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Community DC Kiryn Hoffman National Children's Museum · Community D.C.

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning we get a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: chance to welcome a new guest to the show, Kieren Hoffman,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the CEO for the National Children's Museum in Washington, d C.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: The NCM is a unique hybrid institution that combines the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: playful experiences of a children's museum with the educational elements
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: of a science center. Its core mission is to inspire
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: children to care about and change the world by providing interactive,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: hands on, free experiences in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: The next thirty minutes is a fun listen for anyone
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  Speaker 1: that has children in their family. I hope you enjoy
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: this conversation with Kieran as much as I did. Good morning, Kieren,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Good morning. It's great to have you board Community DC
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: for the first time, and I'm really anxious to talk
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: to you. What I'd like to do first, though, is
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: sets the table, because people might not know even it's
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: been through different innerations and different names, the Children's Museum
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: here has a very long history, and correct me if
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: I'm wrong. We're looking about mid seventies and over fifty
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: years old. I mean, it's truly incredible it's been around
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: for that long. Can you give us just a short
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: breview story about the history.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: So, the Capital Children's Museum was founded in nineteen seventy four,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: and it was the ninth children's museum founded in the country.
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  Speaker 2: There are now more than six hundred and so it
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: was really part of a movement where hands on experiential
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: learning was recognized as a really important aspect of children's
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: learning that they weren't really getting in schools. Fifty years later,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: we are now the National Children's Museum. We are in
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: a different location. We continue our history of being an
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: organization that is continuously engaging families and children in playful
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  Speaker 2: learning and always at the intersection of technology and society
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: and what families are encountering. How do we create an
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: environment that enables children to feel empowered and to feel
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  Speaker 2: curious and exploring the world around them in a way
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  Speaker 2: that gives them power.
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  Speaker 1: I'd like to talk about what you offer there, because
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: I realized when something starts fifty years ago, our values,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: our morals or ethics are so much different. Even though
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: it's still a goal to educate and have fun with
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: kids out there, there's no doubt about that. But what
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  Speaker 1: that said, since you've been with the organization, what ebbs
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  Speaker 1: and flows and changes that not only you've been signing
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: off on, but you thought, this is really cool that
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: we're actually speaking to today's families, today's children, to get
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: that great educational experience but still having a lot of fun.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think one of the really special things about
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: National Children's Museum is that we are both a children's
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: museum and a science center, and so everything that we
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: do is rooted in what we call steam so science, technology, engineering, math,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: and the arts, and children are able to use those lenses,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: those seam lenses to explore their world.
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  Speaker 3: And that's actually always been the case for this museum
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  Speaker 3: in many ways.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: In nineteen eighty we opened the first public access computer
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  Speaker 2: lab on the East Coast.
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  Speaker 1: Very cool.
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  Speaker 3: So there was nowhere for.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: People to come and understand what does a computer look like,
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  Speaker 2: how does it work? But at Capital Children's Museum, children
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: could come in and learn how to code and really
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: get their arms around what is this new technology computers?
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  Speaker 2: And so even today, you know, we kind of look
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  Speaker 2: back at that as an important moment in our history,
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  Speaker 2: but now we're kind of making sure that we're creating
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  Speaker 2: an environment where children can understand and contend with you know,
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  Speaker 2: what are the important concepts that underlie new technologies like
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  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence, and how can we empower kids to begin
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  Speaker 2: to think about those technologies in the same way that
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  Speaker 2: we did in the nineteen eighties.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that's very cool, and I don't want to code
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  Speaker 1: too deep in this, but I've understood from doing a
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: little bit reading about this, especially with young minds, that
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  Speaker 1: just like languages, that if you introduce these sciences and
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  Speaker 1: these really cool things that you think are above children's
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: intellectual level, that's really not the case. The earlier you
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: introduce it, the more they're going to grab onto it.
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  Speaker 1: You also make it fun there too.
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  Speaker 3: That's exactly right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, kids are so much more capable than we have
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  Speaker 2: given them credit for for many decades, and research has
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  Speaker 2: really underscored that children are able to take on so
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: much when you put it in front of them and
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  Speaker 2: you do it in playful ways where it can really
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: be self guided learning. At the youngest children, you know,
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  Speaker 2: babies and toddlers are forming you know, a million different
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  Speaker 2: neurons every second in their brain. So it is the
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  Speaker 2: most rich opportunity of a person's whole life for them
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  Speaker 2: to learn, and so our perspective is if we can
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  Speaker 2: create developmentally appropriate fun. So National Children's Museum provides a
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  Speaker 2: space for learning, but it's also fun. If it weren't fun,
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  Speaker 2: we wouldn't have an audience, we wouldn't have visitors.
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  Speaker 3: And so it's really.
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  Speaker 2: Important for us to make the experiences really engaging and
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  Speaker 2: fun for our children and their families. And fun is
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  Speaker 2: important for its own sake. I mean, it's a really
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  Speaker 2: wonderful entry into learning. But the playful experience that they're
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: having when they're playing with our exhibits, when there are
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  Speaker 2: meeting kids from the community and playing across the exhibit
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  Speaker 2: with them, they're learning really critical skills around communication and
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  Speaker 2: collaboration and critical thinking and problem solving that are going
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: to be important in their whole lives. And in fact,
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  Speaker 2: those are just skills that are fundamental to playing.
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  Speaker 1: Agreed. Okay, we have a lot of ground to cover,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: you know, exploring there with the exhibits, the events and programs.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to talk all about that, but I did
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: want to ask you about feedback. You know, I think
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  Speaker 1: it's so important. Whether you're nonprofit or a profit for business,
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  Speaker 1: you always want to hear from your customers or your
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: attendees or the people that you entertain when they come
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  Speaker 1: in there. With that said, I imagine that you get
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: a good feeling with your team about what works and
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: what doesn't, but you get to get feedback from the
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  Speaker 1: parents and the kids and anybody else to know that
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: we're doing the right thing and we're going in the
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: right direction. How does all that work?
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: That's a great question.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, what we do is really grounded in research.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: When we're creating experiences and programmings, we're looking at the
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: field of STEM research and saying, what are the things
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  Speaker 2: that are our most engaging really help children understand valuable concepts,
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  Speaker 2: challenge them in ways to kind of move up to
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: the next level, and are deeply fun so that they're
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: going to be engaging and playing with it. And so
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  Speaker 2: we're constantly asking feedback from our students and our teachers
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  Speaker 2: and our families so that we can continuously create a
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  Speaker 2: wonderful experience.
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  Speaker 3: We have a set of permanent exhibits.
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  Speaker 2: We also have the only visiting exhibit hall focused on
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: children and families in Washington, where we change over the
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: exhibits every three months.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, we are just about to open.
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  Speaker 2: Curious George, which is a really fun character that a
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: lot of people know and love. But we also embed
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: some really fun stem learning experiences in the exhibit, and
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: so we are really responsive to what our families are
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  Speaker 2: letting us know that they love or playful learning experiences
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  Speaker 2: here in Washington.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Not Channing. Anytime, you can add the Men in the
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Yellow Hat and Curious George. I'm all in. Those are
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: great books and that's a great character. Okay, this is
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: a great segue because you talked about exhibits. I'd love
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: for you to kind of get in the weeds on
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: this one about the exhibits you have none only the
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: permanent ones, but ones that you have right now and
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: maybe some things that you're looking forward to in the future.
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  Speaker 1: Can you share that with us?
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  Speaker 3: Sure?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we have so many wonderful exhibits we have. Our
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Dream Machine is the kind of centerpiece of the museum
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: where kids can climb up a three story netted area
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  Speaker 2: and slide down a three story slide and it's just
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: totally exhilarating and for parents sometimes terrifying. I've done it
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  Speaker 2: several times with my own kids, but it's really fun
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  Speaker 2: and it really challenges them. It gives them an opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to take risks in a safe environment where they can
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  Speaker 2: climb and really challenge themselves.
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  Speaker 3: And let me share a story.
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  Speaker 2: I was wandering around the museum and kind of listening
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: in and looking at what children and families were doing,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: and I heard a.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: Child who must have been a bit younger than my kids.
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  Speaker 2: He maybe was five or six. But I hear him
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  Speaker 2: scream I am.
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  Speaker 3: So scared, he said.
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  Speaker 2: And I paused because I thought, Okay, my colleagues are
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  Speaker 2: used to dealing with this. We support families, we support kids.
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  Speaker 2: But I paused for a minute to make sure that
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: everything was all right. And then I hear him say,
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  Speaker 2: I can be brave.
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  Speaker 1: I love that.
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  Speaker 2: And I pause for another moment, and then I hear
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  Speaker 2: him say, I am brave.
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  Speaker 1: It's fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: And to be able to hear that process, that's exactly
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  Speaker 2: what we are trying to achieve every day, to give
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: kids challenging experiences where they can really push themselves in
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  Speaker 2: a fun way and they come out feeling more confident
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  Speaker 2: and more accomplished.
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  Speaker 3: And that's going to stick with him.
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  Speaker 2: He's going to remember that whenever he's up against adversity,
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  Speaker 2: or he's up against a challenge he doesn't think he
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: can overcome. He will remember that neuron from climbing through
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  Speaker 2: our dream machine.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Karen, I'm not surprised that you're not stuck in
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: an office and you're actually working out with the parents
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: and the families watching it. But that's real time feedback.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: That probably is the most important thing ever. That's a
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  Speaker 1: great story.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we have other fantastic exhibits too. That one
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  Speaker 2: really privileges physicality and climbing and embodied learning, but we
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  Speaker 2: have some other really fun experiences. One of my favorites
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: is one called Data Science Ali and so it's really
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: the first data literacy exhibit at a children's museum in
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: the country. And so you think, well, data literacy, you
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  Speaker 2: must have a lot of computers and screens, but no,
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  Speaker 2: we don't.
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  Speaker 3: Actually, it's all hands on.
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  Speaker 2: It's all kind of visceral experiences to learn about data
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: in non digital ways.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: And so I love that. I love that you're doing that.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you know about this quick segue.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: The toy story five villain is going to be a screen,
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  Speaker 1: so this is perfect. I love that you're doing that.
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  Speaker 2: And I don't think that screens are villains, right, but
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  Speaker 2: I do think that they are overused, and I think
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: that young children are spending too much time on screens
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  Speaker 2: at the expense of being in person, playing, moving their
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: bodies and touching things. And so we really privilege that
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: not to say that, you know, I don't feel binary
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: about technology in that way. What we believe in is
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: providing foundational experiences so that children are not only curious,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: but can get a sense of confidence, so that they
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: when they do encounter those technologies, they feel good about
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: it and they can encounter them on their own terms.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Well, that makes a lot of sense. And listen, you
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: and I are in the same page, and I had
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: a young win in one time too, and I think
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: we all fell into that trap that, you know, if
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: your kid could not be happy, or if there was crying,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: or it was a really mess, a screen at least
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: calmed them down so we could get quiet and just
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: a little piece for just a couple of minutes. But
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: then it started to get longer, longer, longer in the addiction,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: and you know where we went from there. So yeah,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: but I love that you do that, and I think
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: that's wonderful I did want to talk about also events,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: because I know you've got some coming up in May
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: which are really cool important. But events are a year
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: long thing too, aren't they. And I I think that's good.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: As I was looking at your events page, I mean,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: it's just so many there. It's day after day. I
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: imagine your team must be exhausted. But it's really impressive
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: because I know you're trying to please the masses out there.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: And in a minute, I'm going to talk about the
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: numbers that come through here and a few other things,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: but can you talk a little bit about some of
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: the events that are coming up that we can get
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: excited about.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: Sure?
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Well, as you said, we have really fun activities. We
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: have pop up experiences, and we have different activities happening
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: in our tinkering Corner every week, so there's always something
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: new happening. But then we have a series of really
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: big events. So for instance, on May ninth, we have
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Community Day. We're having a community Arts Day where the
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: museum is free and open to the public. That's made
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: possible through sponsorship support through P and C, and we're
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: going to have a whole host of different arts activities
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: like bubble painting, where you can actually put paint on
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: bubbles and create a community artwork.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: We're going to be doing screen printing.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: We have a tinkerer in residence who's going to be
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: doing special screen printing for kids where they can participate
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: and learn new skills, but also you know, make a mess.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: We actually like mess, so love that parents know which
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: things are watchable and which aunts.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: But that's a really fun event.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: We also have our annual Place soire is coming up
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: on May second, so just around the corner.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: That's an amazing opportunity to hear.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: About all the work that we're doing and to come
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: together with the business community and thought leaders to celebrate
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: and support our work.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: That's lovely. I want to talk about programs, the current
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: ones you have and one that really got my attention,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: and you know why shouldn't be surprised whatsoever, you and
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: your team and the natural children of the museum. It
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: made it fully inclusive for everybody and then includes sensorary
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: friendly hours. And I didn't have a child that way,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: but I've seen parents that do, and you have to
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: navigate and that you offer that I think is extraordinary.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Whoever came up with the idea fantastic, But can you
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: talk a little bit about that in some of the
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: other programs that you have.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, We're dedicated to access for all and that's really
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: important because the approaches that we have to playful.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: Steam learning are truly revolutionary.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, you think about a children's museum
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: and you think, well, you know, that might be fun,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: but it's not necessary.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: Well it actually it is necessary.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: What we're doing is providing hands on playful learning for
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: children in a way that is going to change the
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: way that they encounter the world and the way that
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: they learn.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: And we want to.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Make sure that all kids have that opportunity, and so
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: kids that learn differently, children's museums are a place that
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: we really can change the variables.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Schools, it's a lot harder, but at a children museum we.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Can make small tweaks to make it more accessible and
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: more you know, fun and engaging and not scary for
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: kids that have different learning abilities. So for families that
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: know that their children have different needs, we have sensory bags.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: We have special sensory bags, and children can get noise
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: canceling headphones or fidget or just things to make them
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: feel more comfortable. In the space as they're exploring. We
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: also have a quiet area and a quiet room. If
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: kids get oversimulated, there's a place that they can go
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: and calm down. There's some books and there's some fidgets,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: and so we want them to be able to enjoy
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: the museum in their own way where they're comfortable and
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: you know, there's no preconceived notions.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: I imagine that you have heard from parents, ground parents
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and caregi versus how huge this is.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's really important.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: I mean every organization should really be focused on accessibility
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: and supporting kids because everybody's coming from a different background,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: it has different needs, and.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: So we want to be able to support that.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Agreed. Do you want to talk about a few of
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: the other current programs you have going on?
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Well, as we were talking about access, you know, I
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: really think about access broadly, but I think one of
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: the most important things that we're really focusing on right
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: now is expanding access to all children and all families.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: In the DMV.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: There are a lot of kids for whom transportation is
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: really difficult, and so we're digging in and trying to
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: understand what are the barriers and how can we help
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: overcome them. There are families for whom the ticket price.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: We sell tickets, we're not as Smithsonian institution, and so
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: there is a ticket price to come in. But if
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: it's a barrier, we want to make sure that families
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: have a chance to overcome that. So we're part of
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: the Museums for All program, where any family that's on
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: government assistance of any kind can buy a ticket for
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: three dollars and so it becomes accessible and and they
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: can make it. And we also are working with community
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: based organizations all over the DMV to identify what are
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: the needs and wants and challenges of different communities so
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: that we can meet their needs, whether or not it's
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: at the museum or out in the community. So that's
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: really important is that we are trying to ensure that
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: every child has an opportunity to engage with these ways
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: of playful.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Learning, outstanding and something else that surprised me and I'm
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: glad you offer it. But there are field trip options too,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Can you talk about that? That's fantastic.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely, we have field trips every day.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Kids in ages you know, kindergarten for a second, third, fourth,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: and fifth grade can come and have a really fun
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: day at the museum.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: These we.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Raise funds actually to make these available to Title one
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: students for free, so we see about ten thousand field
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: trip students a year. You can come and just have
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: free play at the museum, or you can sign up
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: for a special workshop where we might focus on math
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: or engineering or science and discovery that are aligned with
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: the scope and sequence that the school that the children
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: are learning in school.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: You know, I was imagining because we live in DC
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: and I actually my wife and I live in Northwest
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: d C. So you know, we get to explore, you know,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: one of the coolest cities in the world. And remember
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: this is not only a big melting pod in d
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: C in the DMV, but we get people from coming
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: all over the world. And I imagine because you're the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: National Children's Museum, you have families come from all over
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: the world. Can you talk a little bit about that,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: because that's got to be really cool.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's really astonishing.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Actually, when I came down from New York, and my
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: whole life has been in New York, and I joined
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: National Tiltern's Museum in October of twenty twenty four, and
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: in our first month, I got our data report to
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: say Okay, you know, what does the visitation look like?
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: And I saw we had visitors from all eight wards
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: from the you know, whole region, Virginia, Maryland and all
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: fifty states, and international visitors from seventy five countries and
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Puerto Rican. So I was astonished, and I said, you know,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: is this typical to my colleagues, and they said, oh,
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: this is the slow month? Yea, October's are slowest month,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: and so yes, that is typical. We see visitors from
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: all over the world. And I think we're quite unique
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: in that way because we are a local anchor and
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: educational resource for the community, but we are also, you know,
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: an organization that can show the world what does great
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: children's learning look like in a children's museum setting.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: I hate to put you on the spot, but do
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: you know who's come from the furthest to the National
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Turnai Museum? Like, is there something from like a long
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: ways away from around the world that came?
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Oh boy, I mean, we definitely see a lot of
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Finnish families.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: That's pretty far far. That's fantastic.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: But I can't say, actually, who's come the farthest. I'm
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: going to have to now that would be cool to
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: challenge my team.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: That'd be cool to find out you might want to
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: do a contest too, farthest thing. I get that, But
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: that's really cool. I really love that because, you know,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I think it shows the power of you don't need
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: to know a language to come and enjoy something, right,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: especially what you offer. And I imagine when all these
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: different families are coming and caregivers and people with the
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: children from all over the world. Uh, those barriers break
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: down because science and fun stuff and learning that's kind
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: of universal is and that's kind of what you live on.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's exactly right.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: And we build our experiences with a lot of intentionality
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: so that there is an easy way to collaborate and
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: meet people across differences. Just as a small example, we
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: have one fountain one exhibit that we call our Bernoulli fountain.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: It's a it's in a space that is designed to
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: simulate a Mexican plaza. It was done in collaboration with
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: the Mexican Cultural Institute, and so it looks like a fountain,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: but what you're doing is you're using for the newly
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: principle of airflow to get little balls to go into
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: the fountain, right, and so you're able to shape the
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: change the way that you're configuring the airflow. Well, one
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: of the things that our colleagues did was they built
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: it as an octagon, So the fountain itself is relatively small,
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: but you can have eight little bodies around it, all
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: watching well, what is the person next to me doing?
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: Oh? I like the way that she did that. Let
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: me try that.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: That's great?
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Oh what if I try it differently? And you see
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: this happening in real time constantly, that they're learning from
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: each other and that they're watching each other and they're
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: thinking how to you know, whether it's friendly competition or
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: they're stopping to show a little or one that you know,
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: how they did it. It comes to life on the
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: museum floor every day. You see this kind of people
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: coming together that have never met before, working and playing together.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: All right, well, I want to talk about a real
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: big one here, and that's how you're funded and also donating,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: because listen, when you're a nonprofit, and it doesn't matter
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: if you're big, medium or small, you need people to
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: get excited about it. And we'll talk about tickets too,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: but when it comes to ways to give and supporting
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: the National Children's the museum. I know there are several ways.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Can you talk a little bit about that.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely, yeah.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: We we rely heavily on support from our community, in
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: particular with the educational programs.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: That we're that we're doing.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: We're doing, you know, we bring learning to life on
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: the museum floor every day. We also work in partnership
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: with schools and pre k centers and you know, systems
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: more broadly to really elevate playful Steam learning on a
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: on a local and national level. And all of that
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: really does require contributions from individuals and foundations and corporations,
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: and so we're so pleased to partner with various corporate
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: partners like P and C as I mentioned earlier, who's
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: supporting our May ninth Community Arts Day, as well as
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: individual contributors and and foundation support as well as government
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: funding to make this work possible.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: And you can become a member, correct? How do you
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: do that?
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: You can just go to our website and become a member.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: We have multiple membership options. If you're just a parent
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: that would like to come on a regular basis with
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: the one child, there's a membership option for that, or
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: you can come as a larger family unit membership is
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: a great way to come throughout the year. You know,
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: you can come as much as you like and get
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: special membership benefits.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: See that's a cool thing because you know, going back
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: to me going to different children's museums around the country
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: getting a membership because if you have one that wants
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: to go all the time, a child or children, you
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: save so much money and it's that much more fun
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: that you don't have to worry about anything as a member.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: So I love that you offer that. Can you tell
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: me a little bit about President's Circle?
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, No, I would love to talk about that. I think.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: As the National Children's Museum, we're in a position to
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: not only bring wonderful fun experiences to life at our location,
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: but to create a platform to think about on a
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: national level issues around the intersections of technology and education
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: and society and policy in a way that no other
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: organization really is. And so we created the President's Circle
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: as a way to bring together thought leaders, to host
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: this kind of event to get people really thinking and
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: activating around important topics. For example, we did an event
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: with the Finnish Embassy, So I mentioned Finland. The Finnish
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: educational model is very similar to the National Children's Museum,
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: and that it's really focused on play and playful learning
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: ahead of kind of academic rigor, especially at the younger ages, and.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: It's also very effective.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: So we had a meeting at the Finnish Embassy where
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: we talked about that, like what are the parallels of
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: informal learning in America and formal learning in Finland, and
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: how can we bring more playful learning into all of
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: our settings. We also had an event on AI literacy.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: This is an area that's really close to my heart
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: because is around us. Children are encountering it on a
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: regular basis, even when they don't even know it, and
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: so it's critical from my perspective to ensure that children
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: have the tools that they need to really understand what's
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: happening under the hood, and again not from utilizing the technology,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: but from understanding it in a hands on way. So
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: we had a national conference about AI education and AI
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: literacy where we brought together people from all over the
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: country to have this discussion, and so we continue to
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: have events along those lines. Our next event will be
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: in June. We're going to be focused on the topic
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: of children identifying and solving problems within their communities using
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: solutions that are driven by science, technology engineering.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: Algi.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I love that, you know. I was thinking too, Karen,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: it's so fortuitous for you and your team that because
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: you're in here in the DMV in Washington, DC and
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: finish Embassy or people from other countries, that you get
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: to share ideas and maybe we're different a lot of areas,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: but then you find out, well, really similar in a
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: lot of areas. But share that with people from other
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: countries must be very cool.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: It's such a privilege for us to be able to
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: share that out and for us to be able to
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: bring in all of this rich cultural difference and.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: This rich cultural landscape of the city that we're in.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: So we partner with many of the embassy's, we partner
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: with community based organizations, we partner with the Smithsonian Institution,
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: and it really enriches everything that we do.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: All right, let's do this because we do have just
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: about maybe three or four minutes left. I want to
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: get some big things out for everybody. Now, you can
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: check out the website. We're going to give that a
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: few more times before we finish up here. But when
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: it comes to hours of operation and getting tickets, I
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: know the website has all that information, but if you
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: could just kind of go over that for everybody, just
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: again the clue of what they what they're in store
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: for when it comes to those things.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: Sure. Well.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: So the museum is open nine thirty to four to
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: thirty every day of the week except for Tuesday. We
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: close to the public on Tuesday, and on busy holiday
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: weekends we have extended hours, so we open from nine
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: to five on busy holiday weekends.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: And so that's all on the website and we list it.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Long in advance so that you can go online and
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: get your tickets in advance.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: All right, I want to talk a little bit about
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the future because I know that there's so much going on,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: but things move fast for you as far as it
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: maybe new exhibits, new programs, whether it's twenty twenty six
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: or beyond. And I imagine you talk with a lot
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: of your peers around the country and around the world
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: what we're doing. Is there anything that you're planning or
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: getting excited about that might be coming up.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's so much on the horizon for us. I
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: would say, you know, first, we see two hundred and
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: twenty five thousand visitors each year.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: By the way, I mentioned that's an extraordinary number.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and so but we want to see it grow.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, there are days that we're completely at capacity,
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: but there are other days that we're not, and we
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: want to see it grow. And we want to make
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: sure that we're bringing learning to life in a really
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: creative way that is of pushing the envelope on what
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: people are used to in their experience. Is that they
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: can come and get a real wow moment and have
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: a delightful time, but also walk away feeling even more
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: curious and more confident. So they're really learning something and
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: learning something about themselves. And so that's the first thing,
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: is just continuously upgrading and improving and creating new experiences
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: on our museum floor.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: I would say another thing that I'm really.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Excited about is ways in which we're influencing the formal
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: education landscape. And so through partnerships with schools in the
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: DMV and around the country, we're really trying to kind
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: of bring those approaches to play full steam learning into
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: the classroom and to support teachers through coaching and program
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: development to support teachers in bringing those approaches into schools.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: I love that. All right, let's give the website one
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: more time. And also let's tell people where you're located.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know they can find that all on the website,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: but just to make sure that they know where it
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: is in downtown DC.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, our website is www dot National Children's Museum dot
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: org and our building is in thirteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: It's on Woodrow Wilson Plaza at thirteenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Outstanding and as you can imagine with somebody me and
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: the industry, even though I'm a sports guy, I go
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: on a lot of websites every day. You have a
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: gorgeous website and your team has made it easy to navigate.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: It's beautiful to look at, it's updated, You've got video
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: on there and lots of digitals. So you've made it.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Whoever did it and keeps it up to Yemen's job
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: to them because it really is a beautiful website.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: I really appreciate that comment, because the visitor experience extends beyond.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: Just the museum.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Yes, it's the whole experience, and we want to bring
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: that kind of you know, playful, fun, easy to access
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: experience from the moment that you begin to think about
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: whether you're coming on a trip to the minute you
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: leave feeling happy and exhausted from a fun day.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Right, And I can't remember if you minute you last
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: thing because it's in my area. You have a podcast too.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: We did have.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: We had a podcast during the pandemic, during the pandem
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: no longer, it's no longer active.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: We might want to bring it back. Podcasts are pretty popular.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: It's a lot of work, though, Yes, indeed, well listen.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you how much I appreciate your valuable time.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Please give my best your entire team. It sounds like
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: things are going well there, and I know you want
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: to grow and you're going to and we're happy to
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: be a megaphone here at iHeart for you, but I
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: think for what you do along with your team, to
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: see kids and parents and caregivers and everybody that come
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: in with smiles and have a great time, it has
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: got to be payment enough for you. I imagine, Oh,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: absolutely absolutely.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: Every day when we close the museum at four thirty,
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: we close with what we call a noise parade, and
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: so we invite everybody down to a particular particular place
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: and we bless the music, and we give everybody an instrument,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: and we have a dance party all around the museum,
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: all the way up into the exit. And we ended
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: our sound garden, which is outside the museum, but it's
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: a sound garden where they can bang on this beautiful
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: drums that look like flowers. And that's the end of
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: the day. So it's every day ends with this joyful
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: celebration and it's just a delight.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Kar and I love that. And I don't know if
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: my bosses will appreciate this, but I've got work with
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: a bunch of Yahoo's here in my programming area, and
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: I think doing a noise parade as we leave at
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: iHeart it might be a really good idea. I think
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: we might enjoy that. I've loved that idea. I'm sure
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: you will well listen. Thanks again. I wanted to stay
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: in touch with you too, because I know things are
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: always moving, ebbing and floying all the time. So we'd
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: love to have you back on the program again to
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: talk about what's happening in six months and as we get
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: into the fall and the winter months. And that's the
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: cool thing is that you know you're open all the
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: time and except for those Tuesdays and it's a year
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: round prospect and there's always things happening there. Thank you
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: so much for what you do for families and children
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: out there. We really appreciate your time and I'm glad
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: we could feature you guys on Community DC. Thank you
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: so much, Thank you, thank you.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: I killed.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Clean the oceans and make the world a better place.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Learn more at she can Stamp and Message brought to
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: you by the AD Council