Experience Spain

Experience Spain brings together the country’s diverse cultural and musical traditions with interactive workshops, music and dance performances, cultural talks, and more.

Experience Spain celebrates the rich cultural traditions of the country. The event features one weekend of dynamic participatory program with music, songs, dance performances, gastronomy, crafts, and cultural talks.

Gifts available for purchase

• From 9 am to 5 pm.
• Visit the museum store for books, instruments, jewelry, and music reflecting the lively energy and sunny spirit of Spain.

Craft-making

• From 9:30 am to 4 pm.
• Craft two iconic flamenco accessories during your Spanish adventure at MIM. Both the Spanish abanico (fan) and handheld castañuelas (castanets) have become symbols of the famous Andalusian music and dance. Make your own versions out of recycled materials and take them home.

Instrument spotlight: pandereta galega & castañuelas

• From 9:30 am to 4 pm.
• Try your hand at two traditional percussion instruments with distinct Spanish flair: the pandereta galega (Galician tambourine) and castañuelas (castanets). Both instruments have specialized techniques and sounds characteristic of Spain’s rich folk music traditions.

Photo booth

• From 9:30 am to 4 pm.
• Have your picture taken with fun musical props at MIM’s custom photo booth, and instantly get your own copy to take home.

Galician music performance

• From 10:30 to 11:15 am.
• Enjoy the unique sound of the Galician gaita (bagpipe) with a performance by local Spanish-Galician music group Muiños. Vocalist Rosalia Outeiral and bagpipers Rómulo Conde and Jim Hartman will share some of the lesser-known Celtic-influenced music of Galicia and Northern Spain.

Face painting

• From 11 am to 3 pm.
• Add some Spanish colors to your look! Have your face painted with colorful designs by skilled local painters.

Spanish dance workshop

• From 11:30 am to 12:15 pm.
• Join members of Julia Chacón Flamenco Theatre to explore the rhythmic interactions between musician and dancer through Spanish dancing and palmas (hand clapping). Enjoy learning the basics of various styles such as Rumba Flamenca and Sevillanas, then take your moves to the floor and dance to live music during the midday performance.

Spanish-Inspired lunch menu available for purchase

• From 11:30 am to 2:30 pm.
• Enjoy a special menu at Café Allegro that highlights Spanish flavors, with dishes including sopa de ajo, fabada bean and chorizo sausage soup, and seafood paella.

Curator’s mini-tour: Spanish guitars

• From 12:30 to 12:45 pm.
• Travel to Spain in MIM’s Europe Gallery for a brief introduction to the fine Spanish guitars on view. Take a closer look at new additions to the display that illustrate construction features and stylistic developments in the history of the Spanish guitar. Richard Walter, PhD, curator for United States / Canada and Europe, will share information about special acquisitions and loans showcasing MIM’s portrayal of this significant Spanish musical legacy.

Sevillanas music and dance performance

• From 1 to 1:45 pm.
• Sevillanas are a type of folk music and dance performed at festivals and celebrations throughout the region of Andalusia, Spain. Stop by for a performance of sevillanas and Spanish rumba by local Flamenco guitarist Monte Perrault and friends. Perrault will be joined by local dance students in traditional dress for this interactive performance. Attend the Spanish Dance Workshop at 11:30 am for some instruction, then join in this participatory performance.

Curator talk: “Reflections on Spanish Musical Heritage in Latin America”

• From 2 to 2:30 pm.
• Two new displays in MIM’s Latin America gallery featuring historic instruments on loan from the Museu de la Música de Barcelona, Spain, illustrate Spain’s enormous influence upon music in nearly twenty newly forming cultures in the Americas from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Using these exhibits as a point of departure, curator for Latin America and the Caribbean Daniel Piper, PhD, will explore fascinating historical lineages and connections between Spanish and Latin American music and instruments from the colonial period into the twentieth century. Complete with multimedia, Piper’s talk will also delve into Spain’s crucial role in the history of one of the world’s most popular instruments—the guitar!

Curator’s mini-tour: Spanish America

• From 2:45 to 3 pm.
• Join curator Daniel Piper for a short tour to see and learn about two new installations highlighting spectacular seventeenth- to nineteenth-century instruments on loan from the Museu de la Música de Barcelona, Spain. These exhibits exploring Hispanic musical heritage in the Americas help illuminate histories of related instruments throughout MIM’s Latin America Gallery.

Flamenco music and dance performance

• From 3:15 to 4 pm.
• Experience the celebrated musical art form of southern Spain with a performance by Julia Chacón Flamenco Theatre. This talented local company presents dynamic, internationally-trained professional Flamenco dancers and musicians.