Two major cultural institutions, the Field Museum and Brookfield Zoo, are eliminating their admission fees this weekend to offer themselves as places of quiet refuge after this week’s terrorist attacks.
The Field Museum also will hold town hall-style meetings to allow discussion of the week’s events from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. In the Living Together exhibition, visitors may submit a written statement about what they have been feeling, which will be placed in the museum’s archive.
“It seemed to us that people are looking for places to absorb what has been going on and for places to just reflect and renew the human spirit,” said Mary Ellen Munley, the Field Museum’s director of education. “This place is all about human history, cultural diversity and tolerance, and these free weekends seemed like a good way to make us more accessible to the public at this time.”
The discussion meetings, which will accommodate families with children, will be conducted by the museum’s anthropology staff. They will include Alaka Wali, director of the museum’s Center for Cultural Understanding and Change; Jonathan Haas, an expert in human conflict; and James Phillipos, an expert on the Middle Eastern cultures.
The museum will also be open for free Sept. 22-23, with special programming to be announced, Munley said. The Field Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Brookfield Zoo officials said several of their patrons during the week had said how much they appreciated the peacefulness of its park during the week’s events, so it seemed appropriate to open for free this weekend.
“Showing we care for each other is very important at this time,” said Brookfield Zoo director George Rabb. “People need a place to find solace and peace, to connect with their families and friends.”
Brookfield Zoo is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Parking fees will apply at the zoo and in city lots near the Field Museum.
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Other major cultural institutions in the Chicago area also will be open this weekend but will be charging their normal fees. Lincoln Park Zoo in the city and the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe do not charge admission.