Enjoy Free Daily Admission and Special Holiday Events at the Cleveland Museum of Art

CLEVELAND (November 25, 2024)—Create warm memories with your family, friends, and loved ones at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). With free daily admission and our full calendar of events, it’s ideal for people of all ages and groups of all sizes. View world-class art, listen to holiday music, and enjoy free family activities while celebrating this season.

Opening on December 8, 2024, just in time for the holidays, is our long-awaited exhibition Picasso and Paper. Showcasing nearly 300 works spanning the artist’s career, the exhibition highlights Picasso’s relentless exploration of paper alongside a limited number of closely related paintings and sculptures. Reserve your tickets today.

Additional highlights include the following:

• Chamber Music in the Atrium: A Musical Interlude for the Holidays (Wednesday, December 4)
• Art Up Close: Paper! Inspired by the exhibition Picasso and Paper, a selection of artworks that explore the use of paper (Wednesday, December 4; Tuesday, December 10; and Thursday, December 19, 2024, 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.)
• Play Day: Glow exploring the mesmerizing beauty of light with lantern making, interactive games, and time to play in our village of small glowing tents (Saturday, December 8)
• Holiday Pop Up! Open Studio: Free, drop-in art-making sessions designed for the whole family (Thursday, December 26; Friday, December 27; and Saturday, December 28)

And for anyone looking to spread joy, the CMA offers gift memberships. You can also visit our beloved museum store for a variety of gifts by local artists and global fair-trade companies, books and exhibition catalogues, and Picasso-inspired merchandise—something for everyone on your list.

The CMA’s current hours of operation are Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Wednesday and Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays. 

Evening Hours 
Explore the museum in the evening on Wednesday and Friday nights until 9:00 p.m.

Holiday Events

Chamber Music in the Atrium: A Musical Interlude for the Holidays

Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 6:00–7:00 p.m.

Ames Family Atrium
Free

The museum’s popular Chamber Music in the Atrium concert series continues with a special holiday edition.

This evening’s program, titled “A Musical Interlude for the Holidays,” features musicians from Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics and graduates of the Cleveland Institute of Music performing festive chamber music, including waltzes, virtuosic piano works, songs, and sonatas. Some selections are accompanied by dancers from the Cleveland Ballet.

Art Up Close: Paper!

Wednesday, December 4; Tuesday, December 10; and Thursday, December 19, 2024, 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Ames Family Atrium 

Free

Inspired by the exhibition Picasso and Paper, view a selection of artworks that explore the use of paper. 

Play Day: Glow

Sunday, December 8, 2024, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. 

Ames Family Atrium 

Free

Join us this December as we embark on a captivating journey exploring the mesmerizing beauty of light. Play Days at the CMA are opportunities for the whole family to be creative, be curious, and connect with art. This winter’s program explores illumination with lantern making and interactive games.

The event features the following activities:

• Lantern Making
• Giant Light Bright
  • Experiment with creating images using color and light with our giant light bright!
• Glow Village
  • Play and relax in our village of small glowing tents. 
• Music, Games, and More

Holiday Pop Up! Open Studio

Thursday, December 26, and Friday, December 27, 2024, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Free
Open Studio days provide free, drop-in art-making sessions designed for the whole family, encouraging creativity and bonding through hands-on activities. Join us in the Ames Family Atrium for this special winter-break studio! 

Holiday Gifts

CMA Membership

Share your love of art by purchasing a CMA membership. Recipients can take advantage of exclusive discounts and free exhibition tickets. Shop online at cma.org/giftmemberships to choose the perfect level for your loved one.

Museum Store

Find a special holiday gift at the museum store. Choose from a variety of cards, posters, and gifts based on exhibitions and works from the museum’s collections as well as unique jewelry, clothing, accessories, and other items from local artists and global fair-trade companies. Members receive a 15 percent discount in the museum store.

The CMA is closed on December 25 and January 1. On December 24 and December 31 the CMA closes at 4:00 p.m.

Enjoy All That CMA Has to Offer

Visitors can also explore free exhibitions and favorite galleries, enjoy lunch in the museum’s Provenance café or restaurant, relax in the Ames Family Atrium—Cleveland’s largest free interior public space—and snap a photo with family and friends in front of the holiday wreath, tree, menorah, and kinara.

Free Exhibitions 

Ancient Andean Textiles

Through Sunday, December 8, 2024

Jon A. Lindseth and Virginia M. Lindseth, PhD, Galleries of the Ancient Americas | Gallery 232 

Free; No Ticket Required

Between about 3000 BCE and the early 1500s CE, ancient Andean weavers created one of the world’s most distinguished textile traditions in both artistic and technical terms. Within this time span, the most impressive group of early textiles to survive was made by the Paracas people of Peru’s south coast. Most artistically elaborate Andean textiles served as garments.

Native North American Textiles and Works on Paper

Through Sunday, December 8, 2024

Sarah P. and William R. Robertson Gallery | Gallery 231

Free; No Ticket Required

On display from the permanent collection are two Diné (Navajo) textiles from the late 1800s and early 1900s, both of them rugs woven for the collector’s market, modeled on the Diné shoulder blanket. Also on view is a watercolor from the 1920s by the Pueblo artist Oqwa Pi (Abel Sanchez), who was key to a major development in Southwest Indigenous arts as Native people took control of representing their own cultures after centuries of marginalization.

This exhibition is made possible with support from the Simon Family Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

Picturing the Border

Through Sunday, January 5, 2025
Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz Photography Galleries | Gallery 230

Free; No Ticket Required

Picturing the Border presents photographs of the US-Mexico borderlands from the 1970s to the present taken by both border residents and outsiders. They range in subject matter from intimate domestic portraits, narratives of migration, and proof of political demonstrations to images of border crossings and clashes between migrants and the US Border Patrol. The earliest images in this exhibition form an origin story for the topicality of the US-Mexico border at present, and demonstrate that the issues of the border have been a critical point of inquiry for artists since the 1970s. Many serve as counternarratives to the derogatory narratives of migration and Latino/as in the US that tend to circulate in the mass med

Capitalizing on the prevalent issues of the border today, Picturing the Border aims to spark vital conversations of what constitutes citizenship, as well as complex negotiations of personal identity as it relates to the border. The exhibition shows through these images that Latinx, Chicano/a, and Mexican photographers have significantly rethought what defines citizenship, nationality, family, migration, and the border beyond traditional frameworks for decades.

This exhibition is made possible with support from Anne T. and Donald F. Palmer.

Jewish Ceremonial Art from the Jewish Museum, New York

Through Sunday, January 5, 2025

Various Galleries

Free; No Ticket Required

The CMA, famous for the quality and breadth of its collection, partners with the Jewish Museum, New York, and displays a group of Jewish ceremonial objects from the latter’s world-renowned collection of Jewish art. The objects are shown in six permanent collection galleries, representing the diversity of Jewish cultures throughout the world and time. Among the objects are silver Torah ornaments from Italy, France, and Georgia; a rare German festival lamp; and spice containers made in Ukraine and the United States. They convey the creativity of Jewish communities and artists from different backgrounds in which they adapted traditional forms of Judaica to changing fashions, styles, and needs, often drawing on broader cultures. Visitors can explore the artistic and cultural significance of these objects and learn about the rituals for which they were created.

Principal support is provided by Rebecca and David Heller. Major support is provided by Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang. Additional support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Marjorie Moskovitz Kanfer and Joseph Kanfer, Margo Roth, Dr. Linda M. Sandhaus and Dr. Roland S. Philip, Dr. Daniel Sessler and Dr. Ximena Valdes-Sessler, and Herb and Jody Wainer.

Demons, Ghosts, and Goblins in Chinese Art

Through Monday, January 20, 2025
Julia and Larry Pollock Focus Gallery | Gallery 010

Free; No Ticket Required

Demons, ghosts, and goblins feature in Chinese art as creatures that either bring harm or ward off evil spirits. This exhibition presents 20 sculptures and paintings of secular and religious subject matter from a private collection and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The show explores the stories in which they appear and the supernatural power that they exert.

This exhibition is made possible with support from Anne T. and Donald F. Palmer.

The CMA’s current hours of operation are Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Wednesday and Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays. Updated hours are announced as decided. Visit cma.org to stay up to date on this information.

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Gary and Katy Brahler, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, the William S. Lipscomb Fund, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Roy Minoff Family Fund, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, Christine Fae Powell, Michael and Cindy Resch, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.

All education programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Education. Major annual support is provided by Brenda and Marshall Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Walter E. Fortney, David and Robin Gunning, Dieter and Susan M. Kaesgen, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang, Shurtape Technologies, and the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation. Generous annual support is provided by Gini and Randy Barbato, the M. E. and F. J. Callahan Foundation, Char and Chuck Fowler, the Giant Eagle Foundation, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Logsdon Family Fund for Education, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill,  Betty T. and David M. Schneider, the Sally and Larry Sears Fund for Education Endowment, Roy Smith, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Trilling Family Foundation, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 

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About the Cleveland Museum of Art 

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship, and performing arts and is a leader in digital innovation. One of the leading encyclopedic art museums in the United States, the CMA is recognized for its award-winning open access program—which provides free digital access to images and information about works in the museum’s collection—and free of charge to all. The museum is located in the University Circle neighborhood with two satellite locations on Cleveland’s west side: the Community Arts Center and Transformer Station.

The museum is supported in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and made possible in part by the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts. The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. For more information about the museum and its holdings, programs, and events, call 888-CMA-0033 or visit cma.org.