GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Museum of Natural History visitors will have the opportunity to celebrate South American culture at the sixth annual “Viva Museum!” event Saturday, Sept. 15 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Viva Museum!
Learn about South American culture with song, dance and specimens from the Florida Museum’s collections. ©Florida Museum photo by Jeff Gage

This free family program open to the public features the group Danzas PeruJax performing traditional dances to Andean music and a display of seldom-seen Andean artifacts from the museum’s South American ethnographic collection. Guests may purchase food courtesy of Old San Juan Gastronomia.

The bilingual event includes Spanish-speaking docents and other volunteers available to give tours of the “Masters of the Night: The True Story of Bats” and “Florida Fossils: Evolution of Life and Land” exhibits in Spanish.

To complement the museum’s current featured exhibit, “Masters of the Night: The True Story of Bats,” which runs through Sept. 16, Lubee Bat Conservancy representatives will attend with a bat from their center to discuss bats from Latin and South America.

“As our only bilingual event, it’s a great way to showcase the museum’s connection to Latin America,” said Florida Museum educator Tiffany Ireland. “Because the program has been very well-received by the community, we’ve also extended it an additional two hours until 3 p.m.”

This event is hosted in coordination with the Gainesville Latino Film Festival. For more information on the festival, visit www.gainesvillelatinofilmfestival.com.

For more information on “Viva Museum!,” visit www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/event/viva-museum or call 352-273-2061.

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Writer: Nikhil Srinivasan, 352-273-2034, nsrinivasan@flmnh.ufl.edu
Source: Tiffany Ireland, 352-273-2061, tireland@flmnh.ufl.edu
Media contact: Paul Ramey, 352-273-2054, pramey@flmnh.ufl.edu