Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium and National Children’s Museum
Museum trustee Heather Zimmerman, Ryan Zimmerman, Museum President and CEO Crystal Bowyer with husband Troy Pierce and son Preston Pierce, and Gala emcee Good Morning America's Ginger Zee
The Hechinger Family celebrates S. Ross Hechinger's (third from left) more than 20 years of Board service to National Children's Museum
Museum Trustee Anna Mason, Lauren Mason, John Mason, Amy and Trip Donnelly
Director of US Mexico Foundation Enrique Perret Erhard, Museum Director of Exhibits + Education Elise Lemle, Paola Erhard at the National Children's Museum Opening Gala After-Party
Jacqueline Olliges, guest, and Troy Clair in the Museum's Art + Tech by Nickelodeon exhibit
Sponsors of Art + Tech by Nickelodeon exhibit, Jean Margaret Smith and Sharon Cohen from Nickelodeon
Sponsors of the Museum's Tinkerers Studio, Kim and Fred Humphries, with guest
Troy Pierce with Crystal Bowyer and Marvin & Margaret Bush
Sponsors of Engineering Games + Play baseball experiences, Marla Lerner Tanenbaum and Robert Tanenbaum of the Lerner Family Foundation
Meg Biram and Director of Exhibits and Education, National Children’s Museum, Elise Lemle
Nia King-Rubie and Michael Serwadda
Amir Afkhami, Hastie Afkhami and Emily Sower
Photos by Dan Swartz
By the end of the night, guests shot bolts of lightning in an immersive Weather World; stepped through colorful, reactive gateways; swung bats in a digital ballpark ; and danced with SpongeBob SquarePants at the National Children’s Museum. But leading up to the play-like-an-8-year-old activity, guests filled up on cocktails and an elegant sit down dinner to celebrate the only museum in Washington, D.
C. that is tailored to children from birth to age 12. Setbacks to the originally scheduled grand opening to the public couldn’t stall the invite-only kick-off festivities and afterparty where guests got a sneak peek of the museum in its new Pennsylvania Avenue location at the Ronald Reagan Building that will offer interactive exhibitions exploring science, technology, engineering, art, and math. With that creative and exploratory mind-frame, adults released their inner kid, with a little extra help from adult beverages.
To help parents and caregivers out in this time of social distancing, the National Children’s Museum is hosting a new daily digital series called STEAMwork, which is sure to keep the young ones entertained and educated at home.
STEAMwork, airing each day at 2:30pm, features members of the museum leading STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) projects, challenges, experiments and story times for kids under 12 and their caregivers. Even with closed doors, the museum is keeping children inspired and innovative so be sure to tune in to the next STEAMwork episode on the museum’s Facebook page!
