2017 GANYC Apple Awards Nominee: America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far, Children’s Museum of Manhattan

Each year, GANYC proudly honors organizations and individuals that encourage and promote New York City tourism, culture and preservation, while supporting the work and contributions of professional New York City tour guides. The 2017 GANYC Apple Awards is coming up, on Monday, March 6, 2017. This year there are 44 nominees. Below, is an interview with a representative for one of them.

Nomination: America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far, Children's Museum of Manhattan, Outstanding Achievement in New York City Museum Exhibitions (October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016)

Lizzy Martin is the curator and exhibit developer for America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far. The exhibit was a five year development process that cost over $1 million. Lizzy is an educator and has helped to develop numerous exhibits at the museum.

What was the main source of inspiration for the exhibit? New York City is one of the most diverse cities in the world. Our exhibit was inspired by the cultural diversity of our Muslim friends, neighbors, and fellow New Yorkers. At the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, we celebrate the city’s wonderful pluralism. This exhibit is the fourth in a series of global cultural exhibitions. Other exhibitions focused on the cultures of ancient Greece, China and Japan.

Please describe, briefly, what the process was like creating the exhibit? We started with a wide group of local, national and international advisors and community members. We worked with interfaith leaders, scholars, chefs, artists, educators, and families from across the five boroughs, in other states, and even from around the world as far away as Oman, Pakistan, London, Zanzibar, and Denmark. The next step was narrowing down the amount of content as well as designing interactive and immersive elements that would translate the content into accessible and engaging experiences for children and families.

What’s been a highlight of your work or a particular event or happenstance that has kept you motivated to continue doing it? Through my work as curator and exhibit developer for the exhibit, I’ve met many warm and interesting people. It was such an honor to work with them to create a beautiful and fun learning experience for children and families. My biggest motivator is seeing how much our young visitors enjoy it. Recently, I was having my picture taken for an article on the exhibit and several little boys were so eager to get into the replica of a truck from Pakistan in the gallery that they pushed their way into the photo!

For our professional GANYC tour guide members, what things about your work might we share with the thousands of visitors to NYC we meet every year? Many people don’t understand, or aren’t familiar with the idea of a children’s museum. Unlike other museums, children’s museums are places where children learn through play and exploration in environments designed just for them. If you are offering tours for families, especially those with young children, a visit to the Children’s Museum will give them a wonderful sense of what it is like to be a child in NYC. They’ll also be able to meet, play and explore with young New Yorkers and visitors from around the world in a welcoming, safe space designed especially for them!

Favorite tour you've taken in NYC, or if you haven't taken a tour, where in NYC would you next like to have a tour (preferably led by one of our GANYC members)? I grew up in NYC so I haven’t taken many tours of the city. But, I’d love to take a tour of some of the hidden, unexpected places of NYC, perhaps a tour of “New York Secrets” featuring private gardens, hidden subway tunnels or closed board rooms.

What is your favorite place in NYC and why? A local New York City coffee shop, one of the ones tucked away on a side street. I love working at a table surrounded by NYC’s energy and diversity of personalities and stories. It's fun to think about how each person is contributing to the world, what work they are creating on their laptops or what they are sharing in their conversations.

If you could be any one of the five NYC boroughs or a particular store/restaurant in NYC, what would you be and why? I’d want to be Manhattan. It has all of the various elements of my personality: nature for my alone time, sports for my athletic side, Broadway shows for my dancing and singing side, international people and restaurants for my worldly side, and is surrounded by water, which is how I wish I could be all my life.

Anything else you’d like to share? Thank you so much for nominating the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and our America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far exhibition. Since your guides see all of NYC’s wonderful exhibitions, this is quite an honor. New York has a reputation of being busy and overwhelming, but I’d like to encourage people to slow down and look around. There is something interesting at every corner. That’s why I’m glad GANYC is helping people really and truly see our wonderful city!