a sample of the materials Monnet uses at our art cart. Use colorful metallic paper, ribbon, decorative tape, and colored pencils to draw and collage a mobile that represents the connections in your life! Plus, warm up with a hot beverage at a pop-up hot chocolate bar with all the fixings!* 

Art-making is free and meets at the Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall in the State Street Corporation Lobby. Participation is drop-in on a first-come, first-served basis as space allows. *Available for purchase.

College students are taking over the ICA! Head to the Seaport for a night of creative art-making, unbeatable music, and stunning harbor views. Explore cutting-edge exhibitions—including the brand-new An Indigenous Present and the 2025 James and Audrey Foster Prize, celebrating Boston artists—and make the museum yours for the night.

Music lineup

State Street Corporation Lobby, First Floor

Your Biggest Hater | 6–6:45 PM
An ever-evolving experimental jazz project by trumpeter Lemuel Marc, Your Biggest Hater features Eazy Freeman-Fanfan on percussion, Jillian Upshaw on drum set, and Aidan Devine on bass.

Command+E | 6:45–7:10 PM
Command+E blends improvised sound and visual performance using sculpture, saxophone, broken electronics, sampling, and effects.

Teatea  | 7:10–7:35 PM
Boston area performer and producer Teatea fuses R&B, hip-hop, synthpop, and other eclectic styles into her music.

Pleasure Coffin | 7:35–7:45 PM
Multimedia performance artist/producer Pleasure Coffin’s sculptures of sound accompany her noise-pop music.

Lilith | 7:45–9 PM
Eclectic electronic musician Lilith performs with an array of gadgets ranging from the SP404, Monome, and DJ Decks, to create footwork-R&B melodies.

Event program

Art-making: Land Shapers | 6–8 PM  
Bank of America Art Lab, First Floor

Make art inspired by local artist Robert Peters’ Art Lab installation, Big Baby: A Story of Maushop. Be a land shaper like Maushop, a legendary giant from Wampanoag tradition who shaped and protected the land. Use clay and other sculptural materials to create your own meaningful place or bring something from your imagination to life. Free / Drop-in, first-come-first-served, and space is limited.

An Indigenous Present Gallery Discussions | 7:15 + 8:15 PM  
Bridgitt and Bruce Evans and Karen and Brian Conway Galleries, Fourth Floor

Deepen your understanding of the exhibition themes found in An Indigenous Present through a spotlight discussion of Teresa Baker’s Knife River. Each session is approximately 20 minutes long.

Win an ICA Labubu!
State Street Corporation Lobby, First Floor

Enter to win one of three Labubus complete with custom ICA gear! Sign up for the raffle when you check in. Winners will be notified via email following the event.

Levain Bakery Cookies
State Street Corporation Lobby, First Floor

Sample a fresh, delicious cookie bite from Levain Bakery, handmade with love and the best ingredients for ICA College Night. First-come-first-served while supplies last

University Members: Reserve your free ticket below!

Show valid student ID when checking in!

Berklee College of Music

Brown University 

Boston College: Art Department 

Boston University 

Brandeis: School of Creative Arts 

Bunker Hill Community College 

Emerson College 

Framingham State University: Arts & Ideas 

Harvard University 

Lesley University 

Massachusetts College of Art and Design  

Massachusetts Institute of Technology  

Montserrat College of Art  

Northeastern University & NU College of Arts, Media and Design  

Olin College of Engineering  

Roxbury Community College  

School of the Museum of Fine Arts  

Suffolk University Art & Design and First Year Seminar 

UMass Boston: Art Department  

UMass Dartmouth: College of Visual and Performing Arts & Honors College 

UMass Lowell: Art and Design Department  

Urban College of Boston  

Step into the world of Big Baby by artist Robert Peters —a reimagination of the Wampanoag legend of Maushop, a giant who is said to have shaped the areas now known as Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard. In Peters’ art and story, Maushop is born as a giant baby raised by the community he grows to protect.  

Make art in the Bank of America Art Lab inspired by the way Maushop shapes and protects the land. Use clay and other sculptural materials to be a landshaper, and create a personally meaningful place or bring something from your imagination to life. How would you protect and care for this place? How does it provide for you, and how will you give back to it? 

About the Artist

Robert Peters is a Mashpee Wampanoag artist, poet, and author. His expansive work — from children’s literature and poetic essays to paintings and community murals — promotes understanding and healing among Indigenous people.

His first published book, Da Goodie Monsta (2009), was inspired by a dream his son had as a young child and tells the story of a monster who chases away nightmares. Peters released Thirteen Moons Calendar: A Meditation on Indigenous Life (2015 and 2020) featuring poetry, essays, and thoughts written over 20 years. His most recent self-published work, Big Baby (2024), tells a reimagined story of Wampanoag legendary giant Maushop as a baby.

Peters’ public art can be found in community spaces on Sachem Street in Revere, MA; in dormitories at the University of Massachusetts Boston; and in a mobile collaboration with three other Native artists honoring Native Boston Marathon runners. Peters continues to write, paint, and work with youth. He is a fire keeper and a keeper of oral tradition.

Free Admission for Youth

Youth 18 and under always receive FREE museum admission. The ICA is committed to providing access to the art and artists of our time—and we do this with the incredible support of our community. Explore the +1 Membership: a free ICA membership program for youth 0-18.

Questions? Reach out to us at familyprograms@icaboston.org.

Get creative on select Free Thursday nights with art-making activities designed by local artists. Plus, visit the galleries, grab a drink from the ICA Wine + Coffee Bar,* and connect over creativity. No experience necessary. 

For Art-Making After Dark ticket holders, participation is drop-in on a first-come, first-serve basis as space allows. Art-making is free and meets in the State Street Corporation Lobby. While all experience levels are welcome, this workshop is designed for adult audiences. *Refreshments available for purchase.

Art-Making After Dark: Coloring our Histories | April 16

Share your stories of color and be a part of an ongoing project by artist Destiny Palmer! 

Coloring Our Histories is a participatory archive which invites all people to share the colors that speak to who they are, where they’ve come from, and what they’ve lived through. Guided by the artist, you will choose a color that represents a meaningful part of your story and create a monochromatic, mixed-media collage. If you choose, you can have your collage photographed and added to the Coloring Our Histories Archive! 

About Destiny Palmer
Destiny Palmer is trained as a painter but her work explores the intersections of painting, history and color, allowing it to blur the lines of painting, sculpture and installation. Palmer explores and investigates what it means to be an artist, educator and advocate for the arts. She has worked with various communities to create public art projects ranging from traditional murals to community engaged/lead mural to digitally created murals. Some of her murals can be found at the Gallivan Community Center in Mattapan, Kendall Square Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. Destiny Palmer had the privilege to collaborate and envision a new Codman Square Park as their finalist artist. Palmer has participated in exhibitions at Antenna Gallery, The Colored Girls Museum, Automat Collective, Ely Center for the Arts, Vandermoot Gallery, and Landmark College. Palmer received her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting from Tyler School of Art at Temple University and Bachelors in Fine Art in Painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Destiny Palmer currently is working at Thayer Academy. Previously an Assistant Professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. 

A woman with long dark hair and bangs smiles at the camera in a black and white portrait, taken during Artmaking After Dark at ICA Boston. She is wearing a light-colored top, and the background is softly blurred.

This program is inspired by Derrick Adams: View Master. 

Art Making After Dark: Layers of Memory | May 7

Get introspective with an evening of memory and color! 

Boston-based painter Raquel Philippe reflects on the fragmented nature of early memories depicting them through vividly colorful, layered images that both hide and reveal their detail. Guided by Philippe, learn how to use watercolor to create your own patterned paper inspired by a treasured memory. 

About Raquel Philippe 
Raquel Philippe (she/her/hers) is a Boston-based painter, originally from New York. Her practice currently investigates early lived experiences as fragmented, layered impressions. Through vivid colors and transparency, she buries and traces over her memories that then reemerge in altered States. In her paintings, organic, leaf-like silhouettes move across the surface as both markers and camouflage, echoing the way memory hides details as much as it reveals them. Philippe’s current work continues to refine her inquiry into memory, perception, and the visual structures through which formative experience is reconstructed. She holds a BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology and is currently pursuing her MFA in painting at Boston University. 

A person wearing glasses and a light shirt sits in front of a wall covered with colorful abstract paintings and sketches, capturing the creative spirit of artmaking after dark at ICA Boston. Abstract painting featuring swirling shapes in shades of red, orange, and maroon. Layered patterns and curves create a sense of movement and depth—evoking warmth and dynamic energy, inspired by artmaking after dark at ICA Boston.

This program is inspired by Derrick Adams: View Master.  

Make a postcard that celebrates motherhood! Using colored pencils, creative drawing tools, and decorative materials, create artwork and write a message that honors either yourself, a mother, or an important person in your life.

This is a drop-in, self-guided activity, as space permits. This activity is on the first floor in the ICA Wine + Coffee Bar.

Playing Together | 12–4 PM

Want to make more art? Create and collaborate in Playing Together, an interactive installation by Boston-based artist ponnapa prakkamakul. Make your own artwork that reflects on the role of play in your life. Using wooden square tiles and a variety of sculptural, textured, and colorful materials, make a “Joy Connector” to take home or add to a mosaic of visitor creations.

Free Admission for Youth

Youth 18 and under always receive FREE museum admission. The ICA is committed to providing access to the art and artists of our time—and we do this with the incredible support of our community. Explore the +1 Membership: a free ICA membership program for youth 0-18.

Questions? Reach out to us at familyprograms@icaboston.org.

Join us on the first Sunday of the month for a day of free family fun! Enjoy art-making, gallery activities, performances, and workshops designed to deepen kids and families’ connections with contemporary art. All activities are drop-in, first come first served. Space is limited. Explore our Kids + Families page to help plan your visit!

Reserve free admission tickets online in advance. When accompanied by kids 12 and under, up to 2 adults per family receive free museum admission. Use the code PLAYDATE when reserving your ticket(s). Tickets will become available mid-month the month before each Play Date. Advance tickets are strongly recommended; day-of tickets are not guaranteed.

May Play Date | May 3

Artmaking: Spinning Stories | 10AM – 3PM
State Street Corporation Lobby, First Floor 
Create a spinning story! Inspired by view master toys, make a drawing that wraps around a circle, layer a second circle on top, and spin your artwork to reveal the story! 

Art Lab: Silly Statues | 10AM – 3PM 
Bank of America Art Lab, First Floor 
Inspired by circus fun, create a small statue of your favorite character, act, or animal! Use pipe cleaners, wire, string, and beads to build your silly statue! 

The Rubin Brothers Family Show! | 11AM – 12PM  
Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater, Second Floor 
Enjoy the joyful, wacky, and whimsical music of the Rubin Brothers! Using elements of circus, vaudeville, and comedy, the Rubin Brothers create an interactive performance style that delights, excites, and amazes! After the show, see the instruments and props they use up close and try your hand at creating different sounds. 

Books and Looks | 10:30 AM and 1:30 PM  
Galleries, Fourth Floor 
Connect with art through the creative worlds of picture books! Join our staff for a guided reading of family-friendly storybooks in the galleries. Each Books and Looks reading lasts approximately 30 minutes. 

June Play Date | June 7

Celebrate superheroes by creating and imagining your own heroes big and small!

Artmaking:  Superhero Comics | 10AM – 3PM  
State Street Corporation Lobby, 1st Floor
If you were a hero, what would you do for the world? Imagine your own superhero, create a character, and draw a comic of their adventures! 

Art Lab: Super Secret Messages | 10AM – 3PM 
Bank of America Art Lab, 1st Floor 
Superheroes can share secret messages with one another! With white crayon, draw a message from your superhero. Then, use watercolor to reveal the message to your friends and family! 

Draw Your Super-Self! | 11AM – 2PM 
Barbara Lee Family Theater, 2nd Floor 
What is your superhero alter-ego? Trace yourself onto a giant sheet of paper and decorate your silhouette with a costume and superpowers! 

Books and Looks | 11AM and 1PM 
Galleries, 4th Floor
Connect with art through the creative worlds of picture books! Join our staff for a guided reading of family-friendly storybooks in the galleries.  

July Play Date | July 5

Kick off summer with artmaking and activities inspired by fun in the sun! 

August Play Date | August 2

Spend a day on the harbor and find artistic inspiration from the beautiful Boston waterfront!  

Free Admission for Youth

Youth 18 and under always receive FREE museum admission. The ICA is committed to providing access to the art and artists of our time—and we do this with the incredible support of our community. Explore the +1 Membership: a free ICA membership program for youth 0-18.

Questions? Reach out to us at familyprograms@icaboston.org.

Visit the ICA during school vacation week for hands-on artmaking in the Bank of America Art Lab! Inspired by the exhibition Stanley Whitney: How High the Moon, create a colorful painted keepsake using bold colors, abstraction, and musical inspiration found in Whitney’s artwork. Participation is drop-in on a first-come, first-served basis. Last entry 30 minutes before closing. 

Free Admission for Youth

Youth 18 and under always receive FREE museum admission. The ICA is committed to providing access to the art and artists of our time—and we do this with the incredible support of our community. Explore the +1 Membership: a free ICA membership program for youth 0-18.

Questions? Reach out to us at familyprograms@icaboston.org.

Your support helps keep programs like this free and accessible! If you are able, please consider becoming a member or making a one-time gift to support the ICA. 

Calling all teens! Join us at the Bank of America Art Lab for an exclusive after-hours look into Boston-artist ponnapa prakkamakul’s new mural and interactive art making experience, Playing Together. Explore play through creating your own art and engage with other visitors through playing with the new interactive mural! 

This is a free event for teens. RSVP is required to participate.

But wait… there’s more!!! Do you hope to stay connected to the art industry? You will have the amazing and limited chance to be interviewed and featured in a documentary on themes of joy and play! Volunteers are being taken now!