Cayton Children’s Museum February 2020 – Progress & Milestones by caytonmuseum

February 2020

Progress and Milestones

It’s hard to believe that it’s been six months since we opened our doors at the Cayton Children’s Museum. In just the last half a year, we have achieved, learned and grown more than we have in our 30 years as an organization. We have looked to our growing community of visitors, members, donors and supporters to guide us on how we could serve our community and be a partner in raising the next generation. We heard one thing very clear: In an era of social, economic and political disparity, there is one thing we all have in common. We want our children to learn the value of kindness. We hope they embrace their individuality but understand what’s possible when they work together. We don’t want them to lose faith in humanity, but to play an active role in shaping the world they want. This was the impetus for creating the Cayton. (READ ON) 1

As we look ahead to 2020, we have a clear vision: To turn the creative power of the arts and play into catalysts for exchange, connection and community. Read on to find out how weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re working toward this vision and some of our most exciting milestones over the past few months. As one of our early supporters, we thank you for pushing us forward and for believing in the purpose of play.

Surpassing 100,000 Visitors

Just as we crossed over into 2020, we are thrilled to announce that we surpassed the 100,000th visitor mark! This puts the Cayton on track to welcome 200,000 visitors in our first year of operation—a milestone we didn’t expect to reach until year three. Part of this growing visitorship is our growing family of annual members. Since our opening, we have sold over 2,500 memberships, illustrating the value that parents and caregivers find in spending family time at the Cayton.

CAMP CAYTON

Advancing Arts Education

In the fall, we rolled out our signature CAYTON CLASSES, a series of arts enrichment classes tailored to the needs of young kids of all ages. The Cayton offers more than 14 classes for babies and toddlers, focused on school readiness, bilingual music and movement, messy art and after-school theatre for older youth (ages 6+). Class enrollment continues to grow, with our signature Art Crawl selling out weekly. Apart from classes, we rolled out our second season of CAMP CAYTON over winter break. Campers enrolled in “Winter at the Beach” for week one, used frozen watercolors to create snowscape paintings and clay and sand to build “sandmen.” In week two, they celebrated New Year’s traditions from around the world for “NYE Jubilee.” Winter session soldout during the first two weeks reaching maximum capacity. This enabled us to underwrite 13 scholarships to children eligible for financial assistance as part of our community access initiatives.

ART CRAWL

Putting the “Public” in Programming

HANUKKAH IN SANTA MONICA

The continued support of our donors helps us realize our vision of being an inclusive institution that creates connection and community across socioeconomic levels. With Museum operations now running optimally, we have dedicated our energy to building a robust calendar of arts and cultural programming that is free for all visitors with admission, including families on public benefits assistance who are eligible for free admission at the Cayton.

As part of public programming, we are introducing a new workshop series called CAYTON CREATORS, which gives visitors a chance to follow in the visionary footsteps of influential artists who have used their craft as a tool for social change. In its first month, we will study visual artist Noah Purifoy, who created sculptures out of discarded things to shed light on the Watts Riots and the plight of his community. The program is brought to you in part by the CITY OF SANTA MONICA’S CULTURAL AFFAIRS division. CAYTON CREATORS

LIESEL PLAMBECK, VISITING ARTIST SERIES

In March, we will introduce our VISITING ARTIST SERIES, a monthlong residency in which we invite accomplished artists to venture outside their comfort zone and activate their craft for children— making this just as intriguing for artists as it will be for visitors. Each month, featured artists will takeover the Museum with their own interactive installations, as well as host a series of workshops and “Meet the Artist” events. Our first artist will be Liesel Plambeck, an LA-based artist and product designer known for her collaborations with Kelly Wearstler, Paperless Post, Urban Outfitters and Rebecca Minkoff.

DERFNER THEATRE

Promoting Cultural Exchange

In October, we kicked off our CAYTON CULTURAL FESTIVALS, a series of day-long festivals that affirm our shared sense of humanity through storytelling, performances, music, theatre and hands-on art making. The series kicked off in October with a celebration of DĂa de los Muertos, followed by Hanukkah in Santa Monikkah in December.

celebrating holi We invite you to join us on Saturday, March 7 as we host the third installment in our Festival series, Holi, the ancient Hindu “Festival of Colours.” Honoring Holi through themes of rebirth and new beginnings, the Cayton will come alive with all-day color play, Bollywood performances, and a visual display of love, joy and kindness. The festival kicks off at 10am to general visitors but we are reserving the 9am—10am window exclusively for members and high-level supporters. Email development@caytonmuseum.org for more info. Daily museum programming is another way for us to recognize our melting pot of cultures and the people who helped to pave the way for social change. In January, we encouraged visitors to honor the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement through an MLK Day Celebration that included a “Free to Be Me” drum circle and art projects that pushed us to dream big. We also celebrated Lunar New Year by decorating paper lanterns and making Year of the Rat masks to honor the Rat’s strengths of being adaptable, outgoing and positive. In February, we will honor Black History Month and President’s Day across programming.

Increasing Access to the Arts

MUSEUM FREE-FOR-ALL-DAY

In using the arts as a catalyst for social change, we look at everything we do through the lens of access and social equity. All ideas and programming should answer the question: How can we ensure that children with limited access to arts education have outlets for creative expression?

To better accomplish this, we hired Jami Johnson as our School & Community Outreach Manager to grow our community partnerships and field trip program by forming connections with Title 1 schools, Head Start programs and programs for children with learning barriers. With donor support, we subsidize the cost of admission for eligible programs from $14 per student to $3 per student. We also recently partnered with SoCal Museums for MUSEUM FREEFOR-ALL DAY, a day where the Cayton was open to everyone free of charge. At the end of the day, we saw 2,280 visitors come through our doorsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a record for the Cayton! Seventy-five percent of these visitors were brand-new to the museum, including many families on EBT, WiC, or MediCal, who are eligible for free admission thanks to our corporate sponsor and annual underwriter, eONE. Sponsorship of our Free Access Initiative is part of eOneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to create everlasting childhood memories through their celebrated family-friendly brands which include Peppa Pig, PJ Masks and Ricky Zoom.

FIELD TRIP

youTHink youTHink—the Museum’s long-running youth outreach initiative—was founded 20 years ago to bring museum programming to school communities where access to the arts was limited and lacking. Though the program had grown steadily, we felt it was time for a full audit to ensure our program offerings were still meeting the needs of youth as we evolved. We embarked on this discovery phase in fall of 2019. Of our key learnings, we found that our student ambassador program and filmmaking curricula showed the strongest potential for youth engagement and a more focused mentorship experience.

The Student Ambassador Program was designed to foster creativity and agency across schools where funding grossly limits opportunities for success. In October 2019, we partnered with Title 1 schools in East Los Angeles to organize a large cohort of 40 high school students for an immersive 9 month-long training that combined multiple creative disciplines with leadership development and mentorship. The program kicked off with a weekend-long retreat, followed by four program modules to enable students to focus intensively on one artistic discipline. The cohort recently completed the first module, Storytelling, and will spend the remainder of the semester exploring photography, urban planning and theatre. Facilitators reported a “significant difference” in students’ confidence and ability to talk deeply about personal issues by the end of the session. 8

youTHink’s Filmmaking Fellowship is an intensive 12-week in-school filmmaking program that teaches a class of Title 1 high school students the skills and techniques of film and nurtures their creation of narrative stories to express their perspectives on their lives, neighborhoods and communities. This program is hosted in collaboration with teachers so the fellowship can be baked into the curriculum, which has historically enhanced class participation. Each program concludes with a culmination night where students can unveil their finished film for their peers and teachers. The inaugural program, which launches this month with support from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, will focus on a class of journalism students from Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights. The fellowship will be facilitated by Elizabeth Gray Baynes, a professional filmmaker with experience working in underserved schools. At the completion of the 12 weeks, students will have the opportunity to showcase their edited film for family and friends.

DINA LARSON & KEVIN GUY

ALEXANDER, CARLA, LUKE, FRANCIS & EMILY DE NIRO

RACHEL & BRANDON WILLIAMS

ARTHUR AND SUSAN MORTON & FAMILY - MIKA, PATTY & ANA

leave your legacy

All of these efforts are only made possible through the support of our community. The cost of admission only partly accounts for what it costs to operate the Cayton. The rest is met through fundraising. Help expand and enrich community access and public programming by pledging a mosaic tile in a permanent art installation that will live inside the Cayton for the next 20 years. Tiles start at $2,500 and increase in size and brilliance at the $5,000, $10,000 and $20,000 giving levels. Installation of the Legacy Campaign will begin in June 2020, with an unveiling for our major supporters around our one-year anniversary in end of June. Be a part of the Cayton’s legacy by contacting our Chief Development Officer, Carly Harrill, at charrill@caytonmuseum.org Come see what we are doing first-hand! Join us for a behindthe-scenes look of the Cayton at our monthly Founder’s Tour on March 19 at 8:30am, led by our founder & CEO, Esther Netter. Email development@caytonmuseum.org to confirm your spot. 9