News & Resources

Miami Children’s Museum was presented with the prestigious MUSE Award in the category of Media and Technology during a champagne reception on Thursday, May 26th at the 2016 American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. This award recognizes MCM’s achievement in the application of media and technology to Gallery, Library, Archive, and Museum (GLAM) programs for their Sketch Aquarium Exhibit. The MUSE Awards competition received nearly 200 applications from a wide variety of GLAMs in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. MCM was the only Children’s Museum to be recognized for this award.

Sketch Aquarium, is an interactive wall projection where visitors’ artwork become an animated part of a virtual environment. Developed in collaboration with TeamLab, a technology group based in Japan, the Sketch Aquarium is a completely novel application of existing animation and projection techniques. In the Sketch Aquarium, children use their imagination to create colorful sea creatures on paper which are then scanned and brought to life on the screen. Fish, octopus, sea horses, sharks and other creatures swim and change directions in the water, creating schools and swimming together making the exhibit interactive, educational and fun. The exhibit adds another level of interactivity, through motion detection which causes fish to swim away at once when approached. Children are also engaged to feed the fish by bursting bags of fish food that fall into the virtual aquarium.

Now in its 27th year, the MUSE awards competition recognizes outstanding achievement in GLAM media and technology efforts. The competition is an activity of the Media & Technology Professional Network of the American Alliance of Museums. Over 90 GLAM professionals from across the world participated as jurors in the process of reviewing and selecting the winners. Winning entries were expected to demonstrate outstanding achievement in their content, interface, design, technical merit, innovation, utility, and appeal.

Enjoy Sketch Aquarium with the whole family at Miami Children’s Museum, 980 MacArthur Causeway on Watson Island in Miami.  Regular Museum admission is $18 for adults and children, $14 for Florida Residents, free for children under 1 year and admission for MCM Members is complimentary.  For more information, please contact the Museum at 305.373.KIDS (5437) or visit www.miamichildrensmuseum.org.

The Miami Children’s Museum (MCM) offers bilingual and interactive exhibits; programs and classes and learning materials related to arts, culture, community and communication. They have 14 interactive galleries as well as housing many exciting and fun traveling exhibits. Miami Children’s Museum is dedicated to enriching the lives of all children by fostering a love of learning and enabling children to realize their highest potential. Through arts and educational programs, MCM seeks to include and target all audiences in Miami’s changing and diverse community by becoming the “town center” for Miami-Dade County’s children and families.