Boston Children’s Museum Announces Closure of Boston Black: A City Connects and Construction on You, Me, We Exhibit
April 5, 2022
Boston Children’s Museum announces the recent closing of the beloved exhibit Boston Black: A City Connects. This closure marks the start of construction for a new exhibit, You, Me, We, slated to open later this year.
Boston Black: A City Connects, which opened to visitors in 2004, was developed collaboratively with community advisors. The exhibit was created to highlight the diversity across Boston’s Black populations and inspire dialogue between families about race, ethnicity, and identity. The Museum worked to engage our visitors in these conversations and celebrations of diversity through community-focused programming.
The Ghanaian (Akan) word “Sankofa” describes the principle of reaching back and gathering the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move into the future. Boston Black has long been a vibrant part of Boston Children’s Museum’s landscape. In 2016, the Museum introduced Block Party, an ongoing program within Boston Black to explore bias, belonging, and race with children and families. Building on the programmatic success of Block Party, the Museum undertook the development of You, Me, We. The exhibit builds on the themes explored in Block Party, creating an environment and experiences where families will be able to examine bias, belonging, and race.
You, Me, We will address assumptions based on race, ethnicity, class, religion, ability, and gender, and is rooted in current scholarship on multicultural understanding and empathy. You, Me, We will invite visitors to explore our similarities and differences, with a focus on how these differences are understood and valued. The exhibit will support families in examining their associations and connections to music, food, family traditions, beliefs, art, and history. Envisioned as a collaborative, interactive, and participatory experience, You, Me, We will encourage conversations, create opportunities to experiment with appreciating differences, and raise philosophical questions about identity and the nature of bias.
“We are very proud to bring this new experience to our visitors. As Boston Children’s Museum is thought of as an inclusive and welcoming public space, it is an ideal environment for exploring the important issues of identity, diversity, and bias; topics that are often very difficult for families to discuss,” said Carole Charnow, President & CEO. “We envision You, Me, We as a space where visitors can learn about themselves and others, and practice being empathic and thoughtful. We hope this exhibit will help to build bridges and contribute to greater good will and understanding amongst our diverse community.”
You, Me, We has been made possible with the support of Amazon; Bank of America Charitable Foundation; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts; The Boston Foundation; Jack & Eileen Connors; Jesús and Danielle Gerena; Harvard Asia Center; Kerri Hurley; Institute of Museum and Library Services; John Hancock Financial Services; Kellogg Foundation on behalf of Ramón Murguía; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund, a program of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, administered through a collaborative arrangement between MassDevelopment and the Mass Cultural Council; Sean McGrath; Brian Mulvey; National Endowment for the Humanities; Pamela & Pierre Omidyar; Bob and Susan Schechter; Sun Life Financial; and Anri Wheeler.
Stay tuned for the opening of You, Me, We, which is scheduled for late summer of 2022.
For additional information visit www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org
About Boston Children’s Museum
Boston Children’s Museum engages children and families in joyful discovery experiences that instill an appreciation of our world, develop foundational skills, and spark a lifelong love of learning. More information about Boston Children’s Museum can be found at www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org. Become a fan of the Museum on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
Hours and Admission
The Museum is open with two set daily time slots, 9:00am-12:00pm and 1:30-4:30pm. To reduce touchpoints and enable timed visits, all ticketing will be done online. Members must also make reservations online. There are a limited number of visits reservations available for each time slot. Adults, $18, children (1-15) and senior citizens, $18; children under 12 months and Museum members are always free.