Building on the exhibit development community engagement process carried through three successive Legacy grants, the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota used the 2013 direct appropriation to prepare for and begin building exhibit components for its permanent facility by combining professional museum expertise with local resources, volunteers, and community involvement.
The Arts and Access Programs included two major new initiatives: 1. New arts and access programming at Minnesota Children’s Museum-Rochester; and 2. Creativity Jam Exhibit, which engaged Minnesota children and families in a changing line-up of large-scale creative arts projects and loose parts play at the Minnesota Children's Museum's flagship downtown Saint Paul site.
The Children’s Discovery Museum (CDM) continued aggressive School Service Program (SSP) enrollment strategies to reach the seven new counties of Becker, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Todd, and Wadena. A new Wizard of Oz exhibit was mounted in time for the 75th Anniversary Celebration, June 10-14, 2014.
The Minnesota State Council on Disability (“MSCOD”) seeks to preserve and raise awareness of Minnesota’s disability culture in sync with the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) through a theatrical production, public opinion survey and research, and an ADA celebration/training conference. Activities will also highlight the low employment rate of people with disabilities. Most of the public activities will occur in the second year of the grant.