The National Veterans Art Museum will unveil a new season of educational programming, including a brand new interactive website
Chicago, Ill.—(ENEWSPF)–August 2013 – On Saturday, August 17, 2013, from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m., the National Veterans Art Museum (NVAM) will host an education open house to introduce students, teachers, administrators and parents to a wide range of new educational offerings and new museum partnerships to enhance programming. The event will also mark the public debut of The Things They Carried Interactive, a new, interactive, student-facing website that uses art and artifacts to teach history and civics.
The day’s events will include Chicago Summer of Learning badge earning stations, guided tours of current exhibits, educator tours of online and on-site educational tools, artist talks, information and sign-up stations for field trips and student tours, a chance to tour the McCormick Foundation’s Freedom Express, and the launch of The Things They Carried Interactive.
The Things They Carried Interactive is a brand new website dedicated to expanding the educational potential of the museum’s popular The Things They Carried exhibit, inspired by Tim O’Brien’s book of the same name. The Things They Carried is required reading in the majority of schools nationwide, and The Things They Carried Interactive is designed to make this art and artifact-rich interactive website to student learners unable to visit the museum in person. The Things They Carried Interactive links images of art and artifacts to veteran interviews and literature to teach civics and history.
About the event, NVAM Education Coordinator Christine Bespalec-Davis says, “We are excited to share our expanded programming and partnership with the public. The Things They Carried Interactive is an important step into digital media learning and one that makes the experience of the VIetnam War palpable and accessible to a new generation of learners.”
NVAM Executive Director Levi Moore added, “For the 2013-2014 school year, the NVAM is pleased to expand its partnerships, including collaborative relationships with the Veterans History Project-Student Edition, YOUmedia, the McCormick Foundation, and Chicago Public Schools. We believe these partnerships will enable us to expand our educational outreach tremendously, benefitting students, teachers, and parents alike.”
Travis Bickford, Executive Director of the Veterans History Project-Student Edition, celebrated the partnership between the NVAM and the youth-driven Veterans History Project, which teaches students journalism and editing skills, documents interviews with veterans, and submits the interviews to the Library of Congress. Bickford states, “The NVAM’s open house this August is an incredible opportunity for everyone—students, educators, administrators and parents—to see how the NVAM can be a site of exciting arts, history and civics learning. We are happy to make this partnership and to continue to expand our offerings to student learners.”
About the Veterans History Project – Student Edition
The Veterans History Project is a program that Congress passed unanimously in 2000 and seeks to collect oral histories and firsthand accounts from the people who served in our nation’s wars. The VHP counts on individual volunteers and organizations to interview veterans and record their stories via audio or video. In 2012, the project will involve high school students working in Boston and Chicago to conduct and submit interviews of veterans to the Library of Congress. Students will be a critical part of this national program. Along with providing contributions to the collection, students will also experience a rich curriculum to add to their high school experience. Learn more about the Veterans History Project – Student Edition at http://vhpstudentedition.org/.
About YOUmedia
YOUmedia is an innovative, 21st century teen learning space which is currently located at five Chicago Public Library locations. YOUmedia was created to address two significant challenges facing urban public libraries: the shortage of authentic, engaging physical and virtual spaces for teens in public libraries, and a lack of meaningful opportunities for teens to learn digital media skills while also gaining relevant new entry points into library resources.
YOUmedia addresses new implications for youth interaction and connected learning with digital media by becoming a model “out-of-school” environment created by and for teens — providing youth with opportunities to gather and learn in ways that are of particular interest to them. This innovative, youth-centered digital learning space links teens to state-of-the-art digital resources, adult mentors, books, relevant programming and engaging workshops. By working both collaboratively and self-paced with a variety of digital media, young adults have had opportunities to engage in projects that promote critical thinking, creativity, skill-building and ultimately, civic engagement. YOUmedia ‘s teens are thoroughly engaged in connected learning at its best: based on what interests them, they study digital photography and engage in video and digital music production. Learn more about YOUmedia at http://youmediachicago.org/.
About the McCormick Foundation’s Freedom Express
The Freedom Express is a 45-foot traveling museum that offers visitors an opportunity to explore their First Amendment freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. Interactive exhibits and thought-provoking artifacts illustrate how the First Amendment enables a healthy democracy, where we can freely exchange ideas, learn from diverse perspectives, and act on issues that matter to us. Exhibits explore the historical context of our constitutional freedoms, as well as their contemporary relevance to our daily lives. Learn more about the McCormick Foundation and the Freedom Express at www.mccormickfoundation.org.
About the National Veterans Art Museum
The National Veterans Art Museum is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and exhibition of art inspired by combat and created by veterans. The National Veterans Art Museum addresses both historical and contemporary issues related to military service in order to give patrons of all backgrounds insight into the effects of war and to provide veterans an artistic outlet to work through their military and combat experiences.
The National Veterans Art Museum is located at 4041 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. The National Veterans Art Museum will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Admission is free. For group admission reservations, call the Museum at 312/326-0270 or visit www.nvam.org.
Patrons of the museum can access art from the permanent collection and biographical information on the artists through the NVAM Collection Online, a recently launched online and high-resolution archive of every piece of art in the museum’s permanent collection. The NVAM Collection Online can be found at www.nvam.org/collection-online.
Source: nvam.org
