The Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation will host a public ceremony to unveil a bronze statue of Amelia Earhart — identical to the statue recently installed at the U.S. Capitol — at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022.
The ceremony will be held in front of the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum at Amelia Earhart Memorial Airport (K59) in Atchison, Kansas, Earhart’s hometown.
“Although it was a historic milestone to bring Amelia Earhart to the U.S. Capitol in July, we are especially thrilled to finally unveil this twin bronze statue of Amelia in her beloved Atchison, Kansas, hometown,” said Karen Seaberg, founder and president of the Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation. “This magnificent statue will stand as an enduring symbol of Amelia’s inspiring legacy that will welcome visitors to the state-of-the-art Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum when it opens to the public in 2023.”
Those attending the ceremony also will have the chance to experience “Meet Amelia” — one of the first exhibits installed in the new Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum. “Meet Amelia” is a 10-foot art-deco stylized installation on the south wall of the museum foyer featuring a lifelike, digitally animated portrayal of Amelia Earhart who greets visitors, talks about her life, and offers inspiring messages, museum officials explained.
“Meet Amelia” — developed by Kansas-based experience design firm Dimensional Innovations (DI) — combines an actress performing the welcoming dialogue with artificial intelligence to bring Amelia to life. Trained by historical images and footage of Amelia from the 1930s, artificial intelligence replaces the actress’s face with Amelia’s likeness — a process that took more than 1,000 hours of computation using computer-generated imagery software, museum officials said.
When the museum opens in 2023, “Meet Amelia” will welcome visitors before they enter the main floor of the museum.
The Sept. 24 ceremony will also include remarks from Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, U.S. Congressman Jake LaTurner, and other Kansas and Atchison civic leaders.