Plus Other Activities and Accessibility Accommodations at the Museum
The Kimbell Art Museum’s Family Festival/Fiesta de la Familia celebrating National Ice Cream Sunday will feature the museum’s new Sensory Hour/Hora Sensorial this year. On July 19 from 11:00 a.m. to noon, just prior to the start of Family Festival, Sensory Hour’s pre-registered participants can enjoy all of the fun of the Family Festival, including art making with guest artists, face painting, hands-on gallery activities, live performances and films, and of course, complimentary ice cream from Fort Worth’s MELT Ice Cream (while supplies last). All of this, with lower light levels, reduced attendance capacity, and quiet zones, to make the event more accessible to guests with a range of sensory sensitivities.
As always, communication boards, social narratives, fidgets, and noise-reduction headsets will also be available at the Welcome & Information Table throughout the event.
Then, from noon to 5:00 p.m., Family Festival continues for all families, with no reservations necessary.
“Family Festivals bring a buzzy excitement to the Museum campus, with a wide range of fun and creative activities for participants of all ages,” said Connie Hatchette Barganier, head of education at the Kimbell Art Museum. “We look forward to lots of smiling faces and memories-in-the-making in our galleries and studios during our annual Ice Cream Sunday.”
This year’s activities include Mini-Message Boxes with Guest Artist Kenley Turner, Sticker Sprinkles with the Fort Worth Public Library, Let’s Go Museum with KERA Kids, short family films presented by The Reel House Foundation, and a musical performance by the Yeeun Kim Duo. Visitors can participate in Creation Stations, with themes like “Birds of a Feather” and “Scales and Tails”; Story Corners in both English and Spanish; Chill Zones – calming videos in a quiet space; as well as 3D painting, face painting, family photos, book baskets, and outdoor activity baskets. New for this year is a Bingo game featuring art from the Kimbell’s collection.
“The Kimbell’s accessibility initiatives are a key part of our commitment to welcoming individuals of all ages and abilities to the museum for inclusive, engaging, and enriching experiences with art,” said Melissa Sztuk, community and bilingual programs coordinator at the Kimbell Art Museum.
Both Sensory Hour and Family Festival are free, although Sensory Hour requires advance registration.
Sensory Hours join the Kimbell’s other accessibility initiatives like ARTsense, designed for adults who are blind or have low vision, and more. Learn more about the museum’s accessibility at kimbellart.org/accessibility. To request an accessibility accommodation for any Kimbell program, please email education@kimbellmuseum.org.
Visitors are always welcome to visit the Kimbell Café for in-house and to-go lunches available for purchase, and Studio A, designed for families with children ages five and younger.
The Kimbell Art Museum is supported in part by Arts Fort Worth and the Texas Commission on the Arts. Promotional support is provided by American Airlines, NBC 5, and Fort Worth Report. Youth education programs are supported by The Lowe Foundation Endowment for Kimbell Kids. Special thanks to the Kimbell’s community partners Fort Worth Public Library, The Reel House Foundation, and KERA Kids, and the Nuestro Kimbell committee for their support of the museum’s community programs.
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org/2026/07/05/new-sensory-hours-add-to-annual-family-festival-july-19/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>
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