Museum Scores Big Success at 2014 Capital Pride

During the Capital Pride Festival on Sunday, the National LGBT Museum unveiled a 20’ by 40’ pavilion called THE FUTURE IS HERE, which featured three unique visitor experiences: (1) an interactive Time Machine video booth that allowed users to share personal stories and send a message to anyone in the space/time continuum; (2) a community lounge furnished by Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams; and (3) a Family Educational Activity Area, where museum educators administered family programing to children. The Museum’s staff, along with volunteers from commercial partner PricewaterhouseCoopers, engaged hundreds of guests throughout the day and used the video segments to craft an oral history exhibition, the trailer for which is featured below.

Participants were called upon to deliver a salient personal message, and the 100 + stories that were collected are as diverse as they are powerful. The finalized exhibition will include footage of participants coming out to family members, sharing memories of bygone decades, and reaching out to public figures to foster a more inclusive climate.

Meanwhile, in the Family Educational Activity Area, parents and educators engaged children in storytelling activities, supplemented by age appropriate literature that featured themes of diversity and inclusion. While learning about the myriad ways that families are brought together by love, participants decorated picture frames to house photos that they snapped and printed on-site.

As anticipated, the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams community lounge was a gathering place for passersby who sought to cool off, families who needed a rest, and guests who waited for their turn to share their stories in the Time Machine booths. Nearly 1,000 of the Museum’s Here I Am strategic planning pamphlets were disseminated to interested parties, many of whom talked with staff members about opportunities to contribute and volunteer.

Prompted by the success of the Time Machine video booth project, the Museum is creating a national outreach project in order to enable participants from across the country to share their stories and view the 100+ videos that were collected during Pride. If you would like to learn more, visit facebook.com/Nationallgbtmuseum.

THE FUTURE IS HERE pavilion at Capital Pride, including the Time Machine video booths and Family Educational Activity Area, was made possible by the National LGBT Museum’s partnership with Capital Pride, the generosity of our principal sponsor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the support of FLOR, Mintz Levin, Etera Consulting, the Imperial Court, Stoneturn Group, MFM Design, and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. We also want to express our gratitude for the generosity of individual sponsors Patrick O’Connell, Marshall Sanders, Andrew Williams, John R. Pope, Peter Pawlowski, Will Trinkle, Juan Granados, Reggie Van Lee, James Alefantis, Mitchell and Tim Gold, and Alan and Judith Halfenger.  

Click this link to see more pictures on our Facebook page. 

For more information, contact Chris Kane at Tel: (704) 778-7590 or by email at [email protected]. Visit www.nationallgbtmuseum.org to learn more. 

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