Jun

Say cheese!

We’re making history (again) at the Smithsonian staff picnic June 30. Come out to the Mall at 10:30 and join us!

Smithsonian Staff making the SI sun burst with about 4000 staff. Smithsonian Photo by Dane Penland

During the Staff Picnic five years ago, nearly 4,000 members of the Smithsonian community gathered in front of the Castle to form the world’s largest Smithsonian sunburst. The resultant image traveled far and wide, both online and in print, and helped demonstrate why the Smithsonian is such a great and spirited place to work. The image was probably the first Smithsonian-wide staff photo ever attempted in our history.

So now, we’re going to make history again!

The Smithsonian Community Committee invites all staff, volunteers, interns, fellows, and alumni to participate in the 2015 staff photo on the Mall.

When? Tuesday, June 30, on the day of the Staff Picnic.

Where? On the National Mall between 3rd and 4th streets, across from the National Museum of the American Indian

To participate, please check in on the National Mall beginning at 10:30 a.m. at either of the two 4th Street check points. From there, staff volunteers will guide you to holding areas from which we will fill the chalk outlines of the Sunburst.

Please assemble on time as we hope to take the photo by 11 a.m.

Free stuff! We’re handing out free Smithsonian umbrellas to the first 5,000 staff, interns, fellows, volunteers and alumni who go through the photo checkpoints. You’ll like these, rain or shine!

To celebrate the five-year anniversary of the last staff photo, and to give everyone an idea of what to expect, SCC has placed a zoomable ultra-high resolution image of that event here:

https://collab.si.edu/sites/SI/SCC/Pages/Sunburst.aspx

The image can be downloaded and printed. However to zoom around the image (if you were there, you’ll no doubt find yourself), type in your SI user name and password. Use the controls beneath the image to move in, out, or around.

Come help us make history again. And thank you to the amazing Folklife Festival crew, the SI photographers, and so many others who are making this endeavor possible.

See you out on the Mall!