Magazine | Playing With the Future

Playing With the Future

Museum director weaves her CSUMB past into the present and beyond

BY NIC COURY

One thing has stayed constant for CSUMB alum Lauren Cohen during her two decades at Monterey’s MY Museum: the art of play as an integral part of early childhood learning.

“If we want industries of innovative people, we have to give them, at the start of their lives, time to be creative individuals. If we start formal education too soon, we take that away,” Cohen said.

“Mister Rogers’ whole thing was how play is the work of children, and if we give them the opportunity, they’ll learn.”

Since 1998, Cohen has been executive director of the Monterey County Youth Museum, known as MY Museum. The museum opened in 1997, the same year Cohen graduated from CSUMB with a degree in liberal studies. Later she also earned a teaching credential.

The museum began as a project of the Junior League and evolved into a community-based nonprofit which now sees an average of 60,000 visitors a year. Cohen credits CSUMB for contributing to her and the museum’s success.

“(CSUMB’s) credential program was pretty open-minded. I always needed to learn in a non-traditional way,” she said. “The teaching program was welcoming and accepting of that. And because it was a new school, they were open to what was new for education.”

In addition, “a majority of our staff are CSUMB students. In so many ways, the university has created the next young workforce.”

CSUMB has grown and changed, but Cohen says the university is still thinking outside of the box. For example, CSUMB partners with other organizations in Monterey County, including MY Museum.

In Fall 2018, CSUMB professor Enid Ryce, executive director of CSUMB Salinas Center for Arts & Culture, contacted Cohen with an idea to create a children’s exhibit at the center. They combined efforts with Salinas Public Library, First 5 California and the Transportation Agency of Monterey County (TAMC).

Lauren Cohen inside a giant bubble at MY Museum.

Photo by Nic Coury

“Salinas had a huge traffic issue that involved the safety of kids,” Cohen said. They decided to create a fun exhibit that addressed the problem.

The project was called MY Town and featured a playful layout of a typical city. During the two months it was open, CSUMB students observed facets of the exhibit including: genderneutrality, cultural differences, parent interaction with the exhibit, and cellphone use at the exhibit.

“The premise for MY Town was identifying a social problem and adding other things we want kids to learn, like negotiating with others,” Cohen said.

“TAMC really wanted students to survey to see if people were learning about things like wearing helmets or using crosswalks.”

The exhibit attracted hundreds of families a day, including many repeat guests. It’s slated to return to Salinas in 2020.

“A lot of the parents were much more engaged than we expected, which may allow them to discuss traffic on a kid-friendly level,” Cohen said.

More recently, Cohen and her staff have brought more activities to the museum, like yoga and Zumba. If a family is a member of the museum, the new classes are free. It’s part of Cohen’s newest efforts to offer a onestop shop for learning through play for Monterey County kids.

“Children’s museums will always be relevant,” Cohen said. “But in order to stay, we really need to reinvent ourselves by keeping a pulse on the world of education.”

For Cohen, that pulse is playtime.