The Museum of Pop Culture’s mission is to make creative expression a life-changing force by offering experiences that inspire and connect our communities.
Member Moments: Charlie & Pam Phillips
As part of our celebration honoring 20 years of the Museum of Pop Culture, we'll take time throughout 2020 to get to know some of MoPOP's most dedicated visitors and supporters.
MoPOP members receive some pretty cool perks, but perhaps more importantly, each member's continued support of our nonprofit museum helps fund our world-class exhibitions and community programming. This month we hear from Pam + Charlie Phillips, who are two of many aiding MoPOP's mission of making creative expression a life-changing force.
Why do you choose to support MoPOP?
Charlie Phillips: "For us, it's the STEAM, adding arts into STEM, and it's about really connecting the community with arts and then the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It's really a big part of what we believe in."
Pam Phillips: "The arts just adds the creativity part to STEM and I think when we became members—we've actually been coming to the museum since you guys opened 20 years ago—we got re-engaged and reinvigorated when we started learning about the outreach programs that MoPOP does, taking the arts and STEM to the students of Seattle who may not have an opportunity or access to that. We love that and we believe in that and we want to support that."
Do you have any favorite exhibitions or artifacts?
Charlie Phillips: "What I have to say is the science fiction exhibition really helps generate new ideas. Why would we go to the moon if we hadn't thought about going to the moon? And even the movies and things like that that led to the moon shots were the precursor, it was the art and thinking that, 'Yeah, we can do this.' So it takes us to that next step of making it happen, help insight, and create new ways of thinking. To me, it helps develop the idea that this is possible."
Pam Phillips: "I just want to make sure that people understand it's so much more than the museum. I mean, the museum is awesome and we love the inspiration that's here within the walls. But what we love is the outreach. It's the things that MoPOP does outside these walls that's amazing."
What do you hope youth take away from a visit to MoPOP?
Charlie Phillips: "To me, it's all about inspiration. You see something and it's possible. ... We're in the Nirvana exhibit, and we grew up in a lumber town, and you look at all the problems going on in lumber towns. But there's so many possibilities in it. MoPOP provides exposure. It provides a means to see what's possible."
Pam Phillips: "They can see these things that 20, 30, or 50 years ago were science fiction that were stories and they're becoming real now. ... When kids come in here and they see the progression of technology, you know, here's what writers dreamed up and it's becoming real. So kids are going to see this and go, 'my wildest dreams can come true.' ... It's so much more than sharing memorabilia. It's sharing that anything is possible."
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