Sugar Hill for the Imagination

City-Kid Review:

I like the tent and the story and the puppet show and the painting and the building and the rainmaker.

The Sugar Hill Museum is an absolutely fantastic space. Inspiringly designed by the Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye, the space has been genuinely created with children in mind; not a bunch of stuffy grown-ups deciding what they think would be good for kids.

Ellen Baxter and the BHC have pioneered a space based on research about the impact of arts on early childhood development, of storytelling, imagination and curiosity.

Different art installations appear at the back of the reception and downstairs. Walk down the stairs or take the elevator, and the space opens up magically into an enormous hall, with wonderful murals on all sides. Off to the right are the art studios, with glass doors and freedom for children to explore their artistic selves. There is  a shadow puppet light box, a lovely tent, an area to build whatever you would like out of provided materials, an area where you can free paint a community painting, and a black wall on which your city kid can paint Chinese water art. One of the artists told me they will adjust according to what is popular with the kids as they come in, although the shadow box and tent are set to stay.

They have a wall of spectacles with different gels on the lenses to change how you see the museum. A ton of thought has gone into this truly museum.

Need to Knows:

Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling is very easy to get to. It is directly opposite the 155th street station on the C line.
Adult admission is $7; children are free. Admission is free with your NYC-ID card. You can get free membership for a year with your NYC-ID card.

They have fun events most days they are open. They are open Thursday-Sunday from 10am-5pm.

Location: 898 St Nicholas Ave, New York, NY 10032. You can take the C to 155th street and the museum is on the same block as the subway station. Look out for its distinctive box-on-a-box structure. You can find more information here.

Top-Tip

On Thursdays, from 3.30-4.40pm it is Topsy Turvy time, with the wonderful story teller, Carlotta Joy Walker, in the main hall at the Sugar Hill Museum. There are storytelling times over the weekends, too, although we have not yet been able to check them out.

http://www.sugarhillmuseum.org/calendar/

Any other Top Tips for the Sugar Hill Museum? Please post in the comments section below.

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