Children explore the Musical Instrument Museum’s Experience Gallery, an interactive space where visitors are free to play many of the instruments displayed around the museum. Located just south of the 101 & Tatum Blvd.
On any given day, there are over 17,500 foster children living in Arizona, according to the nonprofit organization Arizonans for Children. This means 17,500 children struggling with familial separation, adjusting to a new living situation, and often, coping with the effects of abuse or neglect.
To help counteract this dislocation and trauma, the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix is launching its pilot year of the Parhelion Project, which received one of 1,074 newly announced NEA grants. The interactive museum, a Smithsonian affiliate, opened in 2010 with a multicultural focus, and features instruments and performances that highlight the universal presence of music across the globe.
This experience will entail a daylong event for children and families that includes an interactive workshop, a performance, an opportunity to explore the museum’s display of 6,600 instruments from around the world, and a concluding group discussion. A collaboration with Free Arts of Arizona, an organization that works with abused and neglected children, the Parhelion Project is expected to serve 100 foster children in 2018.
“It’s very easy to have very big, grand ideas, but at the absolute most basic, I want people to have an incredible experience,” said Murphy. “Ultimately, when we think of the grander picture, we’re hoping that children will come through and feel welcomed, feel like they’re in a friendly place, feel like they’re in a place where they can grow, where they can learn, a place that encourages them to discover themselves, discover who they are, and in turn, offer their foster families a chance to discover who these incredible children are.”