| |
Cool Culture's programs are designed to address the financial, informational,
and perceptual barriers that prevent low-income families from making visits
to cultural institutions with their children.
 |
|
Cool Culture Family Passes
The entry fees at many cultural institutions are often prohibitively
expensive for low-income families. Most families with whom Cool
Culture works fall under federal poverty guidelines. Though many
institutions offer free or reduced-fee time periods, these are often
during weekdays or evenings when families are unable to attend.
Additionally, "pay-what-you-wish" or suggested admission policies
can be difficult to negotiate, especially for families who are not
used to visiting museums.
To address these issues and through its partnerships with cultural
institutions, Cool Culture is able to give each family a Cool
Culture Family Pass that provides free entry at any time
to over 71 museums, botanical gardens, and zoos.
|
|
 |
|
New and Improved Family Time
and Cool Culture Connect Audio Guide
Many low-income families don't know about New York City's many
cultural institutions, where they are, or what they offer. Outlets
usually employed by cultural institutions to promote their programs
often do not reach low-income families.
Cool Culture provides each participating family a subscription to Family Time, a quarterly publication that provides a borough-by-borough listing of cultural attractions, including practical information on hours and public transportation, as well as a calendar of events especially geared toward families and young children.
Click here for Family Time in English> (1.4 Mb)
New and Improved Spanish Translation
Haga
click aquí para Family Time en Español > (2.7 Mb)
NEW - Chinese Translation
Click here to download a PDF
of the Summer44 Events calendar in Chinese> (2.4 Mb)
e-Family
Time
e-Family Time is Cool Culture’s monthly email newsletter designed to keep families in-the-know about New York City’s hippest cultural happenings. Each issue includes important Cool Culture announcements and information about partner cultural institutions.
Click here to subscribe and receive e-Family Time
Click here to download a PDF copy of this month’s issue
of e-Family Time
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
Cool Culture is delighted to announce
its partnership with Target!
Target® First Trips provides children and parents who have never
visited a museum with a special introductory experience that
exposes them to the incredible world of art. Click here
|
| |
 |
|
Say Cheese! Family Photo Contest:
Want to show others your family’s latest visit to a Cool Culture partner museum, zoo, or garden? Submit your photo to Cool Culture for a chance to be featured in either Family Time or e-Family Time and receive a $25 Gift Card!
Here’s How:
- Take a digital family photo at a Cool Culture partner cultural institution.
- Photos should be high-resolution (360 DPI or more)
- Email the photo as an attachment to familytime@cool-culture.org (Subject: Say Cheese!). In the body of the email, please include:
- Name of the person submitting the photo
- Names of the individuals in the photo
- Name of the early childhood center the child attends
- Name of the cultural institution visited
- A daytime phone number
Please be advised, Cool Culture is unable to use submissions of hard copy photos or photos pasted in the body of the email due to formatting issues. Cool Culture reserves the right to use and publish any photos submitted.
|
|
 |
|
Cool Culture Connect
Cool Culture Connect Audio Tour gives you the inside scoop on events and programs at cultural institutions from many different folks: museum educators, early childhood staff and families like you! To learn more about Cool Culture Connect, click here
|
|
 |
|
Cultural Liaison Training
Focus groups conducted with low-income families and staff at Head
Start/Day Care programs showed that many feel that cultural institutions
are intimidating, offputting, or "not for them." Providing
access and information about cultural institutions is futile unless
these cultural barriers are addressed. For this reason, Cool Culture
provides training for Head Start, Day Care, and public school staff
and parents/guardians to help them feel welcomed and comfortable
in these environments and to instruct them on how to maximize the
educational value of these experiences for young children.
Cool Culture's training first focuses on the fears, concerns,
and pre-conceived notions that prevent low-income families from
making their first visits to museums and presents ways to address
and overcome them.
Workshops
also provide educational tools and resources, including pre- and
post-visit learning activities, questions and discussion guides
that foster verbal literacy, and ways to link visits to the classroom
curriculum. Parents and staff who have completed training become
Cultural Liaisons, peer advocates who help other families at their
Head Start center, Child Care program, or school to take advantage
of cultural resources in the city.
|
|
|
