Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert hopes to reopen with community support
“We’re hoping it’s just going to be a completely reimagined museum,” Cindy Burreson, interim executive director for the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert told News Channel 3.
Nearly a year after closing its doors, the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert is making plans for its future.
Read Article: Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert closes indefinitely, lays off staff because of pandemic
“People that came here as children are now bringing their children here and so we want this to be a resource for families in the future as well but it’s got such a great history and so many people love this gem here in the desert that we really want to give back to the community something that they really deserve and that they’ll really take notice of the changes," Burreson said.
They're not planning on construction but are working with the original building designer to revitalize the inside.
“More of exhibitry and then maybe doing programming in one of the other buildings. And broaden our audience to include older kids, families, maybe parenting classes and things like that,” she said.
To make this happen, they’re calling out to the community to join their board of directors.
“We’re developing our board to have people that are really committed to this cause because it’s going to be an enormous project and it’s going to take a lot of work and we want people who are really dedicated and invested in the future of the museum," she said.
The new board will help refresh the museum’s messaging and create a fundraising campaign for the reopening of the museum.
“It’s going to be determined on the community support that we get as far as fundraising efforts and that generosity and partnership in order to revitalize the museum and bring back the staff and everybody else," she said.
If you don't want to sit on their board but still want to help move this project forward, they're collecting donations now.
Donate to the museum: https://cdmod.org/get-involved/donate/
“And that can be anything," Burreson said. "It can be an individual, it can be in-kind donations, if people have ideas for fundraising events we would welcome that discussion as well so we’re really needing to reach out to the community for this,” she added.
When museums are allowed to reopen again, the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert said they probably won’t reopen for another year until after the revitalization project is complete.
“It’s really been sad," Burreson said. "I bring my kids here and this is a really good resource and the only one of its kind in this area and so our goal and our hope is that we reopen," she said.
Learn more about the museum: https://cdmod.org/
Donate to the museum: https://cdmod.org/get-involved/donate/
