than doubled its exhibition space and provided an expansive, permanent home to its education department; and added new features to the Baltimore cultural landscape (including the Hughes Family Outdoor Theater, the LeRoy Hoffberger Speaker's Corner, and more). AVAM's Flicks from the Hill Outdoor Movie Series was included in Travel + Leisure'' magazine's list of "World's Best Free Stuff." Further, the magazine also cited AVAM as one of the "10 Places to See Before You're 10." Community involvement AVAM has a long history of programs and practices intended to better the community. In 1997, several of AVAM's few full-time employees were hired directly from local homeless shelters. The murals which constitute the Museum's exterior walls were created and installed by members of AVAM's youth-at-risk and youth-incarcerated mosaic apprenticeship program in 2000. AVAM sponsors Baltimore artistic events, including art car events and the annual East Coast Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race. In 2010, AVAM started an After School program in collaboration with nearby Federal Hill Preparatory School, giving students access to the museum's collections and art workshop offerings. In October 2012, some pieces made by these students were auctioned off to benefit the Children's Home in Catonsville. AVAM expanded the program to a series of free workshops, called The Institute for Visionary Explorers, in the Enoch Pratt Free Library in 2012. AVAM was also the site of the inaugural Steps for the Cure, a breast cancer awareness event and fundraiser. Exhibitions As of 2015, AVAM has hosted 20 annual "mega-exhibitions," all of which “take one grand spirited theme that has inspired or bedeviled humankind from the get-go” in keeping with the 7 tenets of the museum's “Sure-Fire Recipe for Enchantment." Main thematic exhibitions Tree of Life • November 1995 – May 1996 Wind in My Hair • May 1996 – May 1997 The End is Near! • May 1997 – May 1998 Love: Error and Eros • May 16, 1998 – May 30, 1999 We are Not Alone - Angels and Other Aliens • October 2, 1999 – September 3, 2000 • Curated by Susan Subtle Treasures of the Soul: Who is Rich? • October 7, 2000 – September 2, 2001 The Art of War and Peace—October 6, 2001 – September 1, 2002 High on Life • October 5, 2002 – September 1, 2003 Golden Blessings of Old Age & Out of the Mouths of Babes • October 4, 2003 – September 5,