Cantor Arts Center Announces Generous Support from Bank of the West for Free Family Sundays

Stanford, Calif., December 2, 2014—The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University announces a significant, three-year pledge of support from Bank of the West as Presenting Sponsor of the Cantor’s Family Sundays. Launched in 2012, this popular program has become one of the museum’s most vibrant offerings and successful community outreach efforts. Thousands of families have been engaged with this free program since its inception.

With California roots dating back more than 140 years, Bank of the West is proud to support nonprofit organizations that improve the quality of life for individuals and families in the communities it serves. In remarking on the new partnership and this generous pledge, Michael Shepherd, Chairman and CEO of Bank of the West, noted, “The Cantor Arts Center is a community treasure offering families many ways to interact with its collections and exhibitions. Bank of the West is very pleased to expand its support of the arts and its relationship with the Stanford community as Presenting Sponsor of the Family Sundays program.”

The Cantor invites families to join in the fun on Sundays with a fresh theme every week. Innovative, kid-friendly tours focus on artworks in the Cantor’s diverse collection. Families can also take advantage of two separate hands-on art activities the same afternoon: art making in the studio and focused drawing in the galleries. Children of all ages and their adult companions are welcome and can participate for 20 minutes or two hours, whatever their schedules allow. All of the activities are free.

“Family Sundays bring new life each week to the museum—it is delightful to visit the galleries and see families come together and connect with art and ideas in fun, creative and meaningful ways,” expressed Cantor Director Connie Wolf. “We are so grateful to Bank of the West for this generous support of a program that means so much to us.”

Wolf believes deeply in the importance of family programing, having launched services for families at San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum, where she was the director from 1999 through 2011, and previously as Director of Education at New York City’s Whitney Museum of American Art. Wolf created the position of family programs coordinator at the Cantor in 2012 and hired Lauren Hahn, who has more than a decade of experience teaching in public and private schools as well as degrees in child development and education. Hahn brings a heightened level of creativity and engagement to the Cantor’s programs.

This new partnership with Bank of the West, along with the support of the Hohbach Family Fund, ensures that family programming at the Cantor will continue at its high level of excellence to benefit the community’s families.

Family Sundays
Established in February 2012, the Cantor’s free Family Sundays typically include:
• Docent-led Family Tours at 12:30, 1, 1:30 and 2 p.m. Tour themes change weekly, and artworks viewed inspire art-making activities in the Moorman studio the same day.
• Art-Making in the Studio at 1, 1:30, 2 and 2:30 p.m. Families experiment with art materials and new techniques in 30-minute sessions taught by professional art teachers in the Cantor’s Moorman studio. Families sign up at the Cantor for this activity.
• Focused Drawing in the Galleries from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Families sign out supplies (colored pencils and paper) near The Thinker and let the art throughout the museum be their muse!
There are no tours or studio art-making sessions on special Family-Film Sundays during holiday weekends. Film presentations include Frozen (animated; 102 minutes), December 21 and 28; screenings at 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m.
No reservations are required for the family programs.
Learn more about the Cantor's Family Sundays

Cantor Arts Center
The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University is a vital and dynamic institution with a venerable history. Founded in 1891 with the university, the historic museum was expanded and renamed in 1999 for lead donors Iris and B. Gerald Cantor. The Cantor’s encyclopedic collection spans 5,000 years, includes more than 40,000 artworks and beckons visitors to travel around the world and through time: from Africa to the Americas to Asia, from classical to contemporary. With 24 galleries presenting selections from the collection and more than 20 special exhibitions each year, the Cantor serves Stanford’s academic community, draws art lovers from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond and attracts campus visitors from around the world. Free admission, free tours, lectures, family activities plus changing exhibitions make the Cantor one of the most well-attended university art museums in the country and a great resource for teaching and research on campus.

The Cantor collects, preserves and studies art from all cultures and periods, serving Stanford University and the public through exhibitions and programs that inspire the understanding and enjoyment of art.

Visitor Information
Admission to the Cantor Arts Center is free. Docents offer a variety of free art tours Wednesday through Sunday. The Cantor is open six days a week: Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., plus Thursday until 8 p.m.; closed on Tuesday. The Cantor is located on the Stanford campus, off Palm Drive at Museum Way. Parking is free on weekends and after 4 p.m. weekdays. For more visitor information, call 650-723-4177 or visit the museum’s Web site at museum.stanford.edu.

About Bank of the West
Bank of the West is a regional financial services company chartered in California and headquartered in San Francisco with $69 billion in assets. Founded in 1874, Bank of the West provides a wide range of personal, commercial, wealth management and international banking services through more than 650 offices in 21 states and the internet (bankofthewest.com). Bank of the West is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, which has a presence in 80 countries with 190,000 employees.

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Notes to Editors
• To arrange interviews and for further information, contact Anna Koster, Head of Communications, Cantor Arts Center, 650-725-4657, akoster@stanford.edu
• For high-resolution publicity images, contact PR Assistant Manager Margaret Whitehorn, Cantor Arts Center, 650-724-3600, mmwhite@stanford.edu

We gratefully acknowledge Bank of the West as presenting sponsor of Family Sundays.

Sundays:
Art-Making in the Studio led by professional art educators.

Docents lead Family Tours at 12:30, 1, and 1:30 pm.

Wednesday through Sunday:
Art Packs stocked with colored pencils and sketching paper allow families to independently draw in the galleries.