Clay Center Insider Winter 2016

WINTER 2016 E– C A L P G N I K A T IS N O I T A M R O F S N A R AT

! y a w e h t n o s ’ t a h w See

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

If you think you know the Clay Center, think again.

Sure, family fun, world-class performances and beautiful art exhibits are big parts of what the Clay Center has to offer, but there’s so much more on the way this year.

Learn something new with classes and workshops in the Juliet Museum of Art. Get hands-on with science with interactive activities led every day by museum Discovery Leaders. Dance on stage to the sounds of the next big thing in a Sound Check Sessions performance.

With engaging, visitor-driven programs, brand new exhibits designed just for families and students and a lineup of performances that will blow you away, 2016 is going to be packed with excitement.

I hope to see you soon at the Clay Center.

Happy exploring!

Al Najjar President & CEO

Supporting the Arts In West Virginia West Virginia students are being transformed into budding musicians through the gift of musical instruments from the Clay Center’s Clay Community Arts music outreach program, the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the VH1 Save The Music Foundation.

Clay Center staff members were honored to visit Wirt County Middle School and Mullens Middle School this fall to enjoy productions by students using these new instruments.

“VH1 Save The Music Foundation is proud to partner with the state of West Virginia as this is the largest and

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first statewide effort we have undertaken,” said Chiho Feindler, grantee and compliance manager for VH1 Save The Music Foundation. Next year, the foundation will have placed new instruments in at least one school in every West Virginia county, thanks in part to partnerships with the Clay Center and the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.

Each school received 38 new instruments including flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, trombones and a variety of percussion instruments worth about $35,000, along with ongoing program management and materials.

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Get ready

n be er will soo t n e C y its la The C new exhib d n a r b y ed b e transform experienc r o it is v e eractiv ing and an int king, play in h t s id k eep that will k me. me after ti ti , g in n r a and le

Big plans are underway as the Avampato Discovery Museum is set for exciting changes later this year.

A group of Clay Center members recently met with the designers of one of the major new exhibits to share their thoughts, feedback and dreams for the reimagined museum. Museum development experts from Argyle Design — the world-class

Museum Renewal is Full STEAM Ahead! company responsible for fan favorite exhibits at the Houston Children’s Museum, the DoSeum in San Antonio, Columbus’s COSI and others — were in town in November to preview preliminary designs and meet the faces that will explore these exhibits in the coming months and years.

With brand new exhibits and an enhanced visitor experience in the works, anticipation is building for just-for-kids activities that will ensure the Clay Center is the go-to place for family fun. Be on the lookout for more information as plans are finalized and construction begins later this year.

Up, Up, Up! Kids won’t want to leave this interactive work of art designed specifically for the Clay Center by Luckey Climbers.

BIT WILL THE “MY WV” EXHI NARIANS, RI LET KIDS BE VETE NICS AND ENGINEERS, MECHA RACTIVE CITY MORE IN AN INTE AND WITH JOBS TO DO E. LOTS TO EXPLOR

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FEATURED PROGRAMS

Family Fun Day Ready Jet Go! Expo Saturday, January 23 11am – 4pm

Carnaval 2016 Pick Your Poison Saturday, January 30 7:30 pm

Family Fun Day Discover Engineering Day Saturday, February 20 11am – 4pm

Be the first to watch this brand new PBS series at the premiere in the Digital Dome! Then, spend a day building and launching rockets, folding airplanes and discovering oodles of space-related experiments.

A mystical wonderland of deliciously intriguing temptations awaits you at this annual benefit for the Clay Center and The Charleston Ballet.

Explore the many branches of engineering with fun, interactive activities and displays by a variety of local engineering firms, colleges and universities.

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Broadway in Charleston Blue Man Group Tuesday, March 8 7:30pm Escape the ordinary and surround yourself in an explosion of comedy, music and technology.

Family Fun Day Eggstravaganza Saturday, March 19 11am – 4pm Hop in for an egg-cellent day of egg dyeing, egg hunting, egg tossing and many more egg-related activities. Plus, visit with the Easter Bunny!

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GOVERNOR CAPERTON ENABLES COSMIC TRANSFORMATION

The Clay Center’s domed theater, formerly called the “ElectricSky Theater,” has undergone a major transformation, thanks in large part to a gift from the 31st governor of West Virginia and Clay Center Board Member, Gaston Caperton, and his two sons, John Caperton and Gat Caperton. The BrickStreet Foundation, W. Marston and Katharine B. Becker and Raymond Park and Family, joined the Caperton Family to complete the Digital Dome project.

“The chance to bring the universe to West Virginia children – to do something that will impact education throughout the state and get students excited about science and learning – is a special opportunity for me and my sons,” Caperton said. “We are proud to play a role in transforming the theater into a 21st century classroom of the future.”

In the former ElectricSky Theater, now called the “Governor Gaston Caperton Digital Dome”, guests can swoop and glide over erupting volcanoes, plunge to the depths of the ocean and fly to the edge of the universe, all in one unforgettable visit.

“My grandchildren had a wonderful time exploring space, zooming in on deep sky objects and observing the solar system from every angle,” said Caperton, following a recent planetarium show and film screening with his family. “I want all West Virginia families to have this experience,” he added excitedly.

The Digital Dome’s transformation is part of the Clay Center’s $14 million Full STEAM Ahead Campaign to deliver high-impact, hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education to West Virginia’s children and families in the totally reimagined Avampato Discovery Museum (ADM).

By providing funds to transform more than 16,000 square feet of ADM space into a universe of self-directed learning and exploration, The Full STEAM Ahead Campaign will ensure a new experience for every guest, every time. The Campaign will also provide funds for a newly-created Exhibit Renewal Endowment to assure that exhibits in the ADM are well-maintained and refreshed in the future.

Under the leadership of Campaign Chair W. Marston “Marty” Becker and Vice-Chair Michael Graney, more than $10.4 million of the $14 million Campaign goal is already pledged or in-hand. Following is a list of the generous individuals, corporations and foundations that have contributed to Full STEAM Ahead, as of November 30, 2015: Anonymous W. Marston and Katharine B. Becker Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation BrickStreet Foundation Governor Gaston Caperton Clay Foundation

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The Daywood Foundation, Inc.

Bernard H. and Blanche E. Jacobson Foundation Ann C. and Robert O. Orders, Jr. Family Foundation, Inc. Raymond Park and Family H.B. Wehrle Foundation Michael Wehrle

A work of art from the Clay Center’s permanent collection is being featured in an exhibit celebrating the influence of women on the modern art world.

Marguerite Zorach’s “Prohibition,” an oil on canvas created in 1920, is a highlight in “O’Keeffe, Stettheimer, Torr, Zorach: Women Modernists in New York.” Currently on display at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Fla., the exhibit will next travel to the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine.

Purchased by the Collectors Club in 1995, Zorach’s work is one of the three most valuable pieces in the Clay Center’s collection of over 1,000 works of art.

Special thanks go to the Collectors Club, a dedicated group of donors who have purchased new works for the permanent collection each year since 1986.

IN A JAM-PACKED Y A W E H T N O E R BIG SHOWS A PERFORMANCES! T N LE EL C EX F O SEASON Season ticket packages for the Clay Center Presents lineup include tickets to Gregg Allman, Whoopi Goldberg and a performance of Beauty and the Beast by Charleston Light Opera Guild.

Plus, add on headliners Salt-N-Pepa with Coolio, Vince Gill, Wilco and The Temptations and The Four Tops.

The Broadway in Charleston series continues with thrilling theatrics from Blue Man Group, mind-blowing magic by The Illusionists and high-energy dance and percussion in STOMP. See up-and-coming acts in an intimate setting when The Steppin Stones, MODOC and Andy Frasco & the U.N. take the stage in the next round of Sound Check Sessions shows.

Thank you to the sponsors who help underwrite the cost of these phenomenal performances, keeping ticket prices affordable for the community: Bert Wolfe Audi, BrickStreet, HealthSmart, Roger Nicholson, Reserve Oil & Gas, Bailey Glasser, The Bell Law Firm, Brad & Lisa White White Insurance & Associates, Proud Eagle, Mayor Danny Jones

COME INSIDE TO EXPLORE THE GREAT OUTDOORS WHEN THE LIMITED-TIME EXHIBIT “A FOREST JOURNEY” MAKES A STOP AT THE CLAY CENTER IN JANUARY. Match products and medicines to the trees from which they are made, touch different hardwoods and softwoods to discover their unique characteristics and increase greenhouse gases in a hemisphere to see how the sun’s energy affects the earth in interactive stations especially suited for middle and high school students.

For sponsorship opportunities for any Clay Center exhibit or performance, contact the Corporate Relations office at 304-561-3532.

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One Clay Square, Charleston, WV 25301

All-new programs!

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All that’s left to do is blow out the candles