The Butterfly Project Installation Opening and Reception is a free event for the public and suitable for all ages.

The Simi Valley Butterfly Project has been a community effort with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, the Butterfly Project Now, the Simi Valley Youth Council, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, Simi Valley Unified School District, Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, Simi Valley Senior Center and more than 500 local middle and high school students all working together in its development.

The Butterfly Project (Zikaron V’Tikvah ~ Hebrew for Remembrance and Hope) was co-founded in 2006 by educator Jan Landau and artist Cheryl Rattner Price. Jan and Cheryl started this as an initiative at the San Diego Jewish Academy to take Holocaust education out of the textbook and bring it to life in a way that inspires students to make the world a better place. Butterfly Project participants paint ceramic butterflies that are displayed as symbols of resilience and hope, with the goal of creating 1.5 million butterflies around the world - one for each child who perished in the Holocaust, and honoring the survivors.

The project draws on inspiration from The Diary of Anne Frank, the poem The Butterfly written during the Holocaust, and the documentary film Paper Clips. At this time, The Butterfly Project is now a global memorial with over 200 communities counting together, including Canada, Mexico, Israel, Australia, France, Tanzania, Cuba, Morocco and Poland.