Grand Opening of Friday Nights Season Nine at the de Young

Mar 18, 2013

Photograph of exterior of de Young museum at night.

SAN FRANCISCO (March 18, 2013)—Friday, March 29, marks the highly anticipated kick-off to Season Nine of Friday Nights at the de Young. This series, funded by the Winifred Johnson Clive Foundation, The William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the James Irvine Foundation’s Arts Innovation Fund, enlivens the museum each week with a unique theme often tying in with the special exhibitions and permanent collections on view. Along with Friday Nights programming, the de Young Café offers a delicious Friday Nights menu and specialty cocktails, and the museum’s observation tower is open until 8 pm. Artist Fellows, artists-in-residence, curators, scholars, and arts educators all play an active role in making Friday Nights an engaging museum experience for the entire community.

“The people that come to the de Young on Friday Nights reflect the wide spectrum of voices in and around the Bay Area, which is in large part thanks to the artists we invite to perform,” says Renee Baldocchi, director of public programs at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The grand opening on Friday, March 29 will welcome a surprise guest performer from Steve Silver’s Beach Blanket Babylon, the world’s longest running musical revue. In addition, two-time Grammy Award-winning musician Mads Tolling and his quartet will perform; a recreation of Vermeer’s studio, closing reception for Artist Fellows Andy Diaz Hope and Laurel Roth, hands-on art activities, and a scavenger hunt by Clash SF will be available; and the 2003 film Girl with a Pearl Earring will be screened in honor of the special exhibition Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis, currently on view at the de Young.

Season Nine continues each Friday night through November 29, 2013 offering a full roster of programs. Beginning April 26, the de Young will present a Friday Nights mini-series, Orange Nights, presented in partnership with the Consulate General of the Netherlands in San Francisco. In conjunction with special exhibitions Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis and Rembrandt’s Century, Orange Nights celebrates Dutch art with DJs, live music and dance parties, lectures, films, light shows, star-gazing, tableaux vivants, and more.

Visit deyoungmuseum.org for the complete Friday Nights schedule, March 29‒November 29, 2013. Admission to Friday Night programming is free. Admission tickets are required to view the galleries and special exhibitions.

Visiting \ de Young
Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118

Museum Hours
Tuesdays–Sundays, 9:30 am–5:15 pm, last ticket 4 pm. Friday (March 29–November 29, 2013) 9:30 am–8:45 pm, last ticket 8 pm. Closed Mondays.

General Admission
$10 Adults, $7 Seniors (age 65 and over), $6 Youths (age 13‒17) and College Students with ID, FREE Members and children 12 and under, FREE general admission the first Tuesday of each month.

Additional fees apply for special exhibitions.
Tickets can be purchased on site and online. Tickets purchased online include a $1 handling charge.

Group ticket reservations available by emailing groupsales@famsf.org.

About the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in San Francisco.

The de Young is housed in a copper-clad landmark building designed by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron. It showcases the institution’s significant collections of American painting, sculpture, and decorative arts from the 17th to the 21st centuries; art from Oceania, Africa, and the Americas; a diverse collection of costumes and textiles; and international contemporary art.

The Legion of Honor’s Beaux-Arts style building designed by George Applegarth is located on a bluff overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. Its collections span 4,000 years and include European paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts; ancient art from the Mediterranean basin; and the largest collection of works on paper in the American West.

A selection of images from Friday Night programs are available upon request.

Media Contacts
Clara Hatcher \ chatcher@famsf.org

Arlo Crawford \ acrawford@famsf.org