The World Awareness Children’s Museum
The World Awareness Children’s Museum – located at 89 Warren Street in Glens Falls – has a mission to “bring our diverse world to children”. This museum was the vision of Dr. Jacquiline Touba, who believed that sharing and exchanging the visions of children around the world would promote appreciation and understanding of cultural diversity. It was started in 1985, and chartered in 1995 by the Board of Regents of the New York State Department of Education.
Bethanie Lawence is the Executive Director of The World Awareness Museum, which is currently home to over 10,000 cultural and historical objects, as well as over 8,000 pieces of international art made by children. These are both educational, and cultural artifacts… The Museum is unique because it is a collecting institution as well as a children’s exploration space. The art is made by kids all over the world from 140 different countries: “It is a great collection all made by kids all over the world. We use it in an educational way. These objects are educational tools to show how the world looks through the eyes of children… We have rudimentary as well as lovely pieces and kids can learn from all levels of the art and we treat the art with the utmost of care,” Bethanie said.
The museum teaches kids to examine art with a critical eye; they can examine art from other cultures, and see what is similar to their experiences and what’s different. This opens up discussions regarding traditions in different cultures, and children can learn to compare and contrast the traditions that they have with the traditions of others. “The culture that children experience at the museum creates an opportunity for the kids to explore diverse cultures in a safe and nurturing place. This way the kids are not fearful… Just curious. This creates a situation where they can celebrate diversity,” Bethanie said.
As an example of the importance of letting children express themselves, Bethanie showcased a set of COVID-19-themed art projects that the museum featured – the museum reached out to ten schools across the country in 2021, and received hundreds of responses from kids in grades K through 12… Out of these submissions, the museum accepted 52 pieces into their permanent collection. This exhibit shows kids’ experiences during the pandemic, and their perception of what the pandemic was like.
“It was therapeutic for the kids to express what they were feeling. It gave teachers an opportunity to talk to the students about their experiences during the pandemic… It created a space where kids felt safe talking about deep and challenging topics, and they were able to do so because they were asked to create something that resonated with them. This project was helpful to the students, the teachers, and the parents because it was a conversation starter, and the adults were able to see what the kids experience through their art… These kids have been dealing with trauma from the pandemic; the trauma of an interrupted social life, interrupted school life, and in a lot of ways, the pandemic is still affecting them,” Bethanie said.
Bethanie is an empathic leader at the museum, but her empathy didn’t start with her career there: “I was an elementary teacher for about five years before coming here… I came here to work as the education coordinator. The former director and I worked closely together, and when she left, I was promoted to the executive director position… The staff is all paid staff. We do have a small and strong volunteer program… We have part-time staff, and I am full-time, and we would like to build up from here. We have 10 of us working here, and we all work collaboratively together… Every aspect of the work we do for the museum is collaborative,” she said.
The Children’s Museum is a part of the Glens Falls Art Community, and is also a member of the Glens Falls Art District… The museum will be participating in International museum day on Thursday, May 18th, 2023, along with The Hyde Museum and The Chapman Museum. The theme of the event this year is “The Power of The Museum”… Having a theme for the day helps to bring harmony to the celebration, and Bethanie believes that the arts community creates a “rising tide lifts all boats” kind of collaborative mentality.
The Children’s Museum consistently has nine or ten exhibitions with the expectation that one exhibition will be rotated each year. The most popular exhibit currently on display is the “Mexican Kitchen and Garden”: “The kids just gravitate toward it. Kids love playing in the kitchen… I work with a volunteer team to put together the exhibits. There is a lot of planning, we get funding from outside sources like LARAC, and sometimes we have to hire a contractor to build the structures for us… These exhibits start out as a dream, and then we add in the logistics. We always bring the concept back to our mission of cultural education. The kids experience cultural education, diversity awareness, pretend play, making their own crafts… Just being in a room, they learn through the textile experiences,” Bethanie said.
In the Fall, the Museum will be installing a new exhibit which will be called “Mountain Tops” that will highlight the people and culture in the Adirondacks – landscapes, mountains, and bodies of water. The age focus of this exhibit will be children 0 to 3 years old.
The museum is visited by anywhere from seven to eight thousand people a year! Most recently, they have seen an increase of visitors from the Albany area… There are programs that the museum features that attract a wide participation, like a kids version of “Paint and Sip” and child-friendly yoga.
The Children’s Museum uses every inch of the space that they have… There are some limitations to the museum’s space, because there is no outside space and there is no parking provided. However, creative solutions and partnerships have made it possible for the museum to overcome these challenges. Over the summer, the museum hosts summer camps from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and the staff walks the kids around the Glens Falls area… This year, the theme of one of the summer camps is the “Amazing Race”, based on the popular TV show: “When the kids arrive, they receive a clue, and the destination of that clue can be anywhere from LARAC, or The Hyde or Chapman museum. When we get there, the kids participate in a challenge that leads to another clue… We are very excited about that camp for the older kids. For the younger kids, we have a ‘Pirate Adventure’ camp. The kids will learn about different ports around the world, and we will have some kind of treasure hunt at the end of the week… We are very excited for our summer camps,” Bethanie said.
One of the most important aspects in the overall running of The Children’s Museum is the board of directors – the board is made up of 11 people, who are very supportive and helpful in both a hand-on and fundraising capacity: “The board oversees the finances while adhering to our mission, to bring the diverse world to children… What that looks like is really the board and the executive director working together to decide and implement changes for the full organization. We work together on fundraising and the finances, as well as running events, and getting our name out there,” Bethanie said.
Bethanie is looking forward to their Annual Fundraiser on May 21st, 2023! It will be held at The Queensbury Hotel, and is a celebration of the Museum’s 33rd year: “We raise money for all of our programs… Our typical fundraising goal is $50,000. It’s an international cuisine dinner and auction… We have about 200 guests. The event has a live auction and silent auction, there will be live music by local musician Rich Ortiz… This event is really fun,” she said.
For more information about the Museum or the Fundraiser, please visit http://worldchildrensmuseum.org