Pittsburgh, June 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emotions at Play with Pixar’s Inside Out, the first interactive exhibit based on Disney and Pixar’s hit animated feature Inside Out , makes its world premiere on Saturday, June 12, 2021, at Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.

Developed by Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh in collaboration with Pixar Animation Studios, the exhibit is filled with interactive experiences that help visitors understand the important role emotions, memory and imagination play in our everyday lives. Hands-on and digital experiences focus on the five emotions featured in the award-wining film: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear. Children and families learn to recognize emotions and explore how we express and manage our emotions.

 In this exhibit, visitors can:

• Step into Headquarters to explore the range and intensity of emotions at the  Control Panel
• Explore some of the ways we show how we feel with our faces and bodies at the  Emotions Mirrors
• Think about an important memory and how it made them feel - or show how they’re feeling currently by creating a glowing  Memory Sphere
• Use their imagination to create a story and perform it at  Dream Productions
• Work to keep the train on track – what feelings do you have when you control and balance the  Train of Thought?
• Explore how emotions work together as they stack and balance the  Emotion Blocks

“Our partnership with Pixar and its animated film Inside Out helps the Children's Museum expand its innovative museum experiences that focus on social and emotional learning,” says Jane Werner, Executive Director of Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. “This is such an important part of children's development and especially timely as we welcome back children and families to the Museum after such a challenging year."

Emotions at Play with Pixar’s Inside Out will be open for play at Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh through January 9, 2022, and begin its tour to museums and libraries across the country in late January 2022.  The exhibit is locally supported by major sponsor PPG and presenting sponsor Chase.

"It was such a pleasure collaborating with the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh on this exhibit. To see elements of our film reimagined into interactive experiences is something that, as a filmmaker, brings me incredible Joy (sorry Sadness!). And knowing how informative and fun the exhibit will be for kids and their parents makes all of us at Pixar feel immensely proud,” said Jonas Rivera, Producer, Inside Out.

The exhibit’s premiere date, June 12, also marks the Children’s Museum’s grand reopening after its closure due to the COVID pandemic. Initially, the Museum will be open four days a week, Thursday through Sunday, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, with plans to expand gradually.  

Throughout its closure, the museum has been reimagining its exhibits, programs, systems and procedures to facilitate reopening with updates that make a visit as exciting, fun, safe and comfortable as possible.

In addition to the world premiere of Emotions at Play, the Museum will also debut the Kindness Gallery, where visitors can express themselves through communications-based activities inspired by the work of Fred Rogers and lessons from the series Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.

Perennial museum exhibits such as MAKESHOP^® and Waterplay have been refreshed, while the Garage features two new activities: an interactive projection on the vaulted dome of the former Buhl Planetarium and a new climbing net created by artist Manca Ahlin. The Studio will feature Puppets: A Beautiful Fantasy, based on the Museum’s Margo Lovelace Collection. The Nursery and Limb Bender will not be open at this time.

One of the most important updates for reopening is the Museum’s transition to an online timed-ticketing system, which allows visitors to reserve admission for the day and time of their choosing. Walk-up tickets may be available but are not guaranteed.

In addition to timed ticketing, the Museum has instituted the following health and safety protocols as part of its approach to reopening:

• All staff and visitors will be required to wear face masks in the Museum, except children under the age of two.
• All staff and visitors will have their temperatures taken before entry into the building.
• The total number of visitors admitted to Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and MuseumLab combined will be limited daily to ensure social distancing in a safe and strategic way.
• The number of families in each exhibit will be monitored and signage will assist groups to maintain six feet of distance from other groups.
• Touchless technology has been added to the Museum’s admission process and bathrooms to allow for less contact with common surfaces.
• Additional hand sanitizer stations have been added throughout the Museum’s campus.
• The Museum will undergo a deep cleaning nightly and exhibit areas will be cleaned at intervals throughout the day on open days.

The Museum’s Cafe will not provide food service when the Museum reopens. Visitors are welcome to bring a lunch or snack and drink to enjoy in the Cafe during their visit. Water fountains in the Children’s Museum and MuseumLab will not be operating.

The Children’s Museum’s latest addition, MuseumLab, located next door, will be open on Saturday and Sunday only. Admission to MuseumLab is included in your visit to Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.

Learn more details about the Children’s Museum’s reopening and reserve your timed tickets at www.pittsburghkids.org.

If you have any questions about your visit, please call us at 412.322.5058, x240, or email hi@pittsburghkids.org.

The Museum is located on Pittsburgh’s historic North Side at 10 Children’s Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. For more information, please visit the Museum website www.pittsburghkids.org.

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About Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh

Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is a place that delights and inspires children, where they can take off on fantastic flights of imagination daily, and return to earth to splash in a river, hammer a nail and ink a silkscreen. With 80,000 square feet of space, the Museum welcomes more than 307, 000 visitors annually and provides tons of fun and loads of “real stuff” experiences for play and learning. The Museum was voted one of the nation’s Ten Best Museums for Families in USA Today’s Reader’s Choice Contest in 2017, and named one of the nation’s fifteen top children’s museums by Parents Magazine in 2015. In April 2019, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh Museum opened MuseumLab™, a new museum for older kids, in the former Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny next door. This project transformed a historic landmark on Pittsburgh’s North Side and completed what is now the nation’s the largest cultural campus for children.

About Pixar Animation Studios

Pixar Animation Studios, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is an Academy Award®-winning film studio with world-renowned technical, creative and production capabilities in the art of computer animation. The Northern California studio has created some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time, including “Toy Story,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Cars,” “The Incredibles,” “Ratatouille,” “WALL•E,” “Up,” “Toy Story 3,” “Brave,” “Inside Out,” and “Coco.” Its movies and technology have won 40 Academy Awards® and the films have grossed more than $14 billion at the worldwide box office. "Soul," Pixar's 23rd feature, is currently streaming on Disney+. Pixar’s upcoming feature film “Luca,” releases June 18, 2021.

About Inside Out

Pixar’s hit animated feature Inside Out is the story of 11-year-old Riley, who like all of us, is guided by her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley's mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco as Joy, Riley's main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive. Inside Out was released in 2015.