The Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, WA has lifted its capacity restrictions! Anyone who can travel around within their country can now enjoy everything this Emerald City and venue offers–including the special upcoming programs taking place. The announcement comes on the heels of MoPOP’s recent premiere of two new exhibitions: Heroes and Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume and Rise Up: Stonewall & the LGBTQ Movement, both now on display. For tickets and information, please visit MoPOP.org.
“After a difficult time, it’s amazing to see the energy that is exuding from MoPOP,” said Spokesperson Michael Cole-Schwartz. “Seeing a range of people–particularly young people–touring our exhibitions and being exposed to so many types of creativity is inspiring and demonstrates our mission of making creative expression a life-changing force.”
NEW EXHIBITIONS NOW ON VIEW
Heroes and Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume
Open now through April 2022
Using more than 70 original pieces, including ball gowns, sorcerers’ capes, military uniforms, tiaras, and of course glass slippers, the exhibition explores the vision, process, and craft used to create the costumes worn by some of the biggest names in entertainment. Heroes and Villains features costumes from some of Disney’s toughest villains and kindest heroes.
Exhibition highlights include:
- Ten Cinderella pieces including ball gowns, tiaras, slippers and other accessories including a gown from 2015’s Cinderella by Sandy Powell made from more than 270 yards of fabric and adorned with over 10,000 crystals.
- Work from 19 different designers, 11 of whom are Oscar® winners and nominees: Colleen Atwood, Jenny Beavan, Jacqueline Durran, Anthony Powell, Sandy Powell, Bill Thomas, Paco Delgado, Gary Jones, Jeffrey Kurland, Judianna Makovsky, and Anna Sheppard.
- A “Magic Mirror” inspired by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and designed by MoPOP, allows the visitor to virtually “try on” several of the costumes featured in the film. The mirror uses touchless technology and a depth camera to sense visitors as they approach and show them how they might look as Cinderella, Maleficent, Jack Sparrow, or Mary Poppins.
Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement
Now open through September 12, 2021
This exhibition having its Seattle premier explores the cultural transformation that propelled an underground movement into an intrinsic element of who we are as a nation. With stories as diverse as the LGBTQIA+ community itself, Rise Up looks at the pop culture touchstones, political battles, creative luminaries, enduring challenges, and joyous victories that mark an on-going period of change in American history. In addition to the content in the exhibition, MoPOP has curated stories featuring the local activists and artists that have impacted Seattle.
Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement was developed by the Newseum, an affiliate of the Freedom Forum, which fosters First Amendment freedoms for all.
Exhibition highlights include:
- Picket signs from the 1960s, a Harvey Milk campaign poster from the 1970s, and early issues of One, Mattachine Review, and The Ladder magazines
- Historic photos and stories of pioneering activists like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera
- An 8-color flag designed by Gilbert Baker, the originator of the pride flag that has spawned numerous evolutions
- Martina Navratilova’s tennis racket and Greg Louganis’s Gay Games medal
- The gavel Nancy Pelosi used to announce House passage of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
- Local community members and icons, including rock band Thunderpussy performance costumes and photos, Lampshade crown worn by Aleksa Manila at the Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle and the Olympic and Rainer Empire coronation (2016), original comic artwork by Ellen Forney, and a video installation by J Mase III
MoPOP SUMMER YOUTH PROGRAMS
MoPOP’s youth education summer programs offer camps that engage young people in creating original music videos, imagining fantasy worlds, taking the stage as an improviser, exploring the world of drag, or designing their own museum in Minecraft! Summer programs begin July 12, 2021, and serve students in grades 2–12 – there is still time to enroll! Here is an overview of this summer’s offerings:
- Mic Drop: One-Day Comedy Workshop at MoPOP
- Rock ‘n’ Rolling!
- Drag-tastic Summer Camp: The Art of Drag
- Make a Minecraft MoPOP! Exhibit Design Camp
- Creating Fantasy Camp
- Rain City Rock Camp Partner Camp
OTHER SUMMER EVENTS:
Movies – “It’s Coming From Inside The House”
THE HUNGER online watch along with special guest, Isabella L. Price
July 17 – 7:00 p.m. PT
Tickets: Pay what you can! Registration required.
It’s Coming from Inside the House, MoPOP’s monthly horror watch along series, is a place for the horror hounds, the horror curious, and even the horror averse to come together and talk about what scares us (even if it’s just an unsightly hairpiece from an 80s slasher flick). This July we feature The Hunger. More at MoPOP.org/Movies
Sensory Friendly Morning at MoPOP
August 28 – 8:00-10:00am
Free. Tickets available later in July.
Join us for our Sensory-Friendly Programs, an opportunity for adults and families to experience the museum with lowered volume and light levels. Sensory-Friendly Programs welcome anyone who can benefit from a low-sensory museum environment. For more details >>
NEW GALLERIES
Idris Elba’s The Dark Tower (2017) outfit is now on display in Fantasy: Worlds of Myth and Magic, located just inside the exhibition’s large swinging door. In the 2017 film, based on Stephen King’s dark-fantasy novel series of the same name, Elba plays Roland Deschain, aka The Gunslinger, an immortal warrior charged with protecting reality itself.
