BRYAN, TX --- ¡Carnaval! has come to Bryan/College Station! The Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History is proud to display this exciting new exhibition developed by the Museum of International Folk Art in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Mid-America Arts Alliance. The exhibit will delight visitors with views of communities in Europe and the Americas where carnival celebrations are a high point of the year. Images, costume pieces, and masks from carnival performances across the globe relate history and cultural traditions, while conveying the importance and function of community-building through play.

This exhibit offers a worldwide view of carnival season from Recife, Brazil, where throngs gather to play frevo music and dance the passo, to Tlaxcala, Mexico, men dress as French dandies and perform a burlesque dance, to New Orleans, where the famed Mardi Gras krewes don outlandish costumes and parade through the streets. Carnival has persisted since its origins in 12th century Rome. A visit to this extraordinary exhibition will enhance your appreciation and understanding of this exciting tradition.

Admission to this exhibit and the Museum’s permanent galleries are $5 for adults, $4 for children 4-17, students, and seniors. Children 3 and under are free. The Museum, located in the Brazos Center on Briarcrest Drive, is open to the public Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm. The Brazos Valley Museum gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Arts Council of the Brazos Valley, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the William Knox Holt Foundation in presenting this exhibition.