M.E.S.A. (Museum Enrichment Series for All) featuring the North Shore Children’s Museum
Join Lynn Museum/LynnArts on the second Wednesday of each month at noon for M.E.S.A. (Museum Enrichment Series for All). This lecture series covers wellness, genealogy, and current events and features local experts, community members, Museum staff, and others.
This program takes place over Zoom / Facebook Live.
We are excited to welcome Ali Haydock and Holly Watson of the North Shore Children’s Museum. Located in Peabody, Massachusetts, the North Shore Children’s Museum encourages children and families to learn through play and exploration. Featuring 15 hands-on exhibits, including Farm to Table, Sensory Play, Gross Motor Skills, and more, NSCM offers the perfect amount of education and imagination for children and their families, all in the heart of the North Shore. Learn about their journey from a 2019 pop-up museum to a dedicated space for inclusive learning experiences accessible to children and families across the North Shore.
About Ali: Ali is the Executive Director of North Shore Children’s Museum in Peabody, MA, which she curated and opened in October 2022 with the City of Peabody. NSCM sold over 23,000 tickets to residents of 230 towns in its first 9 months of operations. Ali builds and leverages relationships in the community to strengthen NSCM and prioritizes inclusion as key parts of the museum’s mission. Prior to NSCM, Ali was the Director of Development at Citizens Inn, a Peabody nonprofit focused on breaking down barriers that lead to food insecurity and homelessness, where she was exposed to the inequities brought on by broken systems. Ali began her career at Harvard and Mass General Hospital, where she learned the best practices in fundraising and worked closely on principal and major gift strategies.
Ali grew up in western Massachusetts and currently lives in Hamilton with her husband and three kids. When she is not running the museum or running after her kids, Ali loves to read, run, ski, and play tennis.
Ali graduated from Holy Cross with a BA in Psychology and from Boston University with an MBA in nonprofit management. She spent a year at the University of Melbourne, living at Trinity College.
About Holly: Holly Watson is the Assistant Director at North Shore Children’s Museum. Previously, Holly worked in visitor services and marketing at The House of the Seven Gables in Salem, MA. She has a graduate degree in Museum Studies with a focus in Education from Tufts University. Holly spent many, many years on pool decks as a lifeguard and swim coach and brings her love of programming for children from her time at Hayden Recreation Centre in Lexington, MA to her current role at NSCM. When not at work, Holly can be found at the beach in the summer and curled up indoors with a book in the winter.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Lynn Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
