Gearing Up for Changes

Last week, we announced that The Children’s Museum of Atlanta will temporarily close our doors on August 1 in order to begin an extensive and transformative renovation project (check out the story in the AJC).

I sat down with Karen Kelly, Director of Exhibits and Education, and Rachel Towns, Manager of Exhibits, to get a little more information about what Atlanta will be able to expect when the Museum reopens in late 2015.

How do you start a project like this, and turn it from a daydream into something concrete? What is the procedure like?

Karen Kelly: What you really do is, you look back and you think about what’s working and what’s not working, and what works for people and what doesn’t work for people, because it isn’t really about what our wishlist is, it’s about what the guests and their kids, the families and teachers would like to see. We started out by researching and watching people on the Museum floor, and having teachers and educators come in and do evaluations. We did surveys of over 3,000 people. And then we took all that data, and added our wishlist in, which included “Can we reach a broader age range than we do now?” because we’re really supposed to go to age eight, but our floor doesn’t.

So help me understand the timeline. When did this procedure really start?

KK: We started in 2007. We were having conversations and the Museum had been open for about four years, and we were thinking that it was time for the next step.  So we took all of that and then we also visited other children’s museums, to find out what was working for them, what they had done right, what they had done wrong. Sometimes it’s more about what they did wrong, and what didn’t work. We wanted to know what worked for them, and their communities. We went to the Minnesota Children’s Museum, we went to Indianapolis, EdVenture in Columbia, and Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga… we went to a lot of different places. We pulled all that in to see what worked, looking at the immersive environments. Then we looked at how other folks had done their campaigns and changed their museums over, and again people were very generous, and gave us their secret, behind-the-scenes ideas on how they put together their grand exhibit master plans. Actually, using a lot of those templates, that’s how I created an exhibit master plan based on all the information we had collected.

Rachel, what were some of the children’s museums that you enjoyed looking at?

Rachel Towns: Oh, I really enjoyed the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. I think that especially they have the whole “0-99” age range down, they have something for everyone and I feel like we took a lot from that. I also enjoyed EdVenture in South Carolina, those are two of the main ones!

As we shifted from looking at what our needs were into a funding situation. did it later come down to what we could afford and what we can envision…

KK: Actually, we kind of did it the other way around. The first step came to take all those ideas and put them into an exhibit master plan, and at that point, we invited different exhibit design firms to bid on helping us make this a reality. We went through what I called “Speed Dating,” so we saw seven exhibit firms in two days. This was with senior staff and our advisory committees. They pitched ideas to us based on what we had sent them.

So I know that one of things we’re going to have is a climbing structure. When you put the call out to the design companies, do you say something like “Bring us your ideas for a climbing structure?”

KK: No, we said we wanted an exhibit that made people stop and say “Wow!,” in the center of the Museum, and it should reflect Atlanta and its position as a gateway to the region and the world.  We said it would be nice to have a climbing structure, but we didn’t limit them, and one of the firms did not come up with a climbing structure. This one we’re using – Jack Rouse and Associates – did, but they each came back with different ideas and it was very fun to see. But Jack Rouse got the job, and Rachel can guess why…

Why’d they get it?

RT: They are awesome! They’re very inventive, and they listened to our ideas, and somehow they bring it all to life. They’re taking our concepts and making it all real, in the best way possible. They’re not leaving anything out.

KK: They’re really not, and the thing that I liked about them is first off was their enthusiasm for the job, but also the fact that although they’re a huge, huge company, they work with very small museums, with budgets much less than ours, all the way up to very large ones, enormous ones, so they have a wide range of experience. You can take some of the cool things you can do for lots of money for somebody else, and adapt them for much less money for smaller museum.

With that in mind, one of the things that I’ve heard about is that one of the new continent tables is going to have shifting topography…

RT: Yes, we’ll have a shake table on South America to demonstrate earthquakes!

So when you want a shake table to show earthquakes, does a firm like Rouse say “We know exactly how to do that,” or do they go figure it out…

RT: They came up with it.

KK: It’s a mix, and if they know what to do, they’ll tell you, and if not, they’ll come up with a concept like with the glacier interactive on the Europe table, where they’re going to try and drag stuff through ball bearings or other materials to see what happens to the land when a glacier pushes through, then they ask the fabricator as a partner to see if they can figure out how to make it work.

I’m excited about the rockets. Tell me about those!

RT: Well, on the back side of the climber, there are going to be two rocket stations where children can use an air compression pump to power a rocket up and hit different planets. These will be stretch fabric over a frame, so it will make a tight little drum sound when the rockets hit the planet. They can learn all about trajectory and angles and thrust. We’re hoping to make them out of a Nerf-like material.

Rather than an actual exhibit that you’re looking forward to, is there something about the process that’s coming up, the construction, that excites you?

RT: Absolutely. Having an architectural background, I’m really eager to see the general contractors come in and demolish everything and then build everything, from the mezzanine, and then the exhibits coming in, and seeing everything erected is just a dream to me, just seeing the whole process come to life. It’s something I really look forward to, and even then after that, further in the future, seeing the kids come in and get that “Wow,” it just makes me glow. I want to see the diner, and it’s all so exciting.

KK: Yes, I’m looking forward to seeing stuff that we’ve been talking about since 2007, 2008, and finally having it out there. One of my favorite moments has been last week when we were on the phone to the fabricators and they were describing the continent tables and we were all like, “This is so cool! We’re really going to have this!” And THEY were so excited! We’ve got these great fabricators, Heartland, out in Omaha, Nebraska, and they have done work for other children’s museums. They’re great  folks and very calm, but our fabricator was so excited talking about the continent tables, and how they’re going to put the layers together, and make the rivers look like they’re flowing, and it was just real after all the years of planning. And if he’s that excited, just think of how a kid is going to feel, when he pushed the button and the Nile lights up, following the path down to the Mediterranean. It’s going to be so amazing!

Want to keep up with our progress? Visit our website or follow us on social media for up-to-date information and more renderings.

 

Farmers Markets Around Atlanta

Have we had enough of these April showers yet? If you can see the billboards through all the rain, you may have noticed that some of the region’s large farms have begun strawberry picking. Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge and Washington Farms near Watkinsville are getting their crops ready, which is a good sign that the various farmers markets around Atlanta are up and running, with fresh fruits and vegetables, salsas, juices, meats, honey, and all sorts of other local vendors selling directly to customers.

My family loves shopping at the Marietta Square Farmers Market. It is open Saturday and Sunday mornings and brings out vendors selling the most wonderful milk, cheeses, jams, and veggies along with the omnipresent King of Pops cart and a local girl who pays for her horse’s boarding fees by selling the best limeade you’ve ever had. Marietta Square Farmer’s Market is a favorite with my family, but there are several other established farmers markets in the city. I asked some of our Children’s Museum of Atlanta staff which ones they like to visit.

The venerable Your Dekalb Farmers Market was many people’s favorite. Hajar Lateef, from our Visitor’s Service staff, told me that she loves going to get all the vegetables and fruits from different parts of the country, and that the selection is unbeatable. “It’s like a candy store!” she exclaimed. Development assistant Alicia Robertson is also a big fan, and particularly enjoys visiting one particular vendor among the ones who sell prepared foods at the market. She loves buying fried garlic plantains from one of the sellers.

Toy Expert Lucreacia Henderson only just started going to Your Dekalb Farmers Market at the beginning of the year. She says “It’s the one place I can find all the natural and organic stuff that I’m looking for in one place,” singling out a particular coconut oil as a favorite. But it’s not all herbs and oils for her, because one vendor makes a particularly amazing peanut butter cookie. “You can see the peanuts in it! I’ve brought home his whole stock!”

While Your Dekalb Farmers Market is the largest in the city many  of our employees visit the smaller ones in their own neighborhoods. Courtney Strickland, also from our Visitor’s Service team, enjoys the “quaint” Sandy Springs Farmer’s Market along with what appears to be all of her neighbors. “If you’re in Sandy Springs, you go,” she told me. Apart from the vegetable sellers, she’s particularly fond of buying fresh, homemade bread and honey.

On the east side of town, Michelle Cherubim enjoys the Stone Mountain Farmer’s Market, and is glad that she lives nearby, because she believes that it has the most variety of any in the city, with foods from many different countries. Daniel Lomax, our newest Imaginator, is particularly fond of the venerable Sweet Auburn Curb Market, which first opened almost a hundred years ago. As writer Christiane Lauterbach explained in a story for Atlanta Magazine last year, manager Pam Joiner reinvigorated Sweet Auburn in 2005 by bringing in small and eclectic restaurants to draw crowds to the produce and the meats. Daniel tells me that he can’t find fresher fish in Atlanta than what’s available at Sweet Auburn.

One thing’s definitely certain: farmer’s markets are hugely popular. So, make sure you get to your local market early enough to beat the crowds and grab some great deals!

More information about Atlanta-area farmer’s markets: AJC

Read Across America

One of my favorite Museum memories came five years ago, when Atlanta’s mayor, Kasim Reed, came to participate in our Read Across America programming and share a book with some children. History has forgotten which book was handed to the mayor to read, but he looked at it with a raised eyebrow and said “I sure do like Curious George. Do you have any Curious George books?” Well, by chance, we did. A very popular traveling exhibit, Curious George: Let’s Get Curious! had left our Morph Gallery just a few weeks previously, and we still had one copy of a very nice hardcover gift book, which reprinted all of the original stories by Margret and Hans Rey in a single volume, in the Museum Store. I raced from the floor to the shop and back in record time with the last Curious George book in the Museum, and the large group of children really enjoyed Mayor Reed sharing the story with them.

Read Across America is a project of the National Education Association, and it’s typically associated not with Curious George, but with The Cat in the Hat. That’s because the event is held around the birthday of the Cat’s creator, Dr. Seuss, and usually features volunteers and fans wearing the signature red-and-white striped hat, and often appearances by the Cat and a couple of his sidekicks Thing 1 and Thing 2.

The initiative began in 1997, and, according to the NEA, “this year-round program focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources.” Hundreds of schools nationwide participate in the largest celebration of reading in the country.  It’s a pep rally for reading, if you will. Getting children excited about reading is a hugely important part of student achievement and also in creating lifelong readers. Children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school.

It’s a lot more than just getting your children ready for school and more academic success, though. The blog Early Moments offers several reasons why reading with your children is important. Here’s our favorite: 

“As your child grows older, he’ll be on the move—playing, running, and constantly exploring his environment. Snuggling up with a book lets the two of you slow down and recaptures that sweet, cuddly time you enjoyed when he was a baby. Instead of being seen as a chore or a task, reading will become a nurturing activity that will bring the two of you closer together.”

Learning to read can sometimes be a little tough for children! Sometimes, they could use a reminder that reading isn’t a chore at all, it’s completely wonderful and exciting. We love the pep rally feel of the day, and we’ve seen hundreds of kids leave our events inspired and enthusiastic about books. We’ll be celebrating with events on the morning of Tuesday, March 3rd and hope that you will bring your young readers to join us!