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Valentine School Programs: Fall round up!

Student Programs and Tours Manager Marisa Day provides an overview of some of the exciting and innovative student programs the Valentine will be offering this fall.

How does the Valentine continue its mission to educate, engage and challenge a diverse audience? Through our robust selection of school programs, of course! This past fall, our Valentine educators and tour guides served nearly 7,000 students in the Richmond metro region through museum programs, outreach visits and walking and bus tours. All of our programs are led by our wonderful educators who use their love of history and interactive components to encourage students and teachers to explore Richmond’s story – past and present.

A few of the programs the Valentine will be offering this school year includes:

Let’s Make History: Inspired by the wallpaper recently installed in the McClurg Bedroom and supported by funding from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, this new program explores the creation of home décor found in the 1812 Wickham House. Students discuss 19th century design and create an actual print with woodblocks based off the wallpaper design in the 1812 Wickham house and made by Jake Urbanski of Studio TwoThree. Students and teachers have enjoyed engaging with the museum in a new way and trying their hand at an artisanal skill. For more information on this program, click here.

Jake Urbanski of Studio TwoThree walking students through the printmaking activity.

History Makers in Richmond: Mapping the Monuments: In this program, first and third graders learn about a number of Richmond history makers (Maggie Walker, Thomas Jefferson, Arthur Ashe and others) who shaped local and national history. This field trip also includes a visit to Edward Valentine’s sculpture studio where educators discuss the process used to create and construct monuments. The program culminates with an opportunity for students to design their own monument.

Students exploring the Edward Valentine sculpture studio.

Our Changing Community: Who doesn’t want to play games in a museum? In this program students tour the 1812 Wickham House, play games and participate in activities to learn about how the lives of children in Richmond has changed over the last two centuries.

Students playing historical games as part of the Our Changing Community program.

Nuestras Historias: Latinos in Richmond School Visits: This fall, with programming created and coordinated by our curator Wanda Hernandez, the Valentine has been offering student visits of Nuestras Historias: Latinos in Richmond, the region’s first bilingual exhibition. Recently, students from JR Tucker’s ELL and Spanish Immersion programs toured Nuestras Historias in Spanish and English and participated in activities that encouraged them to think critically about different moments in U.S. history that involved or impacted people of color, including Mendez v. Westminster and Brown v. Board of Education.

Wanda Hernandez touring a school group through Nuestras Historias: Latinos in Richmond.

Of course these are only a selection of what we are excited to offer the students of the Richmond region. The Valentine Public Programs team is always willing to work with teachers to offer materials and programming that is relevant to the classroom curriculum and important to educating engaged and thoughtful citizens.  If you are interested in learning about ways that you can bring students to the Valentine (or bring our programs to your school) please visit our website, https://thevalentine.org/programs-tours/student/ or contact education@thevalentine.org.

Marisa Day is the Student Programs and Tours Manager at the Valentine

The Valentine Launches New “Controversy/History” Series

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2017

Contact:
Eric Steigleder
Director of Public Relations & Marketing
esteigleder@thevalentine.org

The Valentine Launches New “Controversy/History” Series

RICHMOND – The Valentine has launched their new “Controversy/History” series which will explore contentious, present-day issues by comparing historic debates to modern data.

With Controversy/History, the Valentine has re-envisioned their long-running Community Conversation series to continue encouraging sometimes uncomfortable but always relevant discussions that inspire action and promote progress.

“The Valentine is dedicated to providing Richmond residents with a space to have constructive, informed discussions about relevant topics,” said Valentine Director Bill Martin. “Our new Controversy/History series will use stories from our past and on-the-ground data from our present to examine the issues that mean the most to the people of the Greater Richmond region.”

At each of these events, Martin and radio host Kelli Lemon will provide biographies of individuals with opposing viewpoints from Richmond’s past.  Expert speakers will then present 21st century data that explains how these disagreements have developed and shifted over time.

“It is important to have real, tough, honest conversations about our past so we can move our city forward,” said Kelli Lemon. “I’m excited to be taking part in this platform created by the Valentine to expose all angles of some hard topics and allow us to leave the conversations with takeaways that can be applied to our current situation.”

A moderated, in-depth conversation among attendees will follow.  Finally, the Capital Region Collaborative (CRC) will provide audience members with pertinent regional data and a list of concrete steps they can take to make a difference in their community.

Here is a complete list of dates and topics:

Tuesday, November 7, 2017 6-8 p.m.
Social Stability: Voting Rights & Redistricting
Featured Speakers:
Corinna Barrett Lain, S.D. Roberts & Sandra Moore Professor of Law, University of Richmond
Henry L. Chambers Jr., Austin E. Owen Research Scholar & Professor of Law, University of Richmond

Tuesday, December 5, 2017, 6-8 p.m.
Quality Place: Monuments & Tourism

Tuesday, January 2, 2018, 6-8 p.m.
Job Creation: Immigration

Tuesday, February 6, 2018, 6-8 p.m.
Coordination Transportation: The Interstate Highway System

Tuesday, April 3, 2018, 6-8 p.m.
History Makers Tie-In

 

The Valentine is excited to be partnering with the Capital Region Collaborative and aligning discussion topics with their regional priorities.

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About the Valentine
The Valentine has been collecting, preserving and interpreting Richmond stories for more than a century. Through collections, exhibitions and programs, the Valentine provides residents and tourists the opportunity to discover the diverse stories that tell the broader history of this important region. The Valentine offers major changing exhibitions, which focus on American urban and social history, costumes, decorative arts and architecture. https://thevalentine.org/

About Kelli Lemon
Kelli Lemon is an on air personality for Radio One Richmond’s Kiss FM and iPower and hosts a weekly podcast called “Coffee with Strangers”. Kelli hosts various social events and has assisted in creating unique urban events in Richmond including RVA Pop Up Parties, Hip Hop BINGO, Ready 2 Give Charity Events, Dinner and a DJ, HeART & Soul Brew Fest, Richmond Black Restaurant Week and The Art of Noise. https://www.kellilemon.com

About the Capital Region Collaborative
The Capital Region Collaborative brings together local government, business, and community stakeholders to achieve a shared vision for the Richmond Region. CRC partners recognize that the most pressing challenges extend across jurisdictional boundaries and that a cross-sector, cross-jurisdictional approach is needed to reach the region’s full potential. https://www.capitalregioncollaborative.com/