The 3W Podcast
From the people that bring you 3W Magazine, welcome to the 3W Podcast! We aim to serve our community by promoting awareness of Northwest Arkansas’ thriving philanthropic movement; To provide a guide of dates to help coordinate events so every nonprofit gets the coverage they need and deserve; To give financially to local charities each year.
The 3W Podcast
3W Magazine Podcast: Holland Hayden
Ever wondered what it takes to transform a community through innovation and creativity? Join us as we chat with Holland Hayden from the Scott Family Amazeum and uncover her inspiring journey. Holland shares her incredible experiences and the vibrant energy that makes Benton County a hub of excitement and growth. We dive explore the unique offerings at the Amazeum, including the popular Tinkerfest and dynamic exhibits designed to ignite the imagination of children and families alike.
Celebrate Father’s Day with us and discover the joy of friendly competitions where dads can showcase their skills in domino games and paper airplane building. We emphasize the importance of supporting the Amazeum, a nonprofit that thrives on community contributions and memberships, offering exclusive events and hands-on activities as a thank you. We also look forward to upcoming community engagements such as Berry Fest and the Juneteenth Festival, where the Amazeum will be at the forefront, fostering a love for learning through engaging activities.
Immerse yourself in the creative universe of the Amazeum with innovative exhibits like the life-size Operation game and the bike-powered margarita blender. Holland gives us a glimpse into the exciting world of biomimicry with the bilingual exhibit “Wild Creativity” and takes us through memorable past exhibits like “Building Buddies” and “Hot Wheels: Race to Win.” We discuss the value of embracing risk and innovation within the Amazeum team, highlighting personal growth stories and looking ahead to the museum’s 10th anniversary in 2025. Wrap up with us as we share a few laughs about community events in Bentonville, showcasing our love for connecting with people and fostering a culture of giving.
Hey everybody, kasey Yokelick here with 3W Magazine and the 3W Podcast, the who, what, where Podcast. Not really sure what we call it anymore, but whatever, welcome. So glad to have you. I have my good friend Holland Hayden here with me today, hi, and so many times I'm like Hayden Holland, holland Hayden, I don't know, I just want to go with it. It's a backwards force, right? No big deal. So Holland is with the Scott family, amazam, so we're so excited to have her. Welcome, thank you for having me. I appreciate it, and so she's going to be super more, super much more whatever professional than me, because she has done this like radio disc jockey, all the things Many, many moons ago. It's okay, you've got it. It was fun though I know it's kind of fun to make an idiot of yourself. It's totally great Daily basis. I feel like I am already there. Let's do this. Good company, let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1:Okay, how did we meet Gosh? It goes back a long time ago. It has been a while, something like that. I was 16 years old, 16 years old, yes, bridge, from nancy hairston. I love nancy and loved that organization. You know, as a non-profit, non-profit's gonna have my heart. It's your ji love giving back to the community, um, so much so that it is integrated into my. I can't get a white life balance, um. So I was working there and we. That's how we met, I know, isn't that fun. So it's a solid 10 years ago, no longer than that. It's longer. It was longer than that because, also, she jumped to siloam. For a few years I did. I was a communication director, was that right? Nine years? I was there for about nine, ten years and a half years. So we've probably known each other. Solid 12 or 13 good facing, yeah, so best friends, so family. But I'm glad you jumped back to ben county. Well, I'm sorry, back over here still, but I'm glad you jumped back to Benton County. Well, I'm sorry, back over here, still in Benton County, but I'm glad you jumped to our side. I'm sure I know how long this is you, but now you're at the Scott family. Amazing.
Speaker 1:I love being in the mix of everything. There's so much energy and momentum going on in Benton County that it's just such a fun place to be. It is Especially, if you like, traffic cones. I love them, uh-huh, it's real fun. Love that we live in one. We live in one. I dress like one Beautiful, and I did dress bright today because the Amazium is bright. I love that, I love that. And traffic cones, let's just go ahead and do it and then let's just, we live in a traffic. It is Really and truly, because it does have the momentum. You know, we have some really great neighbors at the Scott Family Amazing and Awesome is coming. Well, health Institute is just a wonderful place.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about Awesome. Okay, just for like two seconds. Yes, because Awesome stands for the Alice Walton School of Medicine, right, but where else on the planet is your acronym Awesome? I heard, where else on the planet is your acronym awesome? I mean, I heard that last summer. I think I was the last one to hear it and I was like, what's awesome? It's like, oh my god, oh my god, that is the very best thing ever. I said wish 3w had an acronym called awesome. Pretty awesome it really is, and we're thrilled to be part of, like that corridor, right, so that we can contribute to mental health, well-being, steam activities, learning. So we just love being part of that.
Speaker 1:And it's the new trailing thing, the, you know, the bridgy trail thing, bridgy trailing thing. We're in the mix of all, okay, but we do get to watch awesome being built from the parking deck. That's kind of cool, which is really? And the parking deck is real fancy. I have like an art opening thing. Oh, it's quite lovely. Yeah, I actually encourage you to just come and look at the parking deck. Isn't that a strange thing to say? It is true, but we have one in downtown Bentonville, too, where they put a bunch of neon on it. It's beautiful. And then the fish the world class art in a parking deck. It's wild, it's beautiful. Bentonville is quite the bubble. It sure is. Northwest Arkansas is a bubble, let's be real. But yes, bentonville has become its own little unique zone. It's really cool. It is really really cool.
Speaker 1:So talk about the Amazia. Yeah, you've been there a little over a year. I'm going to assume I have. I've been there since October-ish of 2022. Okay, so you're almost two years. Well, that's fun, though. Well, no, it is. You're like what it's really. It really has been so much fun.
Speaker 1:I come from a municipality in Siloam Springs, where things, as they need to be, were quite rigid, absolutely, and very serious. We can't be willy-nilly with our stories, right, and you can't, and I understand that. So it has really been a fun jump to go from something that's so serious, where I'm having to do very serious press conferences, to highlighting children and families and teachers and learning and these everyday amazing moments. It has been just a joy. But you invite someone to come play, yeah, and to tinker, yeah. You have an event called Tinker Fest. We have a fabulous event called Tinker Fest. We have a fabulous event called Tinker Fest. And you have an event a gala per se, if not Per se when people race around on little thingies yeah, 24-volt racers, okay, volt things, yes, oh, that's a fun one, I mean. And like several years ago I think it was right before you came, they had a life-size mousetrap. Oh, yes, I've seen all the videos. It's fun.
Speaker 1:The very first meeting I went to was an ungala meeting. When I started at the scott family amazium perfect, and it was wild because they're throwing out all these big ideas. And I remember somebody saying can we do something with fire? Can we do something that is like, can we throw something off the roof? And I thought I not. And I kept thinking we can't do that, like liability. I can't do that. Like liability, I can't do that. No, what about our stakeholders? How do we do that and he said let's throw all the ideas on the wall and then we work back just to see what's really possible. But nothing is impossible once we start talking about it, there's always ways around it.
Speaker 1:I just was blown away by, first of all, how that committee worked yes, um, by truly taking everybody's ideas. And then just I thinking outside of the box, isn't that crazy? Because in every board meeting we're all in a box. You've got all the low-hanging fruit, all the the buzzwords happening, and yet you go to the, the amazia, and we don't have any of that. Nope, there's toys on the table, there's fidget, there's things for you to make notes. You stand up, you write on the walls, because we have white whiteboard walls. It is a really incredibly creative environment that also just fosters fabulous ideas. Right, I mean, you work with Jennifer Bell. I do, and she has purple hair.
Speaker 1:I love it, I love it. It's the most amazing accent. Yeah, it's fun. I could never do that, but it's just right here. It's cute, it's perfectly tasteful Even if it wasn't, it'd still be great, but I'm like I could never pull that off. That's adorable, it's amazing, isn't that fun? Yes, yeah, because honestly, right, I love it, I love it and because I'm old. So, yeah, okay, so I've already like dove all the way in.
Speaker 1:But first of all, tornado yeah, are y'all okay? We are good, we are absolutely good. We had some very minor damage. You know we lost our ticketing system and our phone for a few days, but we are fine. No structural, no structural damage. No, no structural damage. You know we've lost a couple trees here and there, but what? But you're in the middle of trees, we are in the middle of everything.
Speaker 1:But what we really want to do is kind of be a resource for people. You know this is a chaotic time. This is a time where routine matters, especially to kids and to teens who have been through a traumatic event. It is traumatizing. We want to be that calm in the chaos or just a place of normalcy, right and joy. Yes, so come and play, come and enjoy a night at the Amazium, like on a Wednesday night, where it's a priceless night. Yes, so come in and play and just let those kids enjoy and maybe relax for a couple of hours. Right, go run a trucker at Walmart or drive a big truck, absolutely yes. So we definitely want to be that for people in the community and, of course, for all of our members and our normal guests, absolutely Especially for those people who've never come in before. This is a really good time to say I'm just going to take a few hours and dedicate some fun to my kids, exactly Because everybody needs a reset. Yeah, especially right now. We'll just burn off some energy. I mean, we just that was just the most bananas.
Speaker 1:End to May-cember yeah, I was just to May-cember, may. It's true I don't like to say things suck and I really hate to wish time away, but I was really happy to see May go away and I really hate to wish time away, but I was really happy to see May go away. It was just I don't know, the energy was just weird. Start to finish, I was highly emotional and then you throw in some intense wins and I'm like, okay, hey, we're hanging on to June 1st, let's go, and my son's birthday's in May, and I'm like I don't like to wish that away, but I'm ready for June 1st.
Speaker 1:Well, we are here and we have a ton of things going on at the summer camps you have. We have some workshops. You have father's day oh my gosh, let's touch on. I have a whole thing. I love that you have six pages. I did. I brought all the things just in case.
Speaker 1:What is this? Adult night, steam Olympics, okay. So most people think of the Amazium and they think this is a children, a family museum. But it is. But we have programming cradle through career, so we really do have programming for everybody. I mean it truly is. We have newborn programming all the way through adults and everything in between. So think about a really fun night out with the girls and something that you might not normally do heading to the amazium without any kids there, being able to explore the entire museum floor, enjoy those hands-on pop-up activities. A little extra that we provide. Plus, we're getting light bites and adult beverages from Guess who, bentonville Brewing, kuhn's Salon. We are just really enjoying that night and it is fun and it's really low cost.
Speaker 1:Are we competing? Well, I mean, aren't we always? I know, do I get to come and stand on the podium? Absolutely, absolutely, okay. Yes, yes, and we will play the Olympics, play the olympics, okay, good for you. So, but, yes, are we in a pageant or we don't? Well, that's what they do. They walk in opening ceremony. Blame them, I'll be waving at everyone. Yeah, they got their phone out, they're recording. I'm like, yes, I made the team, I'm awesome, really cool. So we we do have a lot of STEAM activities.
Speaker 1:So what we do with adult night is try and get people outside of their comfort zone, try and get people to tinker, try and get people to do something that they might not normally do. You know, when you're with kids, sometimes you're trying to show them, teach them, model behavior and you're not necessarily focused on the fun that you're having True model behavior and you're not necessarily focused on the fun that you're having, true. So this is all about focusing on the fun, okay, that you can have that night, and I bet the libations break down your barriers a little bit, of course, which I'll enjoy. It's always a good time, yes, always a good time.
Speaker 1:Father's day yes, what do we have? We have a challenge, another competition. I love me a competition, yeah, well, good, because this is a good one. And there is something about dads competing against each other's on father's day. Yes, I can see that like it's pretty intense, okay, and it's always a very popular day for families to take that very angela ish. It's more. No, we have a little bit more. I'm thinking the cartridge thing, if you will. So we have some domino games, we have some paper airplane, some building. So there are three different challenges that we're going to be doing for Father's Day with Dads Against Dads. So do you sign them for time slots or what? Just come in that show, just show up. Just show up, this is so great, this. Just show up and come and then we're gonna touch on, even though it's it's whatever. So there's an event.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you all are partnering with mars. Yeah, our family, dave, mars and, uh, dave and jenny, but because it's not open to the public, totally, yeah, we really wanted to say thank you to our contributing members. So we obviously have memberships in the Scott Feeley Amazium. We have different levels. Membership is a wonderful way to come and enjoy the Amazium all year. Plus, you get to visit other museums around the country.
Speaker 1:Yes, the reciprocal memberships are amazing, top-notch benefit. But then, on top of the regular membership or the base level, we do have contributing membership levels, because we are a non-profit. That's something that a lot of people don't realize is we are a hundred percent, yes, relying on the community. The communities support the amazium and we have so really amazing funders like the scott family. Yes, we will touch on this later. But they say they can't do it all. They can't do it all and it takes. All of us do need people to help um continue so we can keep those doors open and keep the price down for people to come in. And then your way of giving love to those contributing members is having a workshop with special events.
Speaker 1:This one is fun, so it's with Dave and he's coming in and he's helping Hot Mess Express. Amazing and fun, so fun, so fun. Like I don't know Dave very well, I know his brother Matt really well. Matt and brother matt really well. Matt and carrie are really good friends, friends of ours, and just fun. That's what you think of when you think of it. They had a good time at the gala. I thought, yes, they did. So they're gonna, he's gonna come in and build a pollinator box.
Speaker 1:Okay, so he has, or well, lots of different kinds of pollinator. So I mean, whether it's bees or whether it's, I mean, honestly, we can use blocks, we can use different things. I didn't know we had boxes for bees. I don't know these things. Well, we're creating a pollinator hotel. I love this. A little Airbnb, if you will. Fantastic. We don't have enough here. So no, I mean honestly it important that we have areas for pollinators to have a little race bit so that they can havea safe space, because obviously we know that so much relies on pollinators. So to encourage that is great. And then, honestly, this is about working with your kid during or your children during this workshop to learn how to use some of these tools. We are using real tools, real saws, real clamps. Everything is this box. So actually it's about this big, okay, and then we have little sticks and bamboo pieces that go in so that they can be a ton of sezzle nuzzle's not the right word. I like it in there, I like make a cozy little home.
Speaker 1:So is it an evening? It's in the morning. It's nine to ten. On june 15th yes, and you have to sign up for okay. Okay, it'll probably sell out, it probably will, but that's okay. You're gonna do another event In the morning. It's 9 to 10. On June 15th yes, and you have to sign up for that, okay. Okay, it'll probably sell out, it probably will, but that's okay, you're going to do another event of some sort for your contributing members. We just love to say thank you to our members because really they're, it's like a hug. They are so important. Yes, so I love that. Yeah, you're going to do something at Berryfest, absolutely so we, which is at the end of the month I feel like it's June 22nd but I absolutely, I think you're right. I think you're right.
Speaker 1:We participate in hundreds of off-sites every single year. The Amazium has so many facets to it, and of course, it's the museum, the actual physical space of 50,000 square feet of exhibitions and exhibits. But we also do so much outside of those walls. So some of the off sites that we do, like Berry Fest, we have a team that goes, sets up a booth. It's not just about giveaways, it's about oh no, I was thinking it was like hands-on tinkering, exactly Okay, like a pump-up tinker Different activities for different kinds of events that make sense, that go with the event.
Speaker 1:You know, if it's cultural, we might create something that works for that event. We've got something cultural happening that we've done. Well, we all have, but I can't pronounce it, I can't remember. It goes through September. I feel like. I feel like, okay, no, no, no, can I read your mind on that? I don't know. It's fine, go back to it. Yeah, so we are going to be participating at that. We'll also be at the Juneteenth Festival at Springdale, so it's something that we do throughout the year. I like that. And then we're like we're getting out into our people's community instead of making everyone come to us. Yeah, and making is a strong word, but you know what I mean. There's a barrier there. Not everybody has transportation to the museum and we think that what we do is incredibly important, so we take it to the community Northwest Arkansas and beyond Our library program over the summer.
Speaker 1:We put 5,000 miles plus into driving to different libraries. You said they're library programs, so we work with libraries. We do pop-ups at libraries Across the state. It said they're library programs, so we work with libraries. We do pop-ups at libraries Across the state. Across the state, yes, I mean, we go a long way. So we work with different libraries to create programs for them. Okay, so, especially some that are smaller staff that need some outside sources, and we're a great source for that.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I love this. Yeah, source for that. Oh my gosh, I love this. Yeah, that's amazing. I'm telling you. It's remarkable. All the things that the amazing I love this talk to me about, like share the success of the young gala, yeah, so you've seen it for two years. I have, I have, and it's unlike any event I've been to. No, was it 10 years old? Seven, eight ish? It was a couple years that they had to skip because of the pandemic, obviously. So I know, I know, but it is really a remarkably different event Because it is not the gala, it's the un-gala Gala, because we expect people to jump in and play.
Speaker 1:For sure, wear closed-toed tennis, yes, closed-toed shoes. You know, close to the tennis, yes, close to shoes. You know something stretchy that you can move, yeah, and so that you can get on that 24 volt eraser and erase your best friends, you know, and and and also, like we had a graffiti, a laser graffiti wall this year. Oh, that's where, where we had these laser graffitis that you could put in your own design or you could write Holland was here, might have done that. Holland is a face. What, thanks, darling.
Speaker 1:And so many different activities. I believe we had 20 activities at the Ungala last year. We had the wheel, the movie, real wheel thing out there, yes, and they stayed after. Yes, I love that. Last year we we had loop. It was this big experience, thank you. This year we put back a little bit from that because we wanted to make sure that we were really investing in our yes and and those activities that we did have and honestly, it's a fundraiser and that is a a lot of overhead. So we just wanted to focus again on that bottom line and those experiences.
Speaker 1:I love it, do you still do? And I haven't been in a couple years because of travel baseball, but that one's down because now we made the baseball team in high school so I don't have to play. I know you have a lot of switching going on. Yeah, so I totally am coming to Ungayla next year, good. So, like, I totally am coming to Ungayla next year, good.
Speaker 1:But you used to be able to ride a bike to blend your margarita. We didn't do that this year. Okay, I guess. Are you familiar with that? Oh, yes, yes, something like that. Yeah, okay, I mean our education team, our exhibition team, our exhibits team they're always coming up with things. You go what? How did you come up with that? It's amazing, a life-size operation that we did today.
Speaker 1:Oh, I saw a picture of that. Was that no adult? Okay, yes, I'm like that is so fun. That was fun, yours, is it? Your all's. We built it. Yes, you built it. Built it, of course.
Speaker 1:Why would I, I mean, realize that? Another thing that people don't realize we just have a store Is building exhibitions, and then we just have this huge. We have a really incredible team of talented engineers and tinkerers and people that try and create different, and things flow in and out yes, they do. So. We just closed the space, we closed Moon to Mars, and we are now in our travel exhibit. We have it in there.
Speaker 1:It's called wild creativity. Okay, creativity does to this today, which is that's what I'm. That's the word, okay, that I was thinking of. Gosh, well, yes, it is a bilingual exhibition. Okay, yeah, and it just couldn't pronounce the word spanish first, which was really great because we have such a large spanish-speaking population in northwest arkansas and we love to reflect our entire community, yeah, so we really leaned into exhibitions that had at least spanish translations, and this one has it first. Yes, I like that, and it's all about biomimicry. I don't even know what that word means. Okay, right, okay, thank you, and like oh, my, gosh, a biomimicry.
Speaker 1:I actually have a little blurb about this wild creativity. I shall, okay. How does a kangaroo gain energy as it bounces, why do birds have different beaks? And how does a prairie dog cool its home? So Creatividad, celeste Wild Creativity invites visitors of all ages to explore fundamental concepts of biomimicry through hands-on design challenges, spotlighting art and science connection and nature and how it continues to inform our world.
Speaker 1:So I know that sounds a little high level, may have glazed over at some point, but what is really cool about it is it takes nature and builds. Nature does things better than we do. They've been doing it for years and years. I don't know what I was fly around. Why could we do that? I mean, for example, velcro. Velcro is based on those little stickers that when you get on your clothes it can't come up. So scientists took a look at how is that working in the wild, how is that working in nature, and made amendments. So this is biomimicry. Yes. How is it working in nature? And made amendments. So this is bio-mimicking. Yes. So we are mimicking biology and what they're doing in the wild to create and inform a modern world. Wow, mind blown. It's really remarkable.
Speaker 1:I have the emoji. The fun thing about it is when you're going in there. Also, it's science, it's learning, but it's kind of that sneaky science because it was playing and these kids are just having fun. Totally sneaky science. I love that Sneaky science, yes, but that's true, it's true, it is. And also there's so much that has been written and has developed about making play. Play is learning and learning is play, it's true. So it's a really fun exhibition. There's so much hands-on.
Speaker 1:It's a here through September. My man is okay. Okay, do you have it's ever second? Okay, yes, I was casting. I. Do you have something planned for fourth quarter? Yes, we do you love. Don't have a contract? Okay, so, no, we are working on it, but it is uh-huh. Do you love it?
Speaker 1:How far out do y'all work on exhibitions? We have things planned, I believe, until fall of 2025. That's a long time, yeah, but you just have to. You know, there it's a really interesting world because, while we can also build our own exhibitions, there's a circle of museums and exhibition builders that do that. So there are all these traveling exhibits and you just got to make sure that everything lines up, that if you're looking for sponsors because everything costs, everything costs it matches up with what you're doing and, and that gives us time to plan and to approach people as well. So what?
Speaker 1:I recall because I'm a boy mom you're a boy mom too is the Hot Wheels exhibit with the tracks, and it was several years, a long time ago. It was so fun that Mattel brought it and it was fantastic. We had some really fun ones. We had Building Buddies recently, which was great for those littles under about six years old. We did In the Making in October of 2022 is when that opened and that was built entirely by our exhibition team. It was all about that making Will that travel. That is an attention. We are able to keep parts of it and move that throughout the museum as well. So that's something that we're expanding. Is that exhibition building?
Speaker 1:Well, speaking of expansion, yes, so, where you're into, you just got a ginormous gift a year ago from the Scott family. It was a huge to-do, so fantastic. Everyone was there. Yes, it was great. So much love in the amazium. You know the scott family has been incredible supporters of us and that is not just with lee and linda, that is the entire family, absolutely. You know um, eric and ellison in our campaign cabinet and and they're all just incredibly supportive of the amazing and they come Sorry, and we love that. They are involved with us and that they support us and we are incredibly thankful for them.
Speaker 1:So we're still in the campaign phase. Yes, like a quiet phase-ish, yes, kind of backwards-ish, I know it's fine. Hey, how can you hold that big gift? You can't hold on that gift. Hey, how can you hold that? You can't hold on that gift, you can't. You have to shout it at the rooftop. Indeed, what are we doing?
Speaker 1:So we're expanding, we have to expand, we are on top of each other and we just don't have quite enough space. You know, if you've been at the amazium on a busy day, sometimes you think we need a little bit more space. So my youngest son this past year participated in a Lego club oh cool At his school and they had a competition. Love it, and it was at the Amazium that it coincided or whatever ended. I don't really know how it worked. I still don't understand anything about it, but it took place in the upstairs room, yeah, and it was packed with nowhere you could breathe. Yeah, it's hot, I mean, it's so great, but I'm like in my head while I'm sitting there, sweating bullets in like February, I was like this we need to expand, we're expanding. I'm so thankful the Scots gave XYZ and we're going to go bigger because this room needs to be bigger to allow more kids in here for these competitions and whatnot. You know're starting with our backyard area. Backyard hangout and our early childhood education is where we're really going to start, but it's just going to give us, overall, more space.
Speaker 1:It is let's talk about your outdoors oh, it's so great, isn't it so great? You used to have s'mores pits. We still do. Okay, great, still do. Yeah, it's over an acre of space. It's an acre. Wow. Yeah, it's an acre of space. That's big it is. I mean, I've been there. I have zero realization of how big anything ever is, but I'm like, wow, when you say an acre, that sounds massive. It's a good size. It's a good size space. It is a really good.
Speaker 1:So many different things that are happening in the backyard and our playscape area. We have a stream right now with a lot of tadpoles. It's so fun. That's exciting we do. And then, of course, we have our playscape where you can climb. We have our erosion table. There's an area where kids can play. I love erosion tables. Isn't that fun? I know the youngest loves it and, honestly, we just have an area where kids can play. I love erosion tables, is that I, the youngest loves, and honestly, we just have an area where they can just kind of run around too.
Speaker 1:Yes, because you know that's important, that, yes, oh my gosh, do we still so? Do we still have labs in there? You mean the hershey lab? Do I mean the hershey lab? You mean the only hershey experience in the world outside of Hershey Pennsylvania? Yes, we do. That might be the lab we're talking about. That is the Hershey lab we are talking about. Talk to it. I know about the Hershey lab, but tell everyone else about the Hershey lab. So the Hershey lab is a self-guided experience. You do sign up when you come into the Amazium. That is a first-come, first serve. Very hard, it can be very challenging because it's so soft. After it's a big deal so, but you know, sometimes if you come in the afternoon it might be a little bit easier to get in. But it is a self-guided experience. There are six different experiments that families can do um, things like ancient chocolate or speedway, or you know, when there's so many different things in a hall has to do with candy and hershey's right. Yes, it's fun, I love it.
Speaker 1:So have you ever done a hershey tasting like, no, we've done all their chocolates, my gosh. So they have so many. They do. They need to ask your people. We get to try samples. Okay, samples are very important. Uh-huh, I'm not a big fan of bottle-less samples. I would shit to that. I don't know, I don't think I can do that Technically. It's just a guess.
Speaker 1:You need to ask your Hershey's people, because they used to have this master chocolatier. I think his name was jim saint john and he would do the. He would come into town, he would partner up hershey's was partnering up with um, um, the northwest arkansas children's shelter. We would have these events and these chocolate tastings and they had this big, this mat that was probably the size of our paper, and all these different chocolates of theirs and you go all the way around and you'd learn all the things about them and you'd get to the very end and it would be the Hershey chocolate Gotcha and you would have to, like, figure out what's in it. I'm not going to give it away. I need you to ask somebody because you're going to be blown away.
Speaker 1:I want to say, but I'm like I don't know if I really can say you need to ask somebody what this mysterious ingredient in a Hershey bar is. It's wild. You would never guess. Okay, wild. Once you know, after you've gone through the whole thing, it's, you're like, oh my God, I can tell it's in there. Oh my gosh, you're going to have to tell me later. It's something from North, north. Well, we're in north, the more northern part of the states. It's a product, more northern part of one of our states. How fun, it's very interesting. You're going to die when you find out.
Speaker 1:Well, we haven't done anything specifically like that, but we have also done. It's so great. I love her shoes. They're a partner of ours too. Love that. Um, you know, we've done some really fun tastings and pairings, but we haven't done that. So maybe it's something you could explore a little bit.
Speaker 1:Okay, and who can? I mean? Also, I want to be friends with a master chocolatier, right? I just kind of want to be like, hey, hey, what you doing? Pop in, pop in. Let's have some wine and chocolate, chocolate, please. I mean that always abused me, right, always. And then you can go build s'mores. I know, I love our s'mores table. It is so cute. I love the s'mores table.
Speaker 1:I remember when it opened and I'm like it was a huge deal. I feel like a year or two after the Amazium opened and I'm like, oh just, we need to make some more memories. We can do that. Okay, what do you have on your notes? Oh, my goodness, what have we not tapped into? I'm telling you everything that we have Of summer camps yes, summer camps. So we are pretty close to being sold out. Of course, of course, camps are mainly through ages 6 through 11, but we have some that are for kids going into kindergarten, that are in kindergarten as well. Everything is on our website. Um, let me just tell you a couple of these names. I know some of the kids. It's gonna be good. Where there are, where there is availability, perfect, okay. And not only do we do the camps at the amazium, but we also, right now, are partnering with a shiloh meeting hall in springdale, okay, and the bindle community center to do some. So because, again, we do know, yeah, absolutely, transportation is challenging, so we have different camps at different places.
Speaker 1:I love this Ready, yes, go Medieval madness, oh for sure. Who doesn't want to be a knight? Who doesn't want to be a knight? I do, I do, I. I mean to cosplay Game On where they get to. Now, I actually helped prototype for this one. It was so much fun and you know it's creating your own carnival games. And we did a version of like Hungry Hippos. It was so much fun. I mean I was sweating bullets because again, I'm competitive. Nobody else was complaining, I didn't realize that, but I was. I mean, every single one of these People were like roll it. I mean I was stuffing them in my pockets. I couldn't help it. You know, go big or go home. I know, go big, I go big. Live like there's no tomorrow. Carpet, all the things Game on. Well, I mean, it was really fun.
Speaker 1:So we do have availability there. Messy Mixtures it's all about creating mixtures. Okay, okay, different types. I went to soccer, but I'm with you, I totally went the soccer direction. No, nancy, my bad, that's fair. That's fair.
Speaker 1:Zing into Kindergarten is again for the zing. We haven't even talked about the zing. We haven't talked about the z. Our Trails. And Take Apart Camp, which is a mix between mountain biking, sounds outdoorsy, yes, right, and understanding the steam behind mountain biking, yeah, isn't that fun. Perfect for this area. And again, start kindergarten. So we do have some availability. Okay, you've got to sign up very quickly.
Speaker 1:How does this bike thing? What did you call the outdoor thing, trails, and Take Apart Trails. How Should we go on it? How is that one? Do we work with BikeBit? Well, of course you do. Yeah, you know, one of the things that the Amazing is great about is partnerships and working with other organizations, because we aren't the expert on every single thing. No, it's a village, so we definitely work with other organizations, nonprofits in the area, so that we can create really quality programming. Yes, and Bike Bentonville is so amazing, right?
Speaker 1:So this is a second year. I think that we've done this one. I could be wrong, it could be more than that. I apologize. Yeah, so, but you know, we talked about some of the programming like cradle during career. It's so buzzy I'm not kidding, I'm stealing that it works. I don't know how I'm going to work it in to something, but I'm 100% working that into an email. I like it.
Speaker 1:Well, it's true what we do, because with our cradle beginning our early education, our early learners are age 0 through 6. And we truly do have programming for those very littles. What's the youngest you think? Like a zebra, a missile? Wow, coming in, getting them just familiarized with how to reach for things and look at different things. Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes it's also just a change of environment for mom, yes, which is great, absolutely. And sometimes it's also just a change of environment for mom, right, which is great. You know there's we have Studio Grow, which is a specific area just for littles. We have two or three different areas like that, so it's a good place also to meet other moms and other parents.
Speaker 1:I'm not in that stage anymore, so I don't even realize it, but it can be really hard and can be very isolating. Iso-habbing a little one, yes, but it can be really hard and can be very isolating, isolating. Having a little one, yes, until they go to school, until they go to school and you're like, oh, other people like me, yeah, so we encourage people to just also form friendships and talk to other parents while they're there. Safe space, absolutely Safe space for all.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you said that, because, can I go back to one of our core purposes? Do we exists to spark and nurture the curious and creative spirit in all of us? We like to reflect our entire community. We have some guiding principles and these are fun, okay, so we believe in active, messy, open-ended and playful nature of learning. I need to like instill that into me. Yeah, so I'm definitely— Sometimes it's hard for me to get with me Messy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sometimes it's hard for me to get it was made messy. Yeah, it's hard for me to understand that one. I'm gonna understand it. It's hard as a mom because you just want everything cleaned up. Yes, you don't want to clean enough. I don't. I hate kinetic sand. It is. I hate that stuff, but it's important to let my kids have that mess and understand all the textures it. I hate slime too Great reason to come into the Amazium and get your messy on there. Get your messy on there because I don't have to clean that mess.
Speaker 1:We believe in curiosity, creativity, innovation and risk-taking. See, another one that I don't have in my daily life is risk. I think that we really incorporate that not only into those exhibitions on the floor those exhibits on the floor but really in everything that we do. We're not afraid to fail, meaning we like to try different things and if it doesn't work, that's okay, and then we recalibrate and then we pivot. But if we can't, if we don't have the ability to take a risk, how are we going to improve and create this cool new idea? So that is a fabulous guiding principle.
Speaker 1:Can you think of any time in the past two years that you all have taken a risk and it didn't work and you just pivoted and absolutely that's just a little marketing strategy, or it was a new program that didn't work, or just didn't connect right, or maybe we didn't build it out exactly perfectly. But I mean, yeah, we've definitely had some misses and that's okay, that's life. Yeah, we all have misses. Yeah, and we're not afraid to take some risks and then pivot. But to own that Nobody ever owns that no one owns anything. We're just to own that nobody ever owns that no one owns anything. Just like pageant waving through and I'm like just own, own all of it. Oh, I, I make mistakes a lot all the time. God bless my team, right, I am so thrilled that we have a fabulous marketing team and development team that can really support everything that we do, because everyone supports everyone over there. Yeah, definitely, it's been a great team. It really is so. And so I don't know if you've ever kind of talked about how we're divided up at the amazing of our guest experience team. We have our guest relations team, we have our education team, obviously our administration and our marketing and development as well. So in an exhibitions exhibits we all work together. I love that we work simultaneously, and I feel like I just read an article about, maybe, someone that started as an intern, yes, and then has a real job with you all oh yeah, just kind of worked her way up. We also have tinkering. There are campers. We have people that have come in as campers that now work at the amazium full circle. I love that and you know, next year we're going to be 10 years old and we're going to be kind of blowing it out. What are we doing? We're going to be looking at some of those stories. No, is that in 25? Okay, yeah, officially, july 15, 2025, we're going to be 10 years old, but as we're building up to that, we're going to be looking years old. But as we're building up to that, we're going to be looking for some of those stories about those people that have come in and been impacted by the Amazium, whether it's changed the course of their study, whether it was.
Speaker 1:I met a young man at Tinker Fest last year. This was pure luck that I happened to speak to this kid and I said, hey, how's it going? He said great. I said can I speak to this kid? And I said, hey, how's it going? He said, great. I said, can I ask you a couple of questions on camera? Sure, tell me. Tell me, why are you involved? He was with nwac. He was with um taking one of the mechanic courses through um, I believe, bentonville high school. Okay, and um, and. And I said, how did you get involved into this? He said, uh, years ago I came to Tinker Fest and I was working on pulling apart the car, because we do a real car taking part, so they actually take the car apart. Oh, that's right. Yes, super cool. I've seen this and he goes. I thought that was so cool that that's what I wanted to do. I picked the right kid to ask questions and he literally was going into the program because of something he had done at the amazing and it was just a remarkable impact story.
Speaker 1:Yes, it is that I just happened to get and and I know there's so many more of those stories out there and I want to track them. Dale, you know, but it's so hello call holland. She needs your story I do. To talk about my 2025. Yeah, I love this. Well, you know, there's so many impacts that we make, whether that is with kids coming into the museum, whether it is actually at an offsite, whether it is how a teacher has changed their education and changed how they interact with the students, or it's they've created a maker space in their room or in their school. How great that we know we have it's like large force field. I love that. It takes seven points of touch to make an impact on somebody. So you all are doing that and I want to continue to tell those stories. Yes, the stories are what makes it right, absolutely.
Speaker 1:We have those everyday amazing moments all the time. Amazing moments at the amazing yeah, just everyday amazing. Uh-huh. Are those zings, if you will, a little zingy? Should we talk about the zings? Yeah, the zingy. Do you zing Our zing? Yeah, the Zingy, our Zing. We have our newsletter right now which we call In the Zing, but our Zing is our. It's the thing. It's our Zing in the middle of our logo. Yes, and it's kind of our stand-alone logo, if you also don't see the entire logo. So it's on the back of people's cars, yes, yes, it's a great thing to be able to recognize different members or people that are.
Speaker 1:You all have your own spark. We do, we do we zing, you zing. And how fun is that? We know maybe there should be a captain or we're at something, captain z, captain z. Well, I will say, we also have some really cute, really cute, like earrings and things like that in the gift shop, which is fantastic.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, you have it. Ben too. See, mom, then, real life, it's true, this is real life. This is called Work-Life Balance. Yeah, as a mom, absolutely, it's my favorite subject. Yes, because it's hard. Parenting is hard. It's the very best, most greatest, most greatest. That's awesome. Somebody who's in journalism, it's just a very best job, but it's tough. It's the hardest job on this town. It low, is paid, but it's paid in hugs, so that's fine. Yeah, so, yeah, that was my life.
Speaker 1:I love that man. I'm calling back this, I don't care, I love it. He's alive, he's fine, he is, he's fine. He just sent me a text. Yeah, we'll be good.
Speaker 1:But you know, I mean, actually my son Henry is nine and he started going to the Amazium the very first year. It was open as well. So he's kind of grown up there. That's great. It was before, was working there, and I have albums of him almost every single year at the Amazium, and some of my favorite photos are him and my dad, who has since passed away. Oh, that's a dad at the Amazium where he's looking up at my dad on an exhibit that we still have, where it's just that's meant to be. That's a there's a reason why you're there. Yeah, I love, I love it, I love that. So it's been just a fun personal thing for me, but it's also so amazing to see again the impact and those circles of touch. Oh, that's good.
Speaker 1:I think you just pointed us to the period on, or the zing on, this podcast Exclamation point thing, like, yeah, exclamation point, we should, we just invented some things. Oh, I like it. Right, I love it. I'll take it back to the team. Okay, take that back to the team, because there are no bad ideas and they won't filter it. Oh, I'm telling you. Oh, yeah, that is how we work. It is idea, idea, idea. I love it for joining me today. Thanks for having me. This was awesome.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the things that I want people to do is just come and see us, and if you've never been, even if you don't have kids, you can still come. We do give you a lanyard, but it's just a fun way to spend a few hours. It's a great afternoon, especially when it's so hot, yeah, and so great. Nice cold space or so cold, or so cold, or rainy, or rainy. We have all the things. We do have all the things.
Speaker 1:Um, we did briefly chat about curiosity corner, our museum store, but oh yeah, and we got stuck on henry for a second. Oh yeah, stuck isn't the right word, but we'll leave them here for a minute. Actually, I, I need to get a birthday present for a, uh, a birthday party he's going to this weekend. I don't know the kiddo very well and I go in and I say, hey, I have a nine-year-old that I'm buying for they like legos. That's the only thing I know, and they'll go here. Let me get this gift, wrap it. Here it is. Here's my price range.
Speaker 1:It is so nice to have people that can help you figure out what somebody. I love that because I am a horrible buyer. I'm like, oh, if you don't play soccer or baseball and you're a boy, I don't know what's, and you don't have a paid mission to come in, you can just to go to the, to the museum store, just come in and they'll help you. Everything is very competitively priced. I love this, whether that is an online retailer or others, which is not normal. No, we are very competitively priced and it is, again, local and we are a non-profit, so everything that we do and it also matches our mission it matches our mission.
Speaker 1:You know, whatever is in the store has to go through a certain criteria to make it there, and then it's reaching another touch point in the community and intentionally, absolutely yes, and intentionally, yeah, true, yes, but I'm like I love this. Yeah, because I learned something. I never thought to go over there. Oh, I know, I'm sorry. Great resource, it's a great resource almost exclusively by kids gifts there. Now, it is so much easier.
Speaker 1:Say, wrap it for me. I'm not a wrapper, no, I do. You do? Okay, I have bags, it's fine. Oh, okay, good, well then, I'm bringing this. I use gift bags, but I hate them. I just don't like to wrap, so that just takes care of it for me. I love this One-stop shop creative, price, competitive and already pretty yeah, pretty, and it stays in the community. I love it. Oh, my gosh, I love it. It's a fun thing to do. It's good.
Speaker 1:Did we miss anything on your notes. You know I can't tell you, yes, we did, okay, okay, let's go, keep going. You know, have you ever thought about having an event at the? Have I Uh-, have I Maybe a birthday party? Maybe a birthday party, maybe a corporate event, maybe a meeting? Absolutely. You know, that is such a fun place to have a meeting. That might be kind of a boring meeting because we can bring a little spice into it, we can help with that team building, we can give you just a little bit more of a creative environment and it's a fun place. And again, we are competitive with our prices as well, because it's hard.
Speaker 1:Venues are expensive, yes, and most people don't really think about the amazium as a, as a venue for adults, and it's a really fun, fun one. I mean, we just had better homes and garden do a one of their national events there and it was oh, that's big, phenomenal, congrats. It was thank you, it was phenomenal. What did you do? Give me an example, what y'all did? We were able to close down our lobby, set everything up where they had a speaker and we set it up there, and then we also had them be able to go out to the museum floor, okay, and play and get hands-on, and they actually had some stations around, but it was visit a station, play a little bit. Visit a station, play a little bit and then come and listen to the speaker.
Speaker 1:I like it. It's just given me something different to think about. Now you've given me an idea of a committee that I sit on and I'm like, oh, this would be fun. Maybe you could get the operation board out and we could. It gets people in a different creative space and kind of a different head space.
Speaker 1:Yes, you go to meetings sometimes and it feels very rigid, yes, and it feels very confined and that's what's breaking it. The second you walk through the door I can see that it's like, yeah, it's colorful, it's bright. You almost have no choice but to kind of be creative and loosen up a bit. I love that. So it's a fun place to have meetings. I like that.
Speaker 1:Alright, I think I got everything, are you sure? I probably haven't, but you know what? It's a good excuse to come back home. I love that. It's remarkable how much we do. I mean, we've been talking for an hour and I have more. Yeah, I have more of the iceberg. It's remarkable. Maybe you come back after our end gala.
Speaker 1:Oh, I was going to say season 10. Oh, I would love to see it Season 10. Our birthday. I'd love to come back and talk about Tinker Fest. How fun is the birthday going to be? Girl, we are working on it already. I'm not kidding. We had a meeting yesterday about our 10th birthday in July of 2025. You're excited. It's too early to start.
Speaker 1:We want to make it big. We don't want to just make it a party. We want to also kind of make it a nod of maybe things to come and a historical look back of everything that we've done. I love this. We want to get some of those original players in, some of those people that were the dreamers behind the Amazing, and first of all say thank you and then just acknowledge them and just have a fun look back.
Speaker 1:I think maybe somebody should dive off the roof and do a gig. Huh, I like it. I think we could do that. You know, we'll throw ideas out there. We'll just have to chat with, I guess, like, maybe like the fire marshal or something. I don't know details, we got to know somebody right? Safety first, sorry. As for forgiveness, let on the back end. Not from this. I would never, I would never, never. I love it.
Speaker 1:So save the date for July 2025. I know I love it. So save the date for July 2025. I know, I mean, I could tell you almost something every month where it's save the date. Save the date.
Speaker 1:June 27th when is Tinker Fest? That's in September. Yeah, I was like it's coming up. It's in September, in the fall. Yes, but Adult Night is coming up in June. June 27th, oh, okay, at the end of the month.
Speaker 1:Yes, I was going to say next Wednesday, but no, is it on a Wednesday? It's a Thursday Thursday. Yes, it's a Thursday night. Okay, I'm sorry, priceless nights are on Wednesday. Priceless nights are on Wednesday. I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker 1:Yes, again and again, more things to be like physically in your community and wherever. But if you have, if you have transportation, you have access to the, absolutely Absolutely Okay. Well, thank you, thanks for having me. I love having my friends on. This is so much fun. Yeah, yeah, right, cause I, I don't, I'm still just faking my way through it. I mean, we're just chit-chatting, right, I know Chit-chatting's fun, I can do that. Yeah, I love to chat and I love to hug. And I also said on last week's podcast.
Speaker 1:I think I'm really funny. So it just oh my gosh, I think I'm so funny today. That's why it works out really well for us. I laugh at myself All the time, all the time All the else is laughing. I'm like. I'm like, oh, you didn't. That's how you, that is a you problem, that's not a me problem. I love that. We think I love it. Friend, thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Yes, whatever questions you have, let me know. Let holland know. She's at the amazium all the time. Just go, go, go. It is probably one of bettenfield's best resources. I promise you really Northwest Arkansas, but we do claim it here in Bentonville, yeah, yeah, lovely. Anyways, thank you for joining us. If you've stuck with us this long, I am so appreciative of you and, as always, keep inspiring a culture of giving Thanks. Bye.