The National Music Museum is set to host a Family Fun Day event featuring crafts for the kids and kids-at-heart, refreshments, and a live musical performance from Phil Baker on Saturday, July 16th. Admission is free.

Kids and adults will be inspired to Find Music in Everything at the event by playing the NMM’s new Catiwhack – an interactive catfish Cadillac pedal car with built-in musical instruments – and by making their own instruments at various “creation stations” around the museum from noon - 4:00 p.m.

Children’s performer Phil Baker will entertain families with a live concert on the NMM’s north lawn beginning at 1:30 p.m., with refreshments to follow. Baker has been a South Dakota Arts Council Touring Artist for more than 35 years, as well as performing 4,500 live shows in 13 countries. He has entertained at events such as the White House Easter Egg Roll and has shared the stage with over 120 national acts such as Barney, the big purple dinosaur! Guests are encouraged to bring their own lawn chair. In case of inclement weather, the concert will be moved indoors.

Guests can also visit the special exhibition, Gamelan: A Way of Life that afternoon showcasing the NMM’s Javanese gamelan with family friendly text and activities. Originating in Indonesia centuries ago and varying by region, gamelan means “ensemble” and refers to a revered set of mostly percussion instruments, crafted and tuned to be played together. Themes explored in this special exhibit include: “Unity in Diversity,” “Permanence and Impermanence,” and the “Inevitable Gong.”

About the National Music Museum

The National Music Museum (NMM), located on the campus of the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, is one of the world’s finest collections of musical instruments, with some 15,000 instruments in its holdings. The NMM owns some of the most historically significant musical instruments in existence. Founded in 1973, the National Music Museum Inc. is a non-profit entity in partnership with USD.