Free First Thursdays at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Meeting Esther: A Cross-Cultural Night of Art and Music The story of Queen Esther has inspired people of a variety of religious and cultural traditions for generations—from her birthplace in ancient Persia to Amsterdam in the 1600s. Join us as we bring some of those cultural traditions to life on September’s first Free Thursday Night. With complimentary admission offered from 5 to 9 pm, Free Thursday Nights are a chance to connect with fellow art lovers and embrace possibility. Whether you're new to the city or a local Gardner devotee, join us as often as you like as each visit becomes a new opportunity to meet others and get creative space of belonging and exploration. Bring a date, bring a friend, or come by yourself—let the Gardner Museum be your respite, art studio, and home away from home on Thursday nights. Tickets for Free Thursday Nights are available 2 days in advance. <a href="https://tnew.gardnermuseum.org/37795/">GET TICKETS</a>. &nbsp; Program Stories Within: Scroll Making with Polly Thayer Starr Studio Visiting Artist Becky Behar 5 – 8 pm, Bertucci Education Studio&nbsp; Inspired by the story of Esther and the creative potential of an unfurling story, we invite you to use one of the oldest forms of bookmaking to create a personal scroll. Reflect upon the many layers of identity and experience we carry within us through collage, drawing, and stitching in the Studio. Music by Ira Klein 5:30 and 7 pm, Courtyard Guitarist and composer Ira Klein will present a program of traditional Ladino, North African, and Middle Eastern Jewish music, highlighting the diversity and richness of musical traditions seldom known in the US.&nbsp;Additionally, Klein will share selections of his original musical project inspired by The Catalan Mahzor, a medieval illuminated Judeo-Spanish manuscript. The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt Spotlight Talks 5 pm, 6 pm, and 7 pm,&nbsp;Hostetter Gallery&nbsp; Learn from a Museum Teacher about the story of the Jewish heroine and how her bravery has inspired people across time and place.&nbsp;

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

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Free First Thursdays at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

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