Duluth Children's Museum: Endless Opportunities for Partnership and Play
The Duluth Children's Museum is a place for every family to learn and play. Highlighting local cultures through new exhibits and programming, the museum will build on its strong foundation to build new partnerships and opportunities to reach audiences throughout the region.
$1,030,000 the first year and $950,000 the second year are for arts and cultural heritage grants to children's museums for arts and cultural exhibits and related educational outreach programs.Of this amount, $500,000 each year is for the Minnesota Children's Museum for interactive exhibits and outreach programs on arts and cultural heritage, including the Minnesota Children's Museum in Rochester; $150,000 each year is for the Duluth Children's Museum; $150,000 each year is for the Grand Rapids Children's Museum; $150,000 each year is for the Southern Minnesota Children's Museum for the Mni Wiconi and other arts and cultural exhibits; and $80,000 the first year is for the Wheel and Cog Children's Museum of Hutchinson for interactive exhibits and outreach programs on arts and cultural heritage.
- A new exhibit and related programming targeting 1 to 5 year old visitors will be completed, with positive feedback from families with children in this demographic and engagement gauged through evaluative observation.
- Programming will appeal to schools and community organizations, resulting in an increase in field trips by 5% and outreach opportunities by 5% compared to the last project period.
- New partnerships will be formed, including connections with other area attractions and youth service agencies, that expand the museum to new audiences and communities.
- Exhibits have followed the timeline as proposed, with the successful 2017 summer exhibit Velocity and Let’s Play Railway transitioning to the temporary Listening to the Parks exhibit, followed by the Wood and Fabric artist in residence program. In December, the museum opened the Superhero Training Academy exhibit, an inhouse developed experience that has been a tremendous draw for visiting families and schools. Finally, Klutz Amazing Immature was brought in for the summer, serving a broader age range than past exhibits, perfect for our summer audience. In this project period, 45,680 visitors experienced the museum, an 11% increase over the prior period and our highest attendance on record.
- Field trips ended the year up 7% and outreach opportunities were up 9% over the previous project period.
- One of two camps were held in partnership with Positive Energy Outdoors with the support of a DNR grant. 3 collaborative STEM workshops were held with 4-H serving 62 youth. The Greater Downtown Council provided an empty storefront during the holiday shopping season where the museum created a temporary Pop Up Playspace. Working with the Bong Museum, we participated in the region's first Field Trip expo for area educators. Together with the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission, we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Legacy Amendment with hundreds of families. The Boston, Brooklyn, and Duluth Children's Museum's have formed a collaboration to explore better management practices for our historic collections.
$1,030,000 the first year and $950,000 the second year are for arts and cultural heritage grants to children's museums for arts and cultural exhibits and related educational outreach programs.Of this amount, $500,000 each year is for the Minnesota Children's Museum for interactive exhibits and outreach programs on arts and cultural heritage, including the Minnesota Children's Museum in Rochester; $150,000 each year is for the Duluth Children's Museum; $150,000 each year is for the Grand Rapids Children's Museum; $150,000 each year is for the Southern Minnesota Children's Museum for the Mni Wiconi and other arts and cultural exhibits; and $80,000 the first year is for the Wheel and Cog Children's Museum of Hutchinson for interactive exhibits and outreach programs on arts and cultural heritage.
- New programs and experiences geared to preschool children will result in an increase first time memberships.
- Programming will appeal to schools and community organizations, resulting in an increase in field trips by 5% and outreach opportunities by 5% compared to the last project period.
- Three new partnerships will be formed, including connections with other area attractions and youth service agencies, that expand the museum to new audiences. A new partnership with Ecolibrium3 will result in an increase in engagement with Lincoln Park residents.
- The combination of building the museum's new toddler area, focused on gross motor skill development and collaborative learning with caregivers, and the new monthly Early Explorers program, which provides special hours exclusively to children under age 3 and their adults, has created an influx of new preschool aged visitors and first time family memberships. The Monkey with a Toolbelt exhibit was designed with preschool interaction in mind.
- 1,377 children participated in Field Trips. 5,122 children and families participated in Outreach programming, which continues to bring programming to underserved neighborhoods through existing partner organizations including Community Action Duluth and Gary New Duluth Community Center, as well as the addition of weekly summer programs in coordination with Duluth Parks and Recreation.
- New partnerships have been formed with Zinema, which provided a series of free movies for families paired with the museum facilitated learning activities and the City of Duluth, which brought the museum on to program a week long Pop Up Playspace in Canal Park and the winter Cold Front festival. New onsite programming partnerships have been created with Konjo Yoga and the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. The museum also had the unique opportunity to bring outreach programming to hundreds of Twin Cities residents and visitors at the Mall of America during an event coordinated by Visit Duluth. The relationship with Ecolibrium3 has resulted in an AmeriCorps member dedicated to community engagement and capacity building.