Celebrate El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) with live performances, cultural demonstrations, and artmaking experiences for the whole family. Decorate calaveras de azúcar (sugar skulls), explore other traditional activities, and connect with your community for an all-day, very contemporary celebration. Hands-on artmaking will include Day of the Dead printmaking, papel picado banner design, and sugar skull decorating! Café Too! will also offer kid-friendly options this Saturday.

Delve into the topics of privacy, security, and surveillance in this all-day symposium co-presented by SJMA and The Tech Museum of Innovation. Speakers will explore the complicated relationship between personal freedom and public safety.

In our post-9/11 world, the term “surveillance” encompasses much more than the old notion of spies lurking in dark alleys. Massive 21st century data collection programs have opened the doors to a dizzying array of digital surveillance techniques. Who is watching us? How are they watching you? Have security and privacy become mutually exclusive? Join SJMA and Pecha Kucha San Jose for fast-paced, fun presentations by a variety of experts and activists who will address these issues.

Grab your goggles and strut your best steampunk-wear (with a Silicon Valley flair) for a curious and whimsical evening in which the most modern of technology is reimagined in an earlier steam-powered time.

For the sixth year, AAMD is uniting its membership museums to celebrate Art Museum Day. Celebrated by art museums across North America in connection with International Museum Day, Art Museum Day highlights the critical role art museums play as cultural resources in their communities and emphasizes the value of the visual arts in society. The San Jose Museum of Art will offer free gallery admission to all visitors on Tuesday, May 19, 2015.

The Glass Arts Society, in connection with its 44th Annual Conference taking place in San Jose, will present a panel discussion about the changing glass manufacturing industry in Waterford, Ireland. With the recent closing of Waterford’s major production company for glass, what role can artists and technology play in the transition? 

Eye on India is an annual literary and cultural festival that presents the best of traditional and contemporary Indian art, literary, and cultural forms to audiences in the United States. The festival will present an evening showcasing these art forms, including music by Indian Raga, fashion by local emerging designers, and a street play by EnActe, a local organization devoted to the theater arts.

SACHI (Society for Art & Cultural Heritage of India) and SJMA present an illustrated presentation by Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, whose work is featured in the current exhibition Postdate: Photography and Inherited History in India. Matthew is professor of art and director of the Center for Humanities at the University of Rhode Island. The evening will begin with a reception and exhibition viewing (5:30 – 6:30 PM) followed by Matthew’s presentation at 6:30 PM and a Q&A and booksigning at 7:30 PM.

From the infamous garage in Palo Alto to the uprising of local DIY culture, the Silicon Valley has long been a land of inventors, designers, and tinkerers…those who embody the true sprit of the maker movement. Makers fearlessly create, learn by doing, and re-imagine objects and materials rather than throw them away. Our maker day Community Day honors this creative process with unique musical performances, inspired demonstrations, and hands-on art activities for all ages.

The Commons is an experiment in classical arts performance with the idea of “Classical Culture, Out of Context.” Dedicated to supporting Bay Area performers and artists, the Commons stages their showcase events in public spaces, utilizing theatrical design in order to create an immersive environment that is unlike any concert hall or opera house.