Minnesota Children’s Museum Arts and Access Programs 1
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.
$1,100,000 the first year and $900,000 the second year are for arts and cultural heritage grants to children's museums. Of this amount, $600,000 the first year and $400,000 the second year are for the Minnesota Children's Museum, $200,000 each year is for the Duluth Children's Museum, $100,000 each year is for the Grand Rapids Children's Museum, and $200,000 each year is for the Southern Minnesota Children's Museum.
1. Minnesota Children's Museum-Rochester (MCM-R) will engage adults and children in Southern Minnesota in exhibits and programs that build creative and critical thinking skills 2. MCM-R will expand participation by Minnesotans who currently are underserved due to financial or other barriers, by building a Play for All access program that includes free family memberships, targeted events with partner non-profit agencies and programs for school and community groups 3. Children and families will engage in creative art-making and building during the Creativity Jam exhibit at Minnesota Children's Museum’s downtown Saint Paul site. 4. Creativity Jam will provide access to creative play for more than 200,000 people. More than 40,000 will be served through the Museum’s ongoing free or reduced-price admission programs, which are funded by additional community partners. 5. Creativity Jam will provide an opportunity to expand Minnesota Children’s Museum’s offerings around art-making and other creative projects, leading to new iterations of these programs in the future. Visitors will be engaged in exhibit design process itself, as their participation in Creativity Jam will help lead to new and expanded creative programming at the museum. 6. The touring Storyland exhibit will catalyze children’s development of a disposition to read. 7. By experiencing the storyland exhibit, adults will increase awareness that literacy development begins in infancy and continues through adulthood. 8. Storyland will increase adults’ awareness of their key role in cultivating their children’s literacy through everyday activities.
1. 32,365 visitors experienced exhibits and programs at MCM-Rochester
2. 415 free family memberships provided for low-income families in Olmsted County
3. Conducted 8 Family nights welcoming 699 visitors at MCM-Rochester
4. Hosted 37 school and community groups, welcoming 1,035 students and chaperones at MCM-Rochester
5. Creativity Jam was open twice during the grant period: October 12, 2013-January 20, 2014 and May 24 – July 31, 2014
6. Creativity Jam had 231,396 visitors, 76,287 of which visited Creativity Jam through our Play for All access program