The Hippie Museum
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by Neill Kramer
The Hippie Museum --- Peace, Love, Learning
Mission: The Hippie Museum is dedicated to understanding and extending
key elements of the hippie movement that began in the 1960s. Some of
those key elements are: believing in peace and love as a transformative
process – both personally and politically; self-sufficiency/
back-to-the-land; ingenuity in architecture, fashion, and
transportation; using music as a collective tool; utilizing tolerance
as a method of dealing with interpersonal relations. The Hippie Museum
and its associated web site, www.hippiemuseum.org, will engage visitors
with historical information and media, as well as ongoing workshops,
retreats, etc.
Description: The web site will be the driving force behind the
definition and ultimate construction of the actual museum. The site’s
development will be an organic process, both in terms of content and in
terms of the mechanics of developing the museum.
Some ideas for now:
- hippie vehicles that have been restored to their former glory
- cool treehouses and other alternative shelters (teepees, octagons,
domes)
- walkways between the vehicles and the shelters
- exhibits in the vehicles and shelters
- a main house that would allow for communal dining, a small theater, a
gift shop, etc.
- a stage – for live concerts, lectures, poetry readings, etc.
- organic gardens (for providing meals, education, etc.)
- workshops on music, food, healing, crafts, consciousness-raising, etc.
- kids activities that revolve around sixties art practices (pop-art,
etc)
- artists in residence
- hot tubs or mineral hot spring pools
- an inn that could house folks when there's weekend or weeklong events
The ongoing role of the museum is not only to present the realm of the
hippie era in a fun and historically accurate way, but also to serve as
a resource center or clearinghouse for current hippie-related
information and activism. In addition, the idea of a museum should be
redefined, in the same way that the hippies redefined what Amercian
youth was all about.
