Hundreds of parents and children gathered in the Hammer Museum‘s courtyard on Sunday morning for its annual Kids’ Art Museum Project (K.A.M.P.) fundraiser.
The Westwood museum utilized its outdoor space to host stations featuring art projects, Annie Campbell food, and music by DJ Reprise and kids band The Sunday Dreamers. A highlight of the day was several children’s storytime readings with celebrity guests Henry Winkler, Chrissy Teigen and Crystal Kung Minkoff. Author Kelly Yang also read to the crowd of children.
Winkler kicked off the reading by introducing his grandchildren to the crowd. The 78-year-old read from three of the books he’s co-authored and introduced the children to his book series, Detective Duck, pausing at times to show the crowd the book’s illustrations. The actor even shared a chapter from the latest Detective Duck book, which is expected to be released later this month.
For the older kids in attendance, Winkler read from a chapter book in his Hank Zipzer series, Hank Zipzer: I Got a D in Salami. The actor explained that he struggled with school growing up and that the character Hank in the book series is meant to be him. Winkler has published over 12 Hank Zipzer books over the last decade. The 78-year-old co-authored both Detective Duck and Hank Zipzer with Lin Oliver.
Teigen and Minkoff both opted for Dr. Seuss classics for their storytime. Teigen read what she described as one of her favorite books, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, which earned her excited attention from kids, parents and a Girl Scout troupe.
Artists Jackie Amézquita, Sayre Gomez, Zoe Latta, Ruby Neri, Roksana Pirouzmand, Umar Rashid, Paul Mpagi Sepuya and Kyungmi Shin created kids-approved art activities based on their own style and practices. Kids in attendance were able to try a variety of crafts including kite-making, custom T-shirt designing, a weaving project, painting on clay, mapmaking and several portrait styles.
K.A.M.P. raised $230,000 to support free Hammer Kids programs, which serve thousands of children and families throughout the year.
