Recordings Accessible Online, in Gallery Exhibit, Children's Museum, Other Venues

"Hear Me," an initiative of the Robotics Institute's CREATE Lab, has been listening to children of all ages talk about issues important to them. Bullying. Education. Healthy choices. Environmental Issues. Aspirations. Transitions.

With more than 2,500 of these stories and thoughts now recorded, Hear Me, http://www.hear-me.net/, is giving people throughout southwestern Pennsylvania a chance to listen as well.

Some of the audio recordings are included in "Hear Me: Month of the Young Child Exhibition," on the first floor of the Carlyle Building at Fourth and Wood Street, Downtown. Public receptions are from 4 to 8 p.m. April 21 and April 29 from 4 to 8 p.m. The exhibit is being presented jointly with the Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children.

But all of the audio recordings, many of them created with the help of The Saturday Light Brigade, also can be accessed anytime via the project's digital archive, http://www.tell-port.net/. Hear Me also is exhibited in the quiet room of the Children's Museum on the North Side, a space where kids can also draw and write stories.

"Now that we've collected so many of these stories from children across the region, we're turning our attention to making these available to the public in many different venues," said Heide Waldbaum, director of the Hear Me project. Hear Me is working with a variety of organizations, retailers businesses and media that will feature the project's recordings, written and visual stories over the coming months.

The idea behind Hear Me is to use technology and media to engage children in conversations about issues important in their lives, their communities and the region enabling them a chance to be heard and to create positive change for their future. The project is supported by Anonymous; the Benedum Foundation; the Buhl Foundation; the Grable Foundation; and the Held Fund, the H. John Heinz III Fund, and the Melinda Morrow Hicks Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation.