Theater Artist Wins Month At The Museum
CHICAGO (WBBM/CBS/AP) - A 24-year-old Chicago theater artist has won the chance to live at the Museum of Science and Industry for a month.
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Officials announced Wednesday that Kate McGroarty beat out 1,500 other applicants in the Month at the Museum contest. She will spend the next month blogging, tweeting and posting video, and interacting with museum guests.
McGroarty will also have full access to the whole museum. She will get to take a peek into the nooks and crannies of the museum that are normally off-limits to visitors, and she'll sleep absolutely anywhere she wants.
"I know I'm going to sleep in the (U-505) German submarine; I don't know, hopefully the Coal Mine," McGroarty said. "I don't know. We'll find out."
But if the Coal Mine isn't the most comfortable sleeping quarters, McGroarty will also have a soft bed to snuggle up in.
With the help of CB2, the museum has put together a glass cube on the main floor, which has been outfitted into a "chic science geek bedroom." But once the project actually gets underway, the space will mostly be used as an office for blogging, social networking and Web video production, museum spokeswoman Beth Boston said over the summer.
There will also be private living quarters with a shower and other accommodations upstairs.
McGroarty spent her childhood in Minnesota "climbing trees, catching frogs and putting on plays in my backyard." When not working as a theater writer, director, teacher and performer, she spends time bicycling on the lakefront, inventing new games, and "co-writing musicals about sloths with my roommates."
"I've always wanted to be an explorer. Well, when I was around two I wanted to be a fire truck," McGroarty wrote on her application essay, which was reprinted in part by the museum. "After I recovered from the crushing realization that I would never grow wheels, I wanted to go on adventures. Moving into a museum for an entire month and sharing that journey with the public sounds like one of the biggest adventures I could have in my lifetime."
When she's done, McGroarty will take home $10,000, a lifetime museum membership, and a package of tech gadgets.
The four other finalists will receive consolation packages and a $100 retailer gift card.
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