Programming this Spring and Summer
Events
Together on this Land
2 Dates: Sat. May 13 and Sat. June 17 from 10am – 12pm
Price: Cost: $10 Adult; $5 Child (4-12yrs); Free (3yrs-0); $25.00 Family Fee at the door (6 people or less) please note that all prices will include tax. Tickets can be purchased on our website.
This outdoor program offers a diverse range of activities aimed at families who love getting their hands dirty! The program includes indigenous storytelling and crafting, immersive nature exploration, and an exciting historical trail agricultural adventure are all included. Thank you to our program partners: Patsy Anne Day, Perth County Tourism, and Upper Thames River Conservation Authority.
Love, Tom Play
Date: Monday, June 12 6:45 pm
Price: $20.00 plus tax. Tickets can be purchased on our website
This original Reading of “Love, Tom” has now developed into a full performance production in our indoor theatre. Based on some of Tom Patterson’s experiences while he was stationed in England during World War II, we see a different, and younger, Tom from the one who later founded the Stratford Festival. See how the man who launched our Shakespearean Festival Theatre was motivated by all that he endured to inspire a distinguished legacy of the arts in Stratford. Production Cast and Crew: Tom Patterson – Scott Beaudin, Director, Adaptation – Julia Rank, Sound Effects – Brent Sylvester
Star Party
Date: Friday, June 23 at 8:30 pm
Price: $12.00 plus tax. Tickets can be purchased on our website.
Explore the nightscape of our Heritage Trails this summer with Stratford Astronomy Group’s Star Party event. Engage with some experts and telescopes to learn about the twinkle behind our celestial world! Trade in your sunglasses for some nightshades and get a closer look at what illuminates our skies.
Puppetworks Fundraiser
Date: Saturday, June 24, All Day
Price: TBA
Puppetworks is partnering with the Stratford Perth Museum to throw a joint fundraiser. A fusion of SpringWorks’ puppetry programming and heritage activities intended for all ages. From ropemaking, to printmaking, to a safari of animals on strings – we will have a diverse lineup of artistic edutainment. Stay tuned for details.
Joyfest
Date: Sunday, August 20
Price: TBA
It’s time to find your happy place at the Stratford Perth Museum! In partnership with the Yoga Chapple, we are throwing a jubilation event that is intended to connect us as people through song, dance, creative expression and cultural health practices. Expect some smiles in this welcoming community spaces event.
Additional Events
Canada Day Weekend Family Frenzy
Kroehler Exhibit Special Event – July 30
Stratford Public Library STORY WALK on our Heritage Trails – August 26
Regular Programming
Hands On Exhibit Tours
Tour our new Hands On exhibit with hundreds of our handmade artifacts on display…
Accompanied with artisanal storytelling…you’ll be sure to ‘grasp’ many tales from our community. Everything from Tinkers, Tailors, Tech, Toys and more you will see how things were made and the methods behind the madness! Our special tours will take you on a tactile journey where you will be engaged with ‘hands on’ related challenges including riddles, palmistry, and even testing your own conservation and curator skills.
An interactive Touch Table features activities like looming, sign language hands, log home building, and quilt designing. You can even leave your mark in the exhibit through our Helping Hands Pyrography Wood Burning for Local Charities program.
Regularly scheduled tours take place on Saturdays starting at 1:00 PM or Special Tours can be booked by appointment by calling 1-519-393-5315.
Young @ Art
July & August
Every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10 am – 4 pm
Price: By Donation
Join us this summer for our new ongoing series Young @ Art. This family friendly program is intended to get your hands messy and geared towards ages 12 and under. Art activities ranging from handmade Fuzzy Friends to Butterfly Wands, these Make & Take projects can be brought home or crafted at Museum. Some supervision will be provided but caregiver attendance is required.
Friendship Fence
An Interactive Exhibit Program intended to reflect on current issues that impact our community. Visitors are welcome to tie or weave textile/ribbons that represent various causes and challenges we are facing as humans throughout our region. Textiles/ribbons will be displayed on our front fence at the Stratford Perth Museum. Connected in Compassion – Resiliency in Connection.
Month of May
To Commemorate the lives of our Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, & 2SLGBTQQIA+ community members we encourage residents and visitors to add a red ribbon to our front fence at the Stratford Perth Museum as a way to spread awareness, honour their memory, and stand in solidarity with their families. You are welcome to bring your own ribbon to tie tightly to our front fence, or find them at the front desk at the museum for the month of May during our operating hours. This is a temporary exhibit and we ask participants to please be respectful. Thank you for your support. Thanks to Haunting Live for providing ribbons and their tremendous care for our communities.
Helping Hands: Fundraising for Local Charities Program
Wood Burning for Charity…Pay $2.00 to get your pyrography design on one of our wooden “Helping Hands” displayed in our Hands On exhibit. Half the Proceeds go to a local charity or community service organization featured each month. Other half of the Proceeds go to our Bring the Bus Program that subsidizes school bussing for field trips. All Supplies provided.
Featured Charity for the Month of May: The Optimist Club of Stratford
Summer Picnic Experience
By Booking Call 1-519-393-5315
Price: Each picnic experience is $20 (+HST). Maximum of 10 participants.
Summertime and the livin’ is easy….especially when you embark on one of our incredible picnic experiences. Perfectly curated for all-ages, families, friends, sweethearts or perhaps, a calm getaway just for one. You’ll enjoy basking in the picturesque setting on the museum grounds, along with themed activities including B.Y.O.P. (Bring Your Own Picnic) where you make a butterfly wand or paint a flower pot; Biblichor: old books and classic prose; Cribbage & Croquet; Love Letters with a typewriter, paper and pen; 45’s in the Sunshine with a 1970’s record player and records. Your summer date preparation just got easier with Stratford Perth Museum!
Busy Hands Workshops
Looking for DIY projects or to learn more about trades in both craft and industry? We will have a unique lineup of experts in the field related to everything from carpentry, papercutting, leatherworking, blacksmithing, puppetry and more. Here is a jist of our upcoming workshops.
Macrame Plant Hangers
Date: Saturday, May 20, 2023 from 1pm – 3pm
Price/Supplies: All Included for $50.00 plus tax (buy tickets on our website)
Project: Learn about Macrame and make your own plant hanger. The art of Macrame has been around since the 13th century when it finds its origins in Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations. Since that time, the art form has been adopted and modified all over the world. In this era plant hangers are all the rage so come learn with workshop leader Elise MacDonald, the ancient skill of macrame with a modern twist to invite spring into your home!
Leatherworking Workshop 101
Date: Saturday, June 3, 2023 from 1pm – 3pm
Price/Supplies: All Included for $60.00 plus tax (buy tickets on our website)
Project: Learn about the medieval leatherworking skills and make you own belt. Throughout time, people have always struggled with the same problem. How do I stop my pants from falling down around my ankles, embarrassing me in public. Learn the basics of making a belt by hand with workshop leader David Gotlieb, and come away with your very own belt so that you too can avoid the eternal problem of your pants falling down.
Illuminated Manuscripts 101: What’s with All the Rabbits?
Date: Saturday, July 8, 2023 from 2pm – 4pm
Price/Supplies: All Included for $20.00 plus tax (buy tickets on our website)
Project: Illuminate and decorate a Shakespearean Sonnet and a popular art form from the days of early writing called illumination, the art of decorating in and around written text. In this workshop with Desiree Kern, we will play with calligraphy, find out why there are so many rabbits being naughty in medieval illumination, see samples of illumination from around the world, and explore the crazy creatures that appear in prayer books and tomes, as well as create your own decoration around a sonnet in preparation for a Shakespearean celebration at the museum for Stratfords of the World Event and the Stratford Festival’s Spamalot production in 2023.
Busy Hands: Indigenous Puppetry
Date: Saturday, July TBA
Price/Supplies: All Included for $30.00 plus tax
Project: Make you own puppets while learning and listening to traditional Indigenous storytelling through puppets with local Indigenous Anishinabbe Puppeteer, Scott Norton.
Busy Hands: Flint Knapping
Date: Saturday, August TBA
Price/Supplies: All Included for $50.00 plus tax
Project: Make your own stone tools using corals and rocks while learning traditional Indigenous customs and hunting techniques with workshop leaders from the Healing of the Seven Generations group.