Newseum Announces $5 Million Gift from Newest Founding Partner, HP

'HP New Media Gallery' to showcase ever-evolving news and information delivery systems

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Newseum — the world's most interactive museum — has announced a $5 million gift from HP to design and build a new gallery that explores the evolving media landscape and helps visitors better understand the impact that new technologies have on news and information.

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The gift, announced Sept. 30 by HP and Newseum executives at the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue, will allow the Newseum to design and build a gallery with three primary goals:

• Increase news literacy by showcasing the dramatic changes taking place in the hyperlinked world of contemporary media.
• Engage and educate visitors with compelling content, turning streams of digital data into relevant, usable information.
• Create a new user experience in which the human/technology interface is seamless, intuitive and entertaining while also being educational.

"We are most grateful to HP for this generous gift," said Newseum CEO Charles Overby. "With it, we will be able to advance the Newseum's content even further into the future and combine our 500 years of news history with even more up-to-the minute technologies."

"At HP, our technology is harnessing the power of information to change the equation for people, businesses and the world," said Michael Mendenhall, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at HP. "This interactive, innovative venture from Newseum will examine what the changing equation means for the news media and news consumers around the world."

The HP New Media Gallery at the Newseum will be constructed on Level 4 of the Newseum in a space that was part of the museum's original design but has not yet been developed.  The new gallery will use interactive media to explain the history of new media, illustrate how technology is transforming the ways people receive news, and showcase interesting new developments in the digital news realm.

Other Founding Partners of the Newseum, a nonprofit educational museum in the nation's capital, include: The Knight Foundation, The Annenberg Foundation, The New York Times–Ochs-Sulzberger Family, Bloomberg, News Corporation, Comcast and the Comcast Foundation, Cox Enterprises, Hearst Corporation, Time Warner, ABC News, NBC News, the Greenspun Family, the Bancroft Family, the Pulliam Family, and Robert H. and Clarice Smith.

About the Newseum

The Newseum is a 501(c)(3) public charity that receives support from individuals, foundations and corporations. This 250,000-square-foot museum of news offers visitors an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits. Within its seven levels of galleries and theaters, the Newseum offers a unique environment that takes museum-goers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made.

The Newseum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is $19.95 for adults, $17.95 for seniors (65 and older) and $12.95 for youth (7 to 18). Annual memberships also are available. For additional information, call 888/NEWSEUM (888/639-7386) or visit newseum.org.

Media Contacts: Newseum: Susan Bennett, 202/292-6310

SOURCE Newseum