The Paley Museum Named "Bethpage Best Of The City" Best Museum And Best Children's Party Place For The Second Year In A Row In Manhattan

The Paley Center for Media is proud to announce that for the second year in a row, The Paley Museum has been voted "Bethpage Best of the City"—Best Museum and Best Children's Party Place—in Manhattan. The distinguished award is produced by Schneps Media, the city's leading local media publisher behind 33 award-winning print and digital publications.

The Paley Museum is where media, sports, gaming, and entertainment come together. Known for exhibits, exclusive screenings, red-carpet events, and behind-the-scenes conversations with the stars of television's hottest shows as well as programs with renowned athletes, musicians, gamers, influencers, and podcasters, The Paley Museum is the perfect family destination with several family-friendly activities including special day-long celebrations featuring appearances by beloved characters from the most popular television shows and cartoons, arts & crafts, screenings, educational classes, and more.

The Paley Museum is also the ultimate destination for gamers with the PaleyGX gaming studio. The state-of-the-art studio features all the latest gaming systems and hottest games, immersive VR, and esports tournaments, and plays host to birthday parties year-round. Guests who celebrate birthdays in the PaleyGX studio experience the best-in-class service that has earned The Paley Museum the distinction of being named Best Children's Party Place for two consecutive years.

"It is a tremendous honor to recognized as Best Museum and Best Children's Party Place for a second year running," said Maureen J. Reidy, President & CEO, The Paley Center for Media. "The Paley Museum takes great pride in presenting best-in-class programs and exhibits for visitors from New York and beyond, and next up we look forward to welcoming visitors of all ages to PaleyLand, our annual holiday extravaganza starting on Wednesday, November 20."

Located in the heart of midtown, The Paley Museum has become a New York favorite and must-visit destination thanks to its acclaimed programs, interactive exhibits, PaleyGX state-of-the-art gaming studio and VR lab, and the Paley Archive, a national treasure with over 160,000 TV and radio programs and TV commercials. Most recently, the museum celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Latin GRAMMYs® with the acclaimed exhibit The Latin GRAMMYs®: 25 Years of Musical Excellence, and prior to that the blockbuster Super Bowl exhibit Beyond the Big Game which featured the storied Vince Lombardi Trophy, all 57 team rings from each championship-winning team, and for the first time a showcase of memorable Super Bowl commercials from the past 50 years. The Paley Museum also presented PaleyFest NY, the fall's premier television festival that this year featured a stellar lineup of events including a celebration of the final season of Blue Bloods, the 10th anniversary of Outlander, and more. Next month marks highly anticipated return of PaleyLand, The Paley Museum's holiday celebration for kids of all ages featuring photos with Santa, meet-and-greets with some of the television's most popular animated characters, a magical train display, screenings of classic holiday TV specials on the big screen, and more—all just steps from the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

The Paley Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon until 6:00 pm. Admission is free for Paley Members and children 12 and under. In addition, Members receive advance and discounted tickets to once-in-a-lifetime experiences, including PaleyFest, access to the PaleyGX Gaming Studio and VR Experience, access to the Paley Archive, and more. For more information and details about Paley Membership, visit paleycenter.org.   

Children's Museum Of Manhattan Announces Opening Of "Hello From Japan" Exhibit, January 20th-

Interactive Exhibit Exploring Tokyo’s Vibrant Culture Will Run from Jan. 20, to May 14, 2017    

Back by popular demand, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan’s Hello from Japan! exhibit is returning to the Children’s Museum (212 West 83^rd Street) beginning Jan. 20 through May 14, 2017. The interactive traveling exhibit, which garnered great attention and praise during its 2015 run at the museum, transports families to two distinct areas of Tokyo that exist side by side: one serene and exquisite, the other, too cute for words.

Located in the museum’s Lower Level Gallery, the 1,500-square-foot exhibit invites families to explore an immersive, child-sized Tokyo streetscape and Shinto park. Visitors learn how time-honored Japanese traditions co-exist with the contemporary culture of kawaii-inspired graphics and products, characterized by round figures, vibrant colors and a whimsical, cute aesthetic. 

Based upon the colorful and bustling streets in the modern Harajuku district, Kawaii Central explores contemporary Japanese culture by evoking the friendly feel of Japanese Kawaii, an aesthetic and sensibility which emerged in the 1970s among Japanese schoolchildren and has now permeated cultures worldwide. Families are introduced to Japan’s unique culture through child-friendly characters and graphics. Visitors express their own individuality and simultaneously gain insight into modern Japanese society as they create kawaii outfits, design playful mascots for their families, serve up a seasonal Japanese meal, practice writing Japanese characters, and sign along to Japanese children’s songs in a karaoke booth.

A bridge at the end of the streetscape leads from the contemporary urban setting into a more tranquil Shinto shrine park environment. The park explores the traditional, nature-based practices and beliefs of Shinto, an indigenous Japanese religion. Families learn about the appreciation of diverse and powerful elements of nature. They are also encouraged to appreciate their own local parks, trees and natural elements after they explore the shrine area’s crawl-through forest, make a wish at a large Wishing Tree, get their fortune told and encounter a few of Japan’s kami spirits.

Hello from Japan! was the third in the museum’s Global Cultural Exhibition Series, following exhibits about the cultures of Ancient Greece and China, and preceding an exhibit which explores diversity of Muslim cultures worldwide for a family audience and is currently on

display on the museum’s first floor. The series celebrates the diversity of cultural expression across our interdependent world. An important part of the museum’s ongoing commitment to nurturing the next generation of global citizens, the series offers family-friendly, hands-on experiences designed to engage the senses and appeal to a wide variety of learning styles.

“We believe learning about others helps us to learn about ourselves. This is true for both adults and children,” said Andrew Ackerman, the Children’s Museum’s executive director. “An ability to appreciate cultural similarities and differences is more important now than ever. Our Global Cultural Exhibition Series, which includes Hello from Japan!, lets families have fun and make new discoveries together.”

A full range of complementary workshops and programs will occur throughout the exhibit’s run.

Hello from Japan is part of the Freeman Foundation Asian Culture Exhibit Series, funded by The Freeman Foundation and administered by the Association of Children’s Museums.

For more information about the exhibit, please visit www.cmom.org

About Children’s Museum of Manhattan

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan – a citywide resource for children, families and educators – works to ensure children thrive at home, at school and in the community. Based on West 83^rd Street, with over 350,000 visitors annually, the Museum creates hands-on learning environments, programs, and curricula through an alchemy of fun, research and museum science. In addition to its commitment to delight and educate visitors, the Museum offers resources and strategies for parents, caregivers, and educators to help children become lifelong learners. Thousands more New Yorkers also benefit from the Museum’s offering through its outreach programs at schools, Head Start centers, shelters, libraries and hospitals. For more information, please visit www.cmom.org.