FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE :: PRESS RELEASE
XOXO: An Exhibit About Love & Forgiveness Opens to the Public at the Muhammad Ali Center on June 6th
“Everyone longs to be loved. And the greatest thing we can do is let people know that they are loved and capable of loving.” —Fred Rogers
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (June 5, 2015) — XOXO: An Exhibit About Love & Forgiveness opens to the public on Saturday, June 6th at the Muhammad Ali Center. The exhibit, which runs through September 20th, offers children and their caregivers the opportunity to work together, hold hands, hug, create art, and explore love and forgiveness through interactive experiences that inspire feelings and conversation about these emotions.
“XOXO is a good fit for the Ali Center,” said Jeanie Kahnke, spokesperson for the Center, “because this exhibit invites young people to explore ways of expressing love and giving of oneself. It also encourages visitors to show respect and compassion for one another. All of these are very ‘Muhammad-like’ attributes that are the underpinnings of his personal greatness.”
At XOXO visitors can:
- Illuminate a hidden message about love by Holding Hands
- Answer questions about love and forgiveness, and tie them to a wall for others to read at the Response Wall
- Write down loving thoughts and press them into Tokens of Love
- Work together to Balance on a seesaw or connect an infinite Story Puzzle
- Create Silhouettes using a unique set up of light boxes
- Build and explore a variety of facial expressions using Empathy Blocks
- Release the Negative by drawing or writing down what makes you angry or sad and then crank it through a paper shredder
- Speak into Tone Phones and watch how your voice affects shapes projected on a screen
Throughout the exhibit visitors are encouraged to communicate and share their feelings, and by so doing, gain new insight into the various ways love and forgiveness can be expressed.
XOXO: An Exhibit About Love & Forgiveness was created in 2014 by Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, with support from The Fetzer Institute.
About the Muhammad Ali Center
The Muhammad Ali Center, a 501(c)3 corporation, was co-founded by Muhammad Ali and his wife on the principles of Muhammad Ali (Confidence, Conviction, Dedication, Giving, Respect, and Spirituality) in ways that inspire personal and global greatness and provides programming and events around the focus areas of education, gender equity, and global citizenship. Its newest initiative, Generation Ali, fosters a new generation of leaders to contribute positively to their communities and to change the world for the better. The Center’s headquarters also contains an award-winning museum experience. For more information, please visit www.alicenter.org.
About Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is a place that delights and inspires children, where they can take off on fantastic flights of imagination daily, and return to earth to ink a silkscreen in The Studio, build and tinker with old and new technologies in MAKESHOP, pump and move water in all directions in the new Waterplay, and much more. The Children’s Museum welcomes nearly 270,000 visitors annually and provides tons of fun and loads of “real stuff” experiences for play and learning. Other interactive exhibit areas and experiences that inspire joy, creativity, and curiosity include The Garage, Theater, Nursery, and Backyard. In 2006 the Museum was honored by the American Institute for Architects and the National Historic Preservation Trust. The Children’s Museum won a 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service and in 2011 the Museum was named as one of the nation’s ten top children’s museums by Parents magazine. www.pittsburghkids.org
About the Fetzer Institute
The Fetzer Institute is an organization that works to foster awareness of the power of love and forgiveness in the emerging global community. www.fetzer.org
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Contact: Jeanie Kahnke
Muhammad Ali Center
(502) 992-5301
jkahnke@alicenter.org
www.alicenter.org