news releases

New Children’s Museum Announces “Toy Rescue & Recycle”
Community Art Project Will Take Place at San Diego Multicultural Festival

San Diego—December 14, 2007—The new Children’s Museum has an opportunity for children in the San Diego region to give their old toys a new life! While many families will be making room in their homes for an influx of new toys over the holidays, the Museum has a plan to rescue broken or unwanted playthings, and recycle them into a hands-on, kid-created art project. The toy collection begins immediately, and the first project will come together at the Tenth Annual San Diego Multicultural Festival on January 19th.

“This activity allows kids to think differently about old and broken toys, and to play with the possibilities of transforming them into something new and original,” says Museum Studio Arts Director Alberto Caro. “It’s a chance to give new life to a discarded object, turning it into a creative work of art.”

Here’s how kids and families can get involved:

• Leave old, broken or unwanted toys at one of the Museum’s designated collection boxes between now and January 17th.
• Come to the Tenth Annual San Diego Multicultural Festival on January 19th. You’ll find the Museum booth in the Children’s Area on the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade from 11 to 5.
• The collected toys will be cleaned, taken apart, sorted into categories and placed in large plastic bins for children to rummage through. From this “pick your parts buffet,” children will select used toy parts to piece together a new toy using their imagination and creativity, along with glue guns, tape and some support from the Museum studio arts team.
• Once the new works of art are complete, kids will have the option of taking their creation home or leaving it behind to be displayed in the new Museum (opening May 4th).
• Select photographs of the finished works will be posted to the Children’s Museum website.

Collection boxes for the toys are located at the following locations:

Children’s Museum San Diego
200 West Island Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101

Downtown Information Center (On Horton Square)
225 Broadway, Suite 160
San Diego, CA 92101

San Diego Public Library
Central Library, Children’s Area
820 E Street
San Diego, CA 92101

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
700 Prospect Street
La Jolla, CA 92037

Other locations may be added, so please check our website at childrensmuseumsd.org for more information. Please, no stuffed animals or oversized toys. Wood, plastic and other hard materials are preferred.

About the Children’s Museum
As a cultural and educational institution with a multi-national audience, the Children’s Museum San Diego is dedicated to integrating the unique character of our community with its extraordinary ethnic diversity, uncommon geographic border, emerging urban culture, innovative technologies and rich artistic resources. The new Museum will encourage children to think, play and create, with innovative, hands-on art opportunities, classes, and first-rate exhibitions designed by emerging and established artists.

The Museum has recently completed its beautiful new home, a state-of-the-art facility in downtown’s Marina district. Designed by renowned architect Rob Wellington Quigley, the environmentally friendly, modern structure is made from recycled building materials and features a solar electric system, water-saving devices, and natural day lighting and convection cooling, making it one of the first “green” museums in California.

The new building features a dramatic three story atrium, 17-foot concrete entrance bridge, angled “saw tooth” roof structure and a glass-enclosed elevator shaft that functions as a heating/cooling tower. Dedicated to art galleries and hands-on studios, the new three-story building will also include an adjacent public park, birthday party rooms, classrooms, a retail store and a café. The new Children’s Museum opens to the public on May 4, 2008. For more information on the new Children’s Museum, visit the website at childrensmuseumsd.org

About the Multicultural Festival
The Tenth Annual San Diego Multicultural Festival will be held on January 19, 2008, from 11am to 5pm. Located on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade (along Harbor Drive between Market Street and Fourth Avenue), the festival is a free, family-friendly celebration of San Diego's rich diversity. Two stages of excellent performances, an International Storytellers Stage, great food, merchant booths full of beautiful arts, crafts and multicultural items, and a number of booths with interesting, educational, and helpful information. Visit the website at ccdc.com for more information.