Alliterations

As of today, Saturday, January 22,2011, at 11:11 AM there are 111 days until the opening of MICHAEL'S MUSEUM: A CURIOUS COLLECTION of TINY TREASURES at The Chicago Children's Museum on Navy Pier.

So that looks like MM: CCTT @ CCM on 1/22/11 at 11:11 AM has 111 days left until opening day. We love alliterations!

Martha Stewart

Just sent this e-mail to Martha Stewart. Wish us good fortune!


Martha,

I have been collecting all my life. My museum "MICHAEL'S MUSEUM" a folk art collection of over one hundred collections, with hundreds of thousands of pieces, all small but not necessarily miniatures, will become a permanent exhibit at THE CHICAGO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM.

Would love to have your involvement in any way that you think might be appropriate. Children collect and grow into adults who collect and what a wonderful connection Martha Stewart and Michael's Museum at The Chicago Children's Museum on Navy Pier could become.

Our opening event will be on Friday the 13th of May, 2011.

SITE: www.michaelsmuseum.org
BLOG: michaelcollects.blogspot.com

UPDATE: 01/17/11 Meeting

Jenny and I met at Manny's Deli on Jefferson Street for what ended up being a Corned Beef Sandwich, Chicken Soup with Kreplach, Potato Pancake with Sour Cream and Apple Sauce,  Cup of Coffee, Piece of Cherry Pie, and five hours of discussion dealing with the end of the Schematic Design and beginning of Design Development Phases. We are at the point of trying to put together the hundred's of thousands of jigsaw puzzle pieces that will become the Michael's Museum Permanent Exhibit as you see it at the opening on Friday the 13th of May, 2011.

I will not bore you with the details but lets just say that a lot of the pieces are still being pushed around on the table and we hope that when we finish putting them together that none of them are missing (and that none of the pieces are from another puzzle.)

UPDATE 01/13/11: Marketing & Development Meeting

Second meeting this week. This one with Amy of Development, Jennifer of Marketing, and Brett for Special Events. Michael's Museum will have a page on the CCM site, details to be determined. CCM Facebook presence will have a link to the page as well. Michael's Museum will have a presence in the CCM Gift Shop and Jasmine is working on this with the store's buyers. MM will be included in the CCM April E-Newsletter.

Background information on Michael and the Museum is being gathered and there will be some formal interviews by CCM staff as well.

Since MM is a museum of "small things" development and fund raising will work through many small ways for people to donate. Perhaps an internet countdown with people sponsoring a picture of a museum article each day.

Big plans are in progress for the opening morning celebrations including invitations to hold the date going out soon. CCM Boards, staff, supporters, family, and friends will be included in the invitations. Various experts in the field of collecting will be asked to join in. There will be a light breakfast, speeches, ribbon cutting, interaction with Michael and the Michael's Museum Team, and then the exhibit will be open for all by the time the Museum opens for the day.

An evening party is also being planned. More details on this later. If you are reading this and want to be included in the festivities send your request to: info@michaelsmuseum.org

Grand Opening

Today is exactly 120 days away from the Grand Opening of Michael's Museum at The Chicago Children's Museum on Navy Pier. May 13, 2011.

UPDATE: 01/11/11 Team Meeting

What a lot of "1's" in the date. Can't wait until this evening at 11:11. Todays meeting was spent discussing graphics for the exhibit. Ellen, CCM Graphic Designer joined the meeting. A fun breakthrough, thanks Natalie and Katie, was that to meet sign size requirements but not overpower the exhibit, we will post TINY signs but provide a magnifying glass so the visitor can "pump the point size up" to whatever size they desire.

UPDATE: 01/04/11 Team Meeting

This was the first meeting of the new year. Michele (Project Manager) facilitated. We discussed timeline and budget, Natalie (Education Developer) presented an educational activity overview, and Jenny (Exhibit Designer) discussed details and continued thinking about exhibit layout and design. She presented possibility sketches for "The Curator's Desk."  We are almost finished with the Schematic Design phase of Michael's Museum and look forward to its presentation to the Management Committee for their January 25th meeting.

Happy New Year 2011

As we begin the New Year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the wonderful Chicago Children's Museum (CCM) people who have worked so hard as we move towards the opening of Michael's Museum at CCM on Navy Pier on "Friday the 13th" of May, 2011.

MM@CCM TEAM MEMBERS

NAME	ROLE	GROUP
Katie Slivovsky	Exhibit Developer	Core
Michele Boglio	Project Manager	Core
Natalie Bortoli	Education Developer	Core
Jenny Schrider	Designer	Core
Louise Belmont-Skinner	Exhibits & Design Rep/VP	Core
Benjamin Waite	Visitor Advocate	Core
Michael Horvich	Collection Expert/Curator	Core
Mark Frank	Lead Preparator	Extended
Amy Carmell Jones	Individual Giving Manager	Extended
Jennifer Joyce	Marketing VP	Extended
Ellen Sanderson	Graphics Designer	Extended
Stephanie Lieber	Individual Giving VP	As Needed
Peter WIlliams	Preparator VP	As Needed
Jennifer Farrington	President/CEO CCM	As Needed
14 Members