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KidSPACE at Cincinnati Museum Center continues soft-reopening with Dia de los Muertos-inspired event Saturday

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Bradly Gilvin and Karla Batres Gilvin are a multi-ethnic pair that uses a multidisciplinary approach to creating art. They're leading an event at KidSPACE Saturday.

The KidSPACE at the Cincinnati Museum Center is doing its second soft-reopening event after being closed since March 2020. This weekend, it's hosting a hands-on, Dia de los Muertos-inspired event featuring two locally based artists.

Arynn McCandless, manager of labs and makerspaces, says Bradly Gilvin and Karla Batres Gilvin are a multi-ethnic pair that uses a multidisciplinary approach to creating art.

"Batres Gilvin is a duo who are from the U.S. and Mexico, and they do amazing collaborative works of art that are filled with color and symbolism. And they'll be leading our guests through a project based on nichos," she said.

Nichos are brightly decorated shadow boxes used on Dia de los Muertos altars to commemorate deceased loved ones. The kid-created pieces will be displayed, likely through the end of the month at the KidSPACE.

McCandless says the event marks the second weekend in a row the area will be open. The KidSPACE opened in 2017 and, she says, hundreds of children regularly visited every weekend.

It closed due to COVID-19 more than a year ago because the space uses interactive approaches to let children explore the intersection of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics.

"It is a very hands-on space. So we've been slow to kind of build back up just because of COVID restrictions and things but it's definitely something that we feel comfortable and safe operating within at this point," McCandless said.

There will be some measures in place to make sure not too many people are in the space at one time, but as long as the supplies last and the space is open, she says kids can participate.

Saturday's event is from 11 to 3 p.m. and the price of participation is included with a museum ticket.

The KidSPACE will slowly begin resuming regular hours over the next few weeks. It will be open from 2-4 p.m. on weekends beginning after Thanksgiving.

For more information about upcoming programs, visit theCincinnati Museum Center website.

Jolene Almendarez is the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants who came to San Antonio in the 1960s. She was raised in a military family and has always called the city home. She studied journalism at San Antonio College and earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Public Communications from the University of Alaska Anchorage. She's been a reporter in San Antonio and Castroville, Texas, and in Syracuse and Ithaca, New York.