50th Anniversary Open House

Celebrate fifty years of bringing art and people together at the Johnson Museum with live music, sweet treats, art-making, and more—free and open to all!

Tours and performances

1:15PM:
Performance by Illuminations Chinese cultural dance troupe in the wing lecture room, Floor 2L

Tour of Fifty Years: An Anniversary Celebration with the Collection with Student Educator May Yuasa ’24, Floor 1

1:45PM: Performance by Cornell Lion Dance, Gussman Entrance Hall and Hirsch Lecture Lobby in the wing

2-3PM: Performance by Fall Creek Brass Band, Mallin Sculpture Court, Floor 2

3-3:30PM: Reading by Tompkins County Poet Laureate Janie Bibbie, Floor 6

3:15PM: Tour of Fifty Years: An Anniversary Celebration with the Collection with Student Educator Shahad Salman ’24, Floor 1

Ongoing activities

• Create a mixed-media animal inspired by the work of Celia Vasquez Yui in the Cox Studio, Floor 2L (timed sign-up required)
• Learn more about photography in the exhibition Nydia Blas: Love, You Came from Greatness, Floor 2L
• Drawing activities in the Richard Sukenik ’59 Teaching Gallery, Floor 2L
• Scavenger hunt hosted by the Willard Straight Hall Student Union Board, Floor 5

Join us outside in front of the Museum to get a taste of “Cosmos Swirl” ice cream from Cornell Dairy, named in tribute to the Museum’s light installation inspired by Carl Sagan (while supplies last)!

Janie E. Bibbie is the Tompkins County Poet Laureate for 2023–24. She is author of Alzheimer’s: Up Close and Personal and several books of poetry, including Priceless Present: Poems for Now. She is a member of Business Leaders of Colors, Lifelong, and the Greater Ithaca Activities Center Senior Program. As Poet Laureate, she hopes to encourage members of the Tompkins County community to join her in reading, writing, and sharing poetry.

The Willard Straight Student Union Board aims to celebrate Willard Straight Hall’s historical responsibility and Cornell’s student culture by hosting events that build social relationships within the Cornell community through fun and unique activities that support and acknowledge the cultural and social diversity of the student community throughout the school year.