Photo by Natasha Moustache
Photo by Erin Smithers
Small Steps Project.
Celebrate the end of Pride month with family-focused activities all about self-love! Explore wellness and love through contemporary art and hands-on activities designed for families with kids to do together at both the ICA in Seaport and the ICA Watershed in East Boston!
All activities are drop-in, first-come-first-served, and space is limited. Reserve free admission tickets online in advance*. All activities are drop-in, first come first served, space is limited.
*On Saturday, June 24, museum admission is FREE for families when accompanied by kids ages 12 and under, with up to 2 adults per family. Timed tickets must be reserved online in advance. Use the code PLAYDATE when reserving your ticket(s). Advance tickets are strongly recommended; day-of tickets are not guaranteed. Families interested in visiting the ICA Watershed for Playdate can select the General Admission & Water Shuttle ticket. The Watershed is located within the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina in East Boston at 256 Marginal Street. Accessible parking is available at the Watershed. Limited street parking is available nearby. Visitors can also reach the Watershed by public transportation – the building is 0.5 miles from Maverick Station on the Blue Line.
4th Floor, Mediatheque
Take a seat for live storytimes and family meditations with The Haus of Glitter! A Providence-based dance company + performance lab + preservation society, The Haus of Glitter works to shift the energetic center of the universe towards care, healing, justice and freedom. Join us for stories and reflection (and mermaids)!
1st Floor, Art Lab
Create your own multimedia bouquets as we practice giving ourselves love and compassion. Symbolizing affection and appreciation, build a gift for yourself, or work together to build one for each other.
4th Floor, Galleries
Our Visitor Assistants (VA) are always eager to talk about the artworks and answer your questions. Pick up a gallery game card to explore the museum as a “Thinker, Maker, Explorer, or Performer”. Great for a variety of ages and for intergenerational audiences to play together. Cards are available on the 1st and 4th floor near the elevators. Questions? Ask a VA on the 4th floor. Only #2 pencils allowed in the galleries.
See and experience exhibition Guadalupe Maravilla: Mariposa Relámpago at the ICA Watershed, and ride over to East Boston on our Water Shuttle!
Harbor Room
Experience and learn about forms of holistic healing. Join a workshop in sound healing, acupuncture, or Reiki with experienced practitioners. Relax, engage, and connect to oneself and those around you.
The Haus of Glitter Dance Company (based in Providence, RI) works, through movement and choreography, to shift the energetic center of the universe towards Queer Feminist BIPOC Liberation. In the work we share and co-create with audiences, we strive to embody ancestral liberation, healing and love in every step and every breath of our creative process and pedagogy. Our choreography aims to reach beyond the stage and into the streets; into our homes; into our institutions; into our hearts.
Sarah Rose Smiley is a multidisciplinary teaching artist and facilitator who works primarily in painting and photography. They believe that art allows us the possibility of better understanding our inner worlds, and reclaiming the parts of ourselves that oppressive structures have told us to be ashamed of.
The Small Steps Project aims to bridge community organizations, practitioners, and institutions to increase access to holistic healing for historically marginalized populations in Boston and beyond. Inspired by Dr. Tolbert Small, one of the first American physicians to utilize acupuncture and the former doctor to the Black Panther Party, we believe in the small steps that we can take to improve our health and the health of those around us. We host pop-up clinics around the city to meet communities where they are at, and we offer a variety of services from acupuncture to reiki for free! In our pilot summer in 2022, we worked with over 175 community members at eight clinics in Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan, and more.
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 us at familyprograms@icaboston.org.
Your support helps keeps programs like this – both virtual and in-person – free and accessible in this time of uncertainty. If you are able, please consider becoming a member or making a one-time gift to support the ICA.
ICA Kids and Family programs are supported, in part, by First Republic Bank and the Willow Tree Fund.