Programs

The Museum’s diverse collections include more than 25,000 objects from 141 countries spanning 23 centuries. Stunning exhibitions enlighten students about useful objects of timeless beauty, and they provide lessons in topics as wide-ranging as language arts, geography, mathematics, history, science, and anthropology.

This free program includes family-friendly art-making activities tied thematically to the Museum’s permanent collection or exhibitions on view.

Our littlest visitors and their families are invited to explore toddler-centered folk art, craft, and design! Join us for something new each week. Activities will include seeing art, making crafts, hearing stories, and more. Mini Mingei is perfect for parents, grandparents, and caregivers with children ages 2–5.

Mingei’s Outreach at Home Series provides teachers and students with educational materials to learn and create art in their own art-making spaces.

San Diego Youth Symphony's ChIMES (Childhood Introduction to Music Education, with Smiles) program provides enriching musical experiences for parents/caregivers and their young children to sing, move, explore instruments, and create musical moments together. This special collaboration between ChIMES and Mingei will combine musical activities with hands-on art-making to engage all the senses.

The Museum received a two-year $227,000 Institute of Museum and Library Services CARES Act Grant in support of its current distance learning programs, as well as new engagement programs to support seniors who are socially isolated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the support of this IMLS grant, Mingei partnered with Elderhelp and Jewish Family Service to offer hands-on artmaking opportunities and art prints featuring collection objects distributed to seniors' homes. These “at-home” programs are a combination of mailed art supplies, video instructions, and opportunities to connect with education staff and guest artists via social media and mail.