What’s On This Winter at ROM

TORONTO, February 3, 2025 – Escape the cold and enjoy the best of art, culture, and nature this winter at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). With a wide range of special exhibitions, programming, and events that enlighten, entertain, and expand upon the Museum’s richly diverse collections, there’s always something for everyone this winter at ROM.

With engaging performances and talks with leading artists, curators, and thinkers; after-hours excitement at the popular ROM After Dark parties; special Family Day weekend and March Break programming; and free access opportunities, ROM is the place to be this season.

Here are some highlights of the ROM winter 2025 (January – March 31, 2025) lineup:

EXHIBITIONS & DISPLAYS

Current featured exhibitions

• Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. (to September 1, 2025)
• Nature in Brilliant Colour (to August 17, 2025)
• Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 (to May 4, 2025)

Zodiac Case – Year of the Snake
From January 29, 2025

To mark the beginning of the Year of the Snake – the sixth animal in the Chinese zodiac – ROM will present a specially curated installation in the Museum’s Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of China, featuring artifacts that represent the snake in ancient Chinese culture.

While the snake rarely appears as a decorative theme in Chinese art and design, a recurring motif depicting both a snake and a tortoise together – illustrated through key earthenware, bronze, and porcelain figures in the Zodiac display case – reflects the power, wisdom, and harmony of nature.

Critical Mineral Mining Special Display
From February 22, 2025

Visit ROM’s Teck Suite of Galleries - Earth’s Treasures to view a special display highlighting the critical minerals that offer the opportunity to reduce fossil fuel reliance.
 

FREE ACCESS 

Third Tuesday Nights Free (presented by TD Ready Commitment)
4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

ROM welcomes visitors to experience the Museum for free on the third Tuesday night of each month, ensuring increased access to ROM’s remarkable galleries and collections for guests of all ages.

TTNF admission includes access to most galleries – special exhibitions are not included but are open to visit for a small surcharge.

To expedite entry, TTNF evenings will now begin at 4 p.m. and ROM’s Queen’s Park and School entrances will both be open.

Ticket details: ROM’s new TTNF ticket policy, which requires pre-booking tickets online and selecting a preferred timeslot, ensures a smooth and organized experience. (Walk-in admissions are no longer available during TTNF.)

TALKS & PERFORMANCES

ROM Speaks

Discover the power of ideas through ROM Speaks – an event series that brings fascinating and thought-provoking voices to the forefront. Dive into compelling discussions on today’s most intriguing topics, hosted at the Museum. From culture and history to science and innovation, these events promise to challenge your perspective and spark meaningful conversations.

ROM Speaks winter programming includes:

February 25: Shane Gross – Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner

Canadian photographer Shane Gross, winner of the 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, will present an illustrated lecture detailing how he captures spellbinding shots of the natural world – including the stunning underwater image that beat out thousands of other entries in the ever-popular competition.

Award-winning science broadcaster Anthony Morgan will moderate a fireside chat with Gross, who will discuss his photography practice and the increasing importance of ocean conservation.

ROM Speaks is generously supported by The Schmidt Family.
 

ROM After Dark

The popular monthly ROM After Dark event series – a unique nighttime celebration that allows visitors 19+ to experience the Museum in a whole new way – continues this winter with compelling live music and pop-up performances, groundbreaking visual arts, and distinctive food and drink. Each visitor receives a drink ticket and access to all current ROM exhibitions.

• February 14: Lunar Love – Celebrate both Lunar New Year and Valentines Day with performances by Canadian Olympic breaking gold medalist Phil Wizard; the Yi Mo Tong Lunar New Year Lion Dance troupe; queer Asian arts collective New Ho Queen; and vinyl DJ and theatre sound designer Sakiko Nagai. Fun interactives include heart-themed selfie stations and a red envelope workshop.

Ticket details: Public – $40 | Members – $36

ROM Talks

Curious about art, culture, and nature? Learn why these topics matter within and beyond Museum walls through free virtual and onsite ROM Talks – which offer engaging, thought-provoking learning with experts and objects from, and inspired by, collections in the Museum.

Upcoming ROM Talks include:

The Story of My World: De-VIA and the Art of Maryam Hafizirad
February 4, 2025 | 12 p.m. (online)

Explore the art of Deaf Canadian contemporary artist Maryam Hafizirad, whose work fuses her Persian and Deaf identities through Deaf View Image Art (De’VIA). Led by Fahmida Suleman, Senior Curator of ROM’s Islamic World collection, this virtual conversation will explore both Hafizirad’s personal story and practice, and the history of De’VIA as an art form.

Landscape of Nations: Beyond the Mist
February 22, 2025 | 6:30 p.m. (Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre)

Join editors Rick Hill and Tim Johnson as they explore the making of Landscape of Nations: Beyond the Mist, a spectacular new book which takes readers on a journey of learning and understanding through the Niagara region’s profoundly compelling Indigenous heritage and legacy. The book will be available for sale and signing by the authors and other contributors following the talk.

Photography in the Field: Documenting Canada’s First Animals
February 28, 2025 | 12 p.m. (online)

Inspired by this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, this French-language digital conversation explores the photography of palaeontologist Jean-Bernard Caron, and the unique challenges faced when documenting his team’s work in the Canadian Rockies.

Hosted by Museum Educator Julie Tomé, this talk will explore images of fieldwork, important discoveries in the Burgess Shale formations at Yoho National Park, wildlife encounters, and environmental challenges – all set against one of Canada’s most majestic and picturesque backdrops.

Ticket details: Free tickets to all ROM Talks can be booked online.

FAMILY DAY & MARCH BREAK

Family Day Weekend
February 15-17, 2025

Step back in time and embark on a prehistoric adventure during Family Day weekend, February 15-17.

Visitors will enjoy special hands-on access to fossils, new immersive dinosaur experiences, and plenty of prehistoric fun for all ages! Unearth the important role dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals played in our past and present – and what these dino-mite discoveries can teach us about the future.

Programming highlights include:

• Performances by YMT Toronto Lion Dance
• Sierra the Utahraptor – a life-sized animatronic dinosaur
• Fossil Formation Station – press 3D-printed dinosaur bones into clay to make fossil impressions
• Jurassic Junk Art – inspired by contemporary artist Junko’s raptor sculpture currently on display at ROM, create paper dinos out of recycled materials
• Examine real specimens and fossils while learning about biodiversity
• Dinosaur-themed games, puzzles, and interactive activities for all ages

March Break Camp
March 10-14, 2025

ROM’s popular March Break camps for kids aged 5 to 14 return with an exciting array of fun, activity-based programs inspired by the Museum’s diverse collections.

Full-day programs run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and include a supervised lunch for full-day participants, with extended after-hours care available.

This year’s programming includes themes designed to engage campers of all ages, including:

• Ages 11-14: Dungeons & Dragons and History’s Mysteries (exploring cultures and artifacts from the past – including those that inspired the game of D&D)
• Ages 8-10: Rumour Has It (factchecking history over the years)
• Ages 6-7: Voyage of Time (navigating the waves of time via an expedition through ROM)
• Age 5: Worldly Wonders (delving into the history of world-famous landmarks)

Registration details: Public – $390 | Members – $360 | Extended Care – $75

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Image credit: ROM After Dark: Immersive Earth. Photo: Cassandra Popescu, © ROM

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ABOUT ROM 
Opened in 1914, ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) showcases art, culture, and nature from around the world and across the ages. Today, ROM houses more than 18 million objects, from Egyptian mummies to contemporary sculpture, from meteorites to dinosaurs. ROM is the most visited museum in the country and one of the top ten museums in North America. It is also the country’s preeminent field research institute, with a diverse range of experts who help us understand the past, make sense of the present, and shape a shared future. Just as impressive is ROM’s facility—a striking combination of heritage architecture and contemporary, cutting-edge design, which marks the Museum as an iconic landmark and global cultural destination.   

We live on in what we leave behind.