The observance will kick off with live music from the World House Choir Tuesday, Sept. 21 at noon on Courthouse Square near the new home of the museum at 10 N. Ludlow St.
The hour-long gathering will also include remarks by Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, former state senator Tom Roberts, retired judge Jack Meagher, Uman Mullapudi of Heartfulness Dayton and Kelly.
The new museum sight is currently under construction and the public will have an opportunity for a sneak peak of the new space after the program.
Peace Museum officials will also announce the Peace Education Initiative, a plan to expand museum outreach to fourth and fifth graders from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds across the Dayton area.
“We have always been interested in expanding what we do into local schools and provide teachers and parents materials and lesson plans that support kindness, compassion, mediation and better understanding of diversity and equality,” Kelly said.
In April the museum announced it would move from the historic Issac Pollack House on W. Monument Ave. to the downtown Courthouse Plaza SW building.
Organizers hope to open the museum toward the end of this year. The new space, formerly a branch of U.S. Bank, is nearly 5,000 square-feet lined with street level windows and faces the fountain on Courthouse Square.
The new location will have room to seat 165 people and host events and a film and live music series. Design plans include exhibition space, a theater, studio, large multi-purpose classroom and a children’s room designed to teach kindness through animals.
The new location in the heart of downtown “is an opportunity for people who want alternatives to the noise that’s out there,” Kelly said. “This is a place that people can find people who are looking for solutions and ways to make things better.”
The Dayton International Peace Museum is America’s only brick-and-mortar peace museum with rotating exhibitions and special programs.
It was founded in 2004 by Ralph and Christine Dull, J. Frederick Arment, Steve Fryburg and Lisa Wolters to provide a place for the community to learn alternatives to war, racism and violence. It honors the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that ended war in Bosnia.
More information can be found on the Dayton International Museum website and Facebook page.
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