Chapter 6: Programs and a Museum
Lemelson Program (1996)
Civil Liberties and Public Policy Narrative Report (1996)
Civil Liberties and Public Policy Mission Statement (2000)
Eric Carle Museum (2002)
The Lemelson Program, 1996
INNOVATORS UPDATE
A Newsletter about the Lemelson National Program in Invention, Innovation and Creativity at Hampshire College
Lemelsons Visit Campus
On May 3 [1996], Lemelson Program students and faculty members exhibited their projects for Dolly and Jerry Lemelson, the founders of the Lemelson Program. This mini inventor's and innovator's convention--the first large gathering of Lemelson Program participants--illustrated the breadth of projects supported by the Lemelson Program. Afterwards, the Lemelsons joined students and faculty for dinner. A sampling of the projects on display includes:
AIDS/STD Computer Game--A project to educate teenagers about STD prevention.
Green Mountain Map Boards--A water proof clip board that protects maps and other paper used by geologists and others in the fiels. This invention by Konrad Scheltema (93F) is the basis of the first Lemelson Program business, Green Mountain Field Equipment, which is up, running, and taking orders.
Renal and Cardiovascular Anatomy--A Multimedia Learning Tool--A computer program, that will be turned into a CD-ROM, to supplement class lectures and textbooks of introductory anatomy and physiology courses.
Assistive-Dog Wheelchair Project--A wheelchair is being redesigned for more effective use by disabled people and their assistance dogs. In this on-going project, students have developed a new braking system, and a dog safety-release system.
JamKinetics--A group of students and faculty from Hampshire and the University of Massachusetts designed an interactive moving sculpture that responds to the movements of the viewer.
This successful gathering will be followed by an all-community event to display the work of students and faculty involved in the Lemelson Program during the 1995-1996 school year.
INNOVATORS is published twice a year by the Lemelson National Program at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA 01002. Program director: Brenda Philips; Writers, Randi Levy (90F), Brenda Philips; Designer, Becky Castro (78F). (p.1)
What Makes a Project a Lemelson Project?
It's not an easy question to answer. Lemelson projects and courses can be in almost any academic discipline. There are two key components: First, the project should involve an innovative way of solving a problem or issue by creating or refining specific programs, devices or concepts. Second, the course or project should result in an entrepreneurial opportunity. The solutions should form the basis of a socially responsible business that will create jobs...(p.3)
How to Get Involved in the Lemelson Program:
Lemelson Courses. Many students' initial contact with the Lemelson program has been through a designated Lemelson course. These courses focus on group problem solving in a particular field...
E-teams. E-teams are group projects funded by the Lemelson Program to develop and refine innovative, entrepreneurial ideas. Projects may be independently initiated by a group of students or may be a continuation of a course project. Work on E-teams can fit into divisional requirements.
Seminars, talks, and workshops. In addition to courses and projects, the Lemelson Program sponsors seminars and workshops throughout the academic year that incorporate entrepreneurship into the curriculum. In the past these have ranged from a workshop on patenting procedures to a January-term course, "Creating a Socially Responsible Business Plan." Look for announcements of upcoming Lemelson events. (p.4)
Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program Report, 1996
CIVIL LIBERTIES AND PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAM. 1981-1996
POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. 1986-1996
NARRATIVE REPORT
The Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program (CLPP) and the Population and Development Program (Pop/Dev) based at Hampshire College link domestic and international perspectives on reproductive rights and health, population, development and the environment.
HISTORY OF CLPP AND POP/DEV
In 1981, Hampshire launched the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program, thus becoming the first college to put reproductive rights into the curriculum. In 1986, in recognition of the increasing globalization of reproductive rights issues and of the women's movement, the Population and Development Program was created.
In the early 1980s, with abortion rights already being eroded for low income women, students showed little interest in issues relating to reproductive rights. For younger women who had grown up after Roe v. Wade, legal abortion was a given. They did not know about the horrors of illegality nor did they understand the fragility of their constitutional rights. There was a need for an education oriented, campus-based program to engage students and faculty in discussion, scholarship and actual activity related to reproductive rights.
This educational vision was unique in 1981, and it still is. There were no models to draw on in creating CLPP. The closest was perhaps the research institute of universities, but these often ignored the pragmatic applications of that research. At that time there were few curriculum resources for the study of reproductive rights and women's health. Indeed one of the most important contributions of all of the Program Directors has been course development and production of resource materials including books, articles, and bibliographies.
Nor were there activist resources either in terms of providing an outlet for student participation in the reproductive rights movement or arenas within which students could develop organizing skills. CLPP has made these areas a priority.
Throughout the 1980s and '90s there have been persistent threats to abortion rights, including a more widespread use of illegal and violent tactics. At the same time, other aspects of reproduction have become politically significant--teen pregnancy, welfare reform, gay rights and immigration--are all integrally connected to the basic right to control one's reproduction. This understanding of reproductive rights has also meant a broadening of the work and connections of the programs...
In response to the increasing globalization of women's issues, in 1986 Hampshire created the Population and Development Program (Pop/Dev) to stimulate interest and analysis of the relationship between fertility and economic development.
The continued importance of and controversy surrounding issues of reproductive rights alone demonstrate the need for CLPP and Pop/Dev. The growing demand for participation in their activities, the numbers of students impacted, and participation in a growing network of national organizations provide the most compelling case for CLPP and Pop/Dev. Initially the hope was that CLPP and Pop/Dev were models which would be replicated at other institutions. But tight economic times in higher education coupled with increasing political conservatism prevented this from happening. The Programs have thus accepted as an important part of their role, providing students and faculty at other campuses with resources that can be used within existing curricula and programs.
Securing reproductive rights requires us to educate and train new generations of activists, policy and opinion leaders, and citizens. Young people's knowledge and leadership must be fostered. The core mission of CLPP and Pop/Dev is to address this need.
Mission
CLPP and Pop/Dev provide students with an opportunity to become involved through education and advocacy in programs which address ongoing national and international issues. The Programs are both educational and activist. The academic program at Hampshire provides a context in which analysis, action, and reflection can be combined. As an activist based liberal arts college, with a tradition of social activism and a commitment to relating intellectual endeavors to pressing social and political issues, Hampshire is a natural setting for these Programs.
CLPP and Pop/Dev offer students the means to develop the capacity to be intelligent, constructive activists, and to make a difference in the world. Students can, in an educational environment, engage the issues while applying the skills of critical inquiry to their efforts.
The core mission of both Programs can be summarized as follows:
*to educate, encourage and train new generations of activists, policy and opinion leaders, and citizens about reproductive rights.
*to raise awareness of reproductive rights issues on campuses and to advance the study of reproductive rights.
*to analyze significant political and legal developments and develop appropriate curricular and program responses.
*to offer alternative perspectives on the connections between population, development, and the environment.
These original purposes are as important today as they were at the Program's inception. At the same time, specific challenges require immediate programmatic responses. The Programs' flexibility has enabled them to keep a coherent focus and to grow. In pursuing its mission the Programs touch many people a year in different ways. Over the past fifteen years these Programs have evolved into an enduring center for resources and programmatic activities. Their stability and continuity in an ever changing political landscape is itself noteworthy.
SUCCESSES TO DATE
To accomplish the mission, the Programs have created diverse activities and resources, all of which aim to provide students with educational and leadership development opportunities.
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
*"Abortion, Persons, Morality and the Law," a conference on the Tenth Anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
*Courses include: The Politics of the Abortion Rights Movement; Reproductive Rights: Domestic and International Perspectives; New Critical Legal Theory; Creating Families: Law, Politics, and Society; Rethinking the Population Problem.
*Training students to do investigative research designed to inform and support activist campaigns both within the reproductive rights and environmental communities. This year students have worked to create data bases on population and environment organizations and on U.S. connections to the growing anti-abortion movement overseas.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
*The National Young Women's Day of Action, an annual grassroots campaign for which CLPP provides national coordination and resources to local organizers.
* "The Fight for Abortion Rights and Reproductive Freedom," an annual conference for over 300 campus and community activists... (p.1-3)
Civil Liberties and Public Policy Mission Statement, 2000
January 2000
CLPP Mission Statement
(As we have been describing ourselves to foundations, donors, etc.)
CLPP (including its international companion program Pop/Dev) is a national organization dedicated to educating, mentoring, training, and activating new generations of reproductive rights activists and supporters. CLPP is the only national campus-based reproductive rights program. It is also the only program that connects activism and education and links pro-choice organizing to national and international movements for human rights, environment, social and economic justice.
CLPP's program activity:
educates, trains, and supports young women to become highly skilled movement organizers and leaders;
stimulates campus reproductive rights organizing with new initiatives and collaborative project work;
develops networks of young activists, nurtures their leadership potential, and stimulates collaborative movement building;
supports diversity and opposition to racism within the pro-choice movement;
promotes a broad and inclusive reproductive rights agenda;
links students and young women and men with each other and with national and international reproductive rights and related organizations;
provides youth-focused resources to other national pro-choice organizations;
creates new understandings of reproductive rights, environment, population, and development.
The Eric Carle Museum, 2002
"Inside the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art," by Jesse Swenson. The Forward, Nov. 21, 2002, p.1,8,9.
"What is that, a gymnasium or something?" one college boy asked, referring to the modern glass and white building next to the Bay Road entrance of Hampshire College. His friend was quick to correct "No, man, it's for like books and art and stuff." Whether or not these boys were Hampshire students (and they probably were not), it seems as though most Hampshire students are going through the same sorts of questions about that new modern building. Most know that it is the home of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, but not much else. Many students are probably wondering why it is at Hampshire, and what it will mean for the college.
The name Eric Carle brings childhood memories to generations of people. Since he illustrated the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? in 1967 he has been writing and illustrating fantastic children's books that are loved the world over. His celebrity among children brings him 500-800 pieces of fan mail every month, all of which he personally answers. In the mid-1990s, Eric and his wife Barbara formed the Eric and Barbara Carle Foundation because they had decided it was time to give something back to the children.
Much like the caterpillar from Carle's famous book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the idea for the museum started very small, originally planned at around 4,000 square feet to be housed in an already existing building. However, by the end of the decade the increase in donors and interest had made the idea grow into something very big and beautiful indeed. They began to search for a piece of land that would suit their 44,000 square foot idea.
In mid-January 2000, the Foundation acquired 7.5 acres of land from Hampshire College, an orchard adjacent to Bay Road. Carle loved the land and the idea of building the museum in a college community, and President Greg Prince loved the fact that it fit in with his vision of a Cultural Village at Hampshire. Much like Carle's Very Busy Spider, the museum had made itself a home.
The design for the building was done by the firm Juster Pope Frazier LLP, based in Shelburne Falls. Earl Pope, the principal architect in the project, was a co-founder of the Environmental Design Studies program here at Hampshire, along with Norton Juster, who is also known as the author of The Phantom Tollbooth. The building's design is comparable to an Eric Carle book, with white pages contrasting with colorful natural elements. The white walls and huge windows provide the same aesthetic. The museum, once meant to be only a small gallery, will now include an auditorium, cafeteria, art studio, gift shop, reading room and three galleries, two large and one smaller.
When one first walks through the main entrance, you can see that accessibility is a theme throughout the museum. The main hall, which connects the major areas of the museum and contains the admission desk, is open and airy, with pleasant natural light and wonderful views of the mountains and orchard. It is a very peaceful place in which to be. The blonde wood of the admission desk is a theme carried throughout the museum. The planners want to keep the admission price low, at rate accessible to all. The preliminary numbers will be something around $4 per adult and $2 per child, and they hope to work out something to decrease the price to Hampshire students.
The 130-seat auditorium, to the right of the main entrance, houses a large blonde wood stage complete with baby grand piano. The raked seating is the same wood with artfully crafted seats and red velvet cushions. It is well designed for its function, with a hint of fun mixed with sophistication. The auditorium will be used to welcome class groups as they pour in by the busload during the day, but it will also serve as a performance center for children's musicians and theatre troupes as well as academic lectures and forums. This will also be an important connection point with the Hampshire Community. Students with children-oriented performance projects will be able to work with the museum to use the space.
Nick Clark, the Museum's founding director, wants to make sure that all pieces of the museum are accessible to the Hampshire student community, and sees Hampshire students as an important resource to the museum. Not only are there internships and work study positions available to students, the museum will also be relying on students to provide life blood to the museum. "Hampshire is exceptional in that students here are all so creative," Nick said, "we want students to be able to exercise that creative energy here." He sees the museum spaces such as the cafeteria, the reading room and the art studio as an extension of student spaces here on campus. He also noted that he hopes to have some evening events in the future, further extending the museum out as a place for students. In addition, accessiblity to the Hampshire community is very important to the founders. While the admission and membership prices had not been finalized at the time of the interview, Clark assured that a year's membership for a Hampshire student would not exceed $15.
The museum's emphasis on the experience of art also fits very well with Hampshire's view of education. Clark says that the museum's mission is to relay the fact that "you can't flunk museum going." In his previous experience in art education at places such as Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire and The National Gallery in Washington, D.C., he found that people experience art on a wall very diffferently than they experience words on a page. For instance, "I would put up a slide, and they froze," he says of his Art History class at Phillips Exeter. "Visual illiteracy covers a very broad socio-economic path." Many children and adults alike become The Very Quiet Cricket when faced with a piece of art. They do not know how to approach it, and in the words of Carle, nothing happens, not a sound.
Museum going can be very intimidating to those who do not feel acquainted with art. The Eric Carle museum alleviates that because the art on the walls will be warm and familiar to the children. The art is something they have seen on the page. With each piece of art, the staff will ask children and visitors to ask: "What is going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What else can you find?" These questions encourage visitors to really think and experience the art. The three galleries have heated floors on which children will be able to sit or lie down to examine a painting.
The museums's art studio is also a place for children to experience art in a hands-on sense. The tables and chairs are all low to the ground, and there are kid-sized sinks and cupborards as well. The whole room is designed with children's creativity in mind. All museum visitors will be able to spend time in the art studio to create their own art. Workshops and educational programming will also take place here.
Every aspect of the museum succeeds in bringing the esoteric art world into the world of the child. Its goal is much like the wish of the little heroine in Carle's Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me: to make something so big and far away very close and personal. When it opens on November 22, the premiere exhibits will feature works by Eric Carle and Maurice Sendak, who is known best for Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen. This exhibit will mostly consist of each artist's works on paper, but will also have works by artists that inspired the illustrations. In the Sendak exhibit, for instance, will be an original Winslow Homer painting. This will show children that fine art is only a small step away from the books that they love to read. It succeeds in getting the moon for them, so to speak.
The small gallery, situated in between the two larger galleries, will feature international children's book art. The first exhibit represents the first gift to the museum of the art for a complete book by Australian artist Robert Ingpen. The pieces are from Charise Neugebauer's Halloween Circus at the Graveyard Lawn.
A visit to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art will bring a sense of wonder and exitement to anybody, whether they are 5 or 55. Every piece of it, from the art on the walls to the Eric Carle illustration tiles in the bathrooms, was built with this in mind. It is not just a place to experience art and books in a very personal way, it is a place to let the child within you out to play.