A Museum Dedicated to the Power of Words
Language lovers, rejoice: Planet Word opens in Washington, D.C.
It’s been a long time in the making, but a new museum is opening this week in Washington, D.C. that will be a nirvana for language lovers: Planet Word. Billed as “a revolutionary museum dedicated to the power, beauty, and fun of language and to showing how words shape the human experience,” Planet Word is opening its doors to the public on Thursday, October 22nd.
If you can’t make it to Washington, you can still check out a livestream of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which will be held at 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday, by going to Planet Word’s website. There will also be pre-recorded appearances by guests including Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, with a performance from opera singer Renee Fleming, freestyle hip hop from rapper Christylez Bacon, and a poetic dedication by Naomi Shihab Nye. Other prominent Planet Word supporters will be making surprise appearances.
Update, Oct. 22: As you can see from the video below, special guests for the virtual ceremony included former President Barack Obama, playwright Anna Deavere Smith, singer-songwriter Paul Simon, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
I should note that I’m a Planet Word supporter myself, since I’ve been on the museum’s advisory board since its planning stages. I’m proud to be part of a group of advisors that covers an impressive array of linguists, authors, songwriters, poets, and other linguaphiles, including fellow wordplay mavens like New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz.
I’ve been anxiously awaiting the opening of Planet Word, since as I mentioned in a previous Beyond Wordplay post, it was set to launch in the spring but was delayed (like so much else in life) by the pandemic. In the interim, Planet Word has been keeping busy by offering online workshops, including ones on making word puzzles, telling jokes, and mastering Scrabble. Now that they physical museum is opening its doors, people will be able to see what’s been in the works.
As the press release notes, “Planet Word will be the world’s first voice-activated museum, featuring immersive galleries and exhibits that will engage visitors of all ages in experiencing words and language from a wide range of perspectives.” It’s all housed at Washington’s historic Franklin School building, which has been rehabilitated and restored by the museum planners. And best of all, thanks to philanthropic efforts spearheaded by Planet Word’s CEO and founder Ann B. Friedman, general admission will be free! (As with many other D.C. museums, there will be a suggested donation to support the museum’s programs, exhibits, and educational outreach.)
You can see previews of the various interactive exhibits here. They include “Where Do Words Come From?,” a 22-foot-tall talking word wall that shares the story of the English language, “Word Worlds,” which allows visitors to transform a room with color, sound, and motion by painting with words, and “Words Matter,” where visitors can record and listen to stories about how the power of words has shaped their lives.
One exhibit will be getting its own special mini-launch in the near future, and it’s one that will be of particular interest to fans of word games and puzzles. Lexicon Lane is a “word-sleuthing adventure” that will feature a series of alphabet-themed puzzle cases that have to be unlocked, escape-room style. For the development and production of Lexicon Lane, Planet Word has commissioned the top-notch crew at Lone Shark Games, a familiar name to the puzzling community from such excellent products as The Maze of Games, Puzzlecraft, and their various Puzzlepacks. Mike Selinker and the rest of the Lone Shark staff have been hard at work on Lexicon Lane, and from what I’ve seen, I can tell it’s going to be a stellar addition to Planet Word.
We’ll be sure to keep you informed about when Lexicon Lane will be ready for the public, as well as any other wordplay-oriented features and activities Planet Word has in store. In the meantime, be sure to follow Planet Word on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) for further updates of interest to word lovers of all ages.
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