Fandango Productions
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Fandango wakes kids up to National Children’s Museum
Kids Extravalooza features free concert by Hilary Duff, performances for community
BALTIMORE, MD—June 13, 2006—Street performers, costumed characters, dance troupes, hip hop choirs and one of the country’s most popular young singer/actresses performing her hit “Wake Up” – It took a veritable village to produce the National Children’s Museum and KOL’s Kids Extravalooza ’06 – the annual celebration of the planned National Children’s Museum – earlier this month. But Baltimore, Maryland-based Fandango Special Events faced the challenge: to make families aware of a flagship institution dedicated to inspiring and educating the children of our world.
In less than a month, Fandango created and produced a free outdoor festival that met the Museum’s goals for outreach, visibility, and awareness, while also setting the stage for community involvement and support in the years ahead. (The National Children’s Museum is scheduled to open in 2009.) Fandango handled all event planning, coordination, and implementation for the event, which was sponsored by AOL and the Freddie Mac Foundation.
With help from a formidable cast and crew, Fandango brought Washington’s L’Enfant Plaza – the site of the future Children’s Museum – to life on Saturday, June 10. Stilt walkers and jugglers greeted friends of the Museum and families, Scooby Doo and AOL’s Running Man entertained, and performances by the Urban Nation Hip Hop Choir and the Future Shock Dance Troupe warmed up the crowd for the main attraction: singer/actress Hilary Duff. The result: More than 3,000 singing, swaying children jazzed about the music – and the museum.
According to Museum President and CEO, Kathy Dwyer Southern, the goal of this gift to the community was to introduce kids and families to the Museum's mission and future site. "The NCM & KOL Kids' Extravalooza '06 enabled us to reach out to our target audiences and give them an update on our progress and a preview of the new Museum's location," notes Southern. "From their smiling faces, I could tell the event was a hit."