Tag Archives: PBS

Wimee the Robot empowers millions of children through creativity and storytelling

3-bottom, Area Education, Citizen Journalism, City of Kentwood, City of Wyoming, Education, Entertainment, Going Local, Kent County, Kids Activities, Local Business, Local Faces, Non-Profits, Our Cities, Tech Trends, Veterans, West Michigan, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Wimee the Robot is a children’s PBS character that has been inspiring youth to be creative, use their imaginations and learn through technology since 2016 (Courtesy, Michael Hyacinthe)


By Deborah Reed

WKTV Managing Editor

deborah@wktv.org


Local veteran Michael Hyacinthe created Wimee to help children learn through creativity (Courtesy, Michael Hyacinthe)

Wimee the Robot is a children’s PBS character that has been inspiring youth to be creative, use their imaginations and learn through technology since February 2016.

Michael Hyacinthe, local veteran and owner of the Has Heart Coffee Shop in Veteran’s Memorial Park, created Wimee after recognizing the power of creativity through his work with veterans and his experience as a father. Hyacinthe wanted to create a character that would also help children learn through creativity.

“I’m an entrepreneur passionate about using my talents to inspire veterans, kids and all human life – individuals – to connect with creativity,” said Hyacinthe.

Think it, See it, Share it

Hyacinthe created the Wimage app, allowing children to turn stories, thoughts and ideas into images. Through text or voice, words are instantly transformed into icons. Users can also include text, create patterns, and incorporate colors and additional images.

A Wimage can be personalized and messaged to friends, shared on social media, or posted on the website for others to see.

Soon, the idea for Wimee the Robot formed. Hyacinthe reached out to his friend and puppeteer, Kevin Kammeraad, and together they worked with puppet builder Joe Emory to make Wimee, the lovable robot puppet.

(Courtesy, Michael Hyacinthe)

Hyacinthe and Kammeraad began offering local preschool students hands-on workshops, combining imagination with the innovative technology of Wimage to create collaborative visual stories. Over the years, the duo also led collaborative visual story and collaborative books workshops in elementary school classrooms.

With humor and his love of words, Wimee helps children increase literacy and storytelling skills.

The next Sesame Street

Wimee the Robot and Michael Hyacinthe engage children at an in-person event (Courtesy, Michael Hyacinthe)

The Wimage app and Wimee the Robot continued to develop and grow.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hyacinthe and Kammeraad developed the web-based Wimee’s Words as an alternative to in-person workshops. Co-produced by Kent District Library, the interactive children’s show encourages imagination, vocabulary building and storytelling through puppetry, music and wordplay.

Through the PBS show, Wimee’s Words, Wimee the Robot reaches close to 40 million homes around the country.

“Our goal is to build the next Sesame Street for the digital age,” said Hyacinthe. “It’s a lot of work, but we’re passionate about the work that we do. We want to continue to create content to teach kids.”

Wimee’s Words viewers can join Wimee LIVE every Saturday at 11 a.m. EST on PBS.org and request songs, ask questions and suggest games to play. Wimee is also featured in the Wimee’s Words app.

Meaningful tech time

Wimee the Robot (Courtesy, Michael Hyacinthe)

The Wimee’s Words and Wimage teams consist of educators, librarians, technology developers, entrepreneurs, parents, kids and puppets who have joined together to empower all children to become producers of creative content – not just consumers of it.

The new interactive app and AI experience, Wimee’s World, was formed to incorporate the Wimage app and Wimee character, along with games, videos and conversations with the AI robot (Wimee).

Wimee’s World provides kids meaningful tech time by giving them the opportunity to become visual communicators and more creative producers using technology.

“Wimee’s World is designed with safety and creativity in mind, providing a secure environment for kids to explore, create and interact,” states the Wimee TV website.

Wimee provides a fun and safe environment for children to learn (Courtesy, pxhere.com)

“Parents can have peace of mind knowing that their children are engaging with content that is both entertaining and educational.”

Explore More sheets provide additional information and activities designed and tested by educators and families to spark imagination and curiosity.

The Wimee Creates and Wimee Learns early learning concept books, written by Stephanie Kammeraad and published by Zonderkidz/Harper Collins, are another great resource for families.

“Every day is a new chance to explore, learn and create together as a family.” (wimee.tv)

Purpose, empowerment and healing

Educating children through Wimee has helped Hyacinthe heal (Courtesy, Michael Hyacinthe)

Hyacinthe’s journeys with Wimee’s World and Has Heart may be separate ventures, but both utilize creativity to empower and heal individuals.

As a veteran battling PTSD, Hyacinthe calls the mission of Has Heart and Wimee the Robot his therapy.

“There’s something really unique about veterans,” said Hyacinthe. “We tend to want to serve. If you give us a platform where we can continue to serve, they will find a medium to heal.

“And for me, this is continuing to serve through connecting veterans and giving them hope, giving them purpose through Has Heart, and by educating kids through Wimee.”

Resource links

Find out if Wimee the Robot will be visiting near you! Click here for Wimee’s event schedule.

More information about Wimee the Robot and additional Wimee resources can be found here.

More information about Has Heart and how you can help support veterans can be found here.

GR Symphony’s Grammy-nominated, PBS TV special returns July 10 to YouTube

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Local Entertainment, , ,
Harpist extraordinary Deborah Henson-Conant performs with the Grand Rapids Symphony in Invention & Alchemy. (Supplied/GRS)

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk
Grand Rapids Symphony

The first time the “Wild Woman of the Harp” strutted onto the Grand Rapids Symphony’s stage, the audience was electrified.

Dressed in cowboy boots and a short leather mini skirt, long hair ribbons of maroon and turquoise streaming down her back, strapped into an electric harp, Deborah Henson-Conant had yet to play a note. But already the Grand Rapids Symphony and its audience knew something very special was about to happen.

Within a few years, Henson-Conant and the orchestra had recorded Invention & Alchemy, a compact disc and DVD that led the Grand Rapids Symphony to a Grammy nomination and national recognition for the TV special widely seen on PBS TV.

The Boston-based harpist, once described as the “love child of Andre Previn and Lucille Ball,” is back with the Grand Rapids Symphony for the virtual online premiere of Invention & Alchemy. The original 97-minute DVD, recorded live in DeVos Performance Hall, will premiere at 7 p.m. Friday, July 10, on YouTube, available only on an RSVP basis. Click here to RSVP for the fund-raising benefit for the Grand Rapids Symphony.

An encore premiere follows on Saturday, July 11, at 2 p.m. in the United States and internationally at 7 p.m. in the United Kingdom. 

Streaming on demand will be available July 12-17 on YouTube. Go online and RSVP for access to the July 10 premiere and receive access to behind-the-scenes videos and online events.

Deborah Henson-Conant said she had a dream about making the PBS special. (Supplied/GRS)

Invention & Alchemy features original songs and stories by Henson-Conant, performed with conductor David Lockington leading the Grand Rapids Symphony, in a wide variety of musical genres.

“It was a fantasy of mine. I literally had a dream,” Henson-Conant recalled. “I dreamed I shrunk down and strapped on a harp and played it in front of a symphony orchestra.”

The DVD was recorded live in November 2005 in DeVos Performance Hall.

“When we started this project, we knew what we wanted to do, and then we had a list of dreams,” Henson-Conant said. “One was a PBS TV special and another was a Grammy nomination.”

In 2006, Invention & Alchemy became one of five CDs nominated in the category of Best Classical Crossover Album for the 49th annual Grammy Awards in February 2007.

“It was just so thrilling to be here and to have this project nominated,” Henson-Conant told The Grand Rapids Press in February 2007. “Just to get here has been amazing.”

But beginning a few weeks later, Invention & Alchemy was seen throughout the United States as a one-hour TV special. Over the next two years, it was seen on more than 70 PBS-TV stations from coast to coast.

“I got to do something that almost no composer-performer ever gets to do, which is to bring their work alive at that level of professionalism,” Henson-Conant said. “The level at which PBS was able to take it exactly as we created it and broadcast it all over the United States.”

Several Grand Rapids Symphony musicians and former musicians are featured soloists in the show, and the entire orchestra gets into the act for a costumed, sci-fi, mini-drama titled “Danger Zone.”

With Associate Conductor John Varineau on the podium, Lockington on cello joins Henson-Conant for a mesmerizing dialogue titled “996,” which Henson-Conant describes as the night that Scheherazade, from the classic story “A Thousand and One Nights,” finally melts the heart of the Sultan.

Grand Rapids philanthropist Peter Wege, who died in July 2014, was the primary underwriter of the $500,000 project. Henson-Conant was introduced to the former Steelcase, Inc., executive following her first performance in Grand Rapids.

Peter said to me, ‘What I saw out there on stage, I want the whole world to see,’” Henson-Conant recalled.

“I tell the story from the stage, often, that meeting Peter was my Cinderella story,” Henson-Conant said. “Part of what I loved about the project was that I felt it was something Peter and I were doing together. That as philanthropist and artist, we were bringing something to the world that alone neither of us could bring.”