The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) is hosting it’s annual Lunar New Year Family Festival on February 20, 2015 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.Visitors of all ages are invited to participate in celebrating the Year of the Monkey with a fun-filled day of activities including folk arts with zodiac themed arts and crafts, festive music and dance performances, teaching artist demonstrations, storytelling, and much more!

The festival kicks off at 11:30 a.m. with The Mane Event, where visitors can delight in a lion dance performance and workshop with Columbia University Lion Dance. Festival attendees can experience new art forms and cultural traditions with interactive activities such as La Tiao Zi for Longevity: A Noodle Pulling Demo!; and Sounds of the New Year, a guqin and erhu performance. The art of guqin is part of the UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List, and will be performed by Jiaoyue Lyu at 2:30 p.m. Lyu has previously performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and JCC Manhattan. Also on the schedule is Calligraphy Corner, where visitors can practice simple brushstroke techniques and how to write the Chinese character for “luck.”

Throughout the day, families can sample the Tastes of the New Year, where they can nibble on different sticky, crunchy, and chewy bite-sized holiday treats, and learn how each one brings flavor and fortune to the New Year. This year will also feature the return of signature activities such as Legends Story Time; Zodiac Face Painting; and New Year Festival Dances, where Chinatown’s Red Silk Dancers will perform excerpts from the classic novel, Journey to the West. New activities this year include New Year, New You Photo Corner; Monochromatic Monkeys; Go Bananas! Gallery Hunt; Wishful Fish!; and more!

In celebration of Lunar New Year being recognized as an official holiday on the New York City public school calendar, MOCA will be open on Monday, February 8, 2016. MOCA offers a series of other Lunar New Year programs this winter like Decoding the Year of the Monkey with the Chinese Almanac on Saturday, January 30 at 2:30 p.m., and MOCACREATE: Museum Makeover on February 6 and 8 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Visit the Museum’s website at www.mocanyc.org for a full family festival schedule and other updates on upcoming programs and events. ‘)}