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Boston Museum Joins Facing History and Ourselves
In "Choosing To Participate"

Exhibit at Boston Public Library at Copley Square

Touch the screen.think for a sec.look at the camera.and record a video about a time when YOU chose to participate through civic action.

That's the essence of the visitor experience inside the Boston Museum's new VIDEO CAPTURE BOOTH. The installation was part of a powerful new exhibit called "Choosing to Participate," which was on display in the spring of 2008 at the Boston Public Library's main Copley branch.

"Choosing to Participate" was an interactive, multi-media exhibition that has won nationwide praise for encouraging hundreds of thousands of people of all ages to consider the consequences of their everyday choices. The exhibit was designed to inspire visitors to make a difference in their schools and communities.

The Boston Museum's video capture booth gave visitors a chance to reflect on the exhibit content and then consider their own actions. Using a touch screen computer and a video camera, visitors were able to record video testimonials about their own civic actions. Visitors to the booth included:

• A native of Trinidad who told the story of saving a woman's life by pushing her out of the way of a bus, only to suffer critical injuries himself.
  
• A teenage boy who helped to organize a yard sale for Hurricane Katrina.
  
• A pre-teen girl who signed a pledge to support and respect gay and lesbian students, despite fears that she might be labeled and made fun of.

The exhibition focused on four individuals and communities whose stories illustrate the courage, initiative and compassion that are needed to protect democracy and human rights. These include:

• Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock 9 who desegregated Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas in 1957.
  
• Arn Chorn, a survivor of the Cambodian genocide who struggled as a refugee coming to the United States.
  
• Jesus Colon, a Puerto Rican writer who was haunted by a choice he made on a late-night subway ride in New York City in the 1940s.
  
• The town of Billings, Montana, which mobilized to defend residents after a series of terrifying hate crimes.

"We're pleased to be working with Facing History and Ourselves on this," said Boston Museum CEO Frank Keefe. "The whole point of this exhibit is to help visitors think about their own choices in a democratic society. The video capture booth gives them a chance to speak out, right there. It's a prototype for the kind of thing we want to do in the Boston Museum - make history come to life with interactive features like this.

The Boston Museum's video capture booth was made possible with funding from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, the Andrew Viterbi Foundation, the Bose Corporation, Trinity Financial, and the generosity of private donors. The booth was designed by Brad Larson Media, Inc. in association with Filament Design and Corey McPherson Nash.

For more information please visit www.choosingtoparticipate.org.