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Emily Dickinson Museum
Amherst Cinema Center
Celebrate the Poet's Birthday During Annual Open House
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AMHERST, Mass.-The Emily Dickinson Museum will host its annual Open House on Saturday, December 13, from 1 to 4 p.m. to celebrate the anniversary of Emily Dickinson's birth (Dec. 10, 1830). The event is free and open to the public. A new addition to the day will be a special screening and "meet-the-filmmakers"discussion of the new film The Poet in Her Bedroom at noon at the Amherst Cinema Arts Center located at 28 Amity Street, Amherst. Admission is free to ACAC members and $3 for the general public.
The collaboration with the Amherst Cinema Arts Center is not its first with the Museum. Last fall the two institutions presented a live rock and roll performance for elementary students about Emily Dickinsons's life to rave revues. The Amherst Cinema Arts Center was built in 1926, and created out of an old stable in downtown Amherst, and known for many decades as the Amherst Cinema. In November 2006, the renovated theater re-opened as the three-screen Amherst Cinema Arts Center, featuring both mainstream and independent films. In January 2008 the Pleasant Street Theater in Northampton, MA was assumed under the Amherst Cinema Arts Center umbrella.
The Museum's annual "At Home" open house will be begin at 1 p.m. and will include self-guided tours of the Homestead and The Evergreens. Visitors can enjoy parlor music at the Homestead by fiddler Steven Howland and dulcimer player Tim Van Egmond, from 1:15-3:15p.m. Poetry readings will be held at the Homestead parlors at 2:00 p.m. and 3:15 p.m., and at the Evergreens at 1:30 and 2:30. In addition, visitors are invited to create holiday ornaments and other crafts. Light refreshments including hot Atkins Farm cider will be served. Continuing a beloved tradition, the first 178 guests to the Museum will receive a rose, offered by an anonymous donor in honor of the poet.
Steven Howland has played the fiddle since the early 1980s, inspired by traditional New England-style music and dance. He is a regular caller of contra dances throughout the region. Tim Van Egmond is an accomplished Hammered Dulcimer player and a member of the contra dance band Swallowtail. He has appeared on National Public Radio's "A Prairie Home Companion" and at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
The Emily Dickinson Museum, comprising the Dickinson Homestead and The Evergreens, two historic house museums in Amherst, is devoted to the story and legacy of poet Emily Dickinson and her family. Both properties are owned by the Trustees of Amherst College. The Museum is overseen by a separate Board of Governors charged with raising its operating and capital funds. The Dickinson Homestead was the birthplace and residence of the poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). The Evergreens was the 1856 home of the poet's brother and sister-in-law, Austin and Susan Dickinson.
The Emily Dickinson Museum is located at 280 Main Street in Amherst, Massachusetts. The official Museum website is at www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., and Sundays from 1-5 p.m. through December 28; closed on major holidays.
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