Short Takes

Museums & Attractions

• San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum will be hosting a traveling exhibition of archaeological treasures this fall from the National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, exploring the cultural heritage of ancient Afghanistan from the Bronze Age through the rise of trade along the Silk Road in the first century A.D. Among the nearly 230 works on view will be artifacts dating back more than 4,000 years, as well as gold objects from the famed Bactrian hoard, a 2,000-year-old treasure cache discovered in 1978 but hidden from view until 2003. The gold objects from graves excavated at the northern site of Tillya Tepe were long thought to have been stolen or destroyed during the years of conflict in the region. This exhibition, Afghanistan: Hidden Treasure from the National Museum, Kabul, was organized by the National Geographic Society and the National Gallery of Art in association with the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For more information, call 415.581.3500 or visit www.asianart.org.

• InterContinental Los Angeles Century City is offering a new executive meeting package for groups of six to 46 people. The hotel has partnered with Nationwide Speakers & Entertainment in Los Angeles to offer a team-building program named Lights, Camera, InterAction. The leaders, all boasting Hollywood credentials, take teams of 15 or more and set them into the roles of actors, directors, cameramen, script writers, and more with a goal to create a 60-second commercial about their company. Lights, Camera, InterAction provides studio equipment with a variety of choices of wardrobe, make-up, props, camera, sound equipment, and editing stations. For more information, call 310.284.6500 or visit www.intercontinental.com/losangeles.

• Team-building experts Odyssey Teams recently created a Helping Hands program to aid thousands of people in developing countries who have lost hands to landmine explosions or political violence. The program challenges participants, many from Fortune 500 corporations and other businesses, to assemble artificial hands for later donation overseas. The goal is for participants in Helping Hands to learn teamwork by confronting and discussing their challenging assignment. The new program is part of the company’s evolution of philanthropic training programs. Odyssey is working in conjunction with the Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation. Odyssey Teams also runs the Life Cycles program in which participants build free bikes for needy children. For more information, call 530.342.3445 or visit www.odysseyteams.com.