Pamela V. Brown

Write Path, an L.L.C.  

Photo by Ron Kosen / Photo-Spectrum

   Kauai Business Report, February 2004

Children's Discovery Museum Celebrates 10 Years in Business

Goals for its second decade include community partnerships

By Pamela V. Brown

Moving from kiosk to kiosk and filling out a clue sheet, children can touch, feel and see with their own eyes what life may have been like for early naval explorers who lived aboard ships during long sea voyages. Through clever, yet deceivingly simple tasks, curious keiki can learn about navigation, art, biology and even what kind of four-footed critters stole away on ocean-going ships.

"The thing we loved about this exhibit is that there's a story there," said Frank Reilly, the museum's developmental officer. "You're not just doing unrelated things and then moving on." That's one of the main concepts of a children's discovery museum - for kids to be able to have hands-on experiences with science and history to learn why those subjects matter in the real world.

With the help of museum docents, the activities surrounding the 15 elements of the Sea Chest Secret exhibit can be tailored to just about any age group, Reilly said. Younger children enjoy pushing and pulling the moving parts of each station, while older children can learn about 18th and 19th century explorers such as Captain James Cook and Captain William Bligh and apply that knowledge to modern job opportunities.

"We want to show kids that there are professions that stem from these types of things," Reilly said. To that end the museum has brought in an archeologist, a historian and other professionals at special events to give talks to children.

Sea Chest Secret, an exhibit created by and on loan from the Australian firm Questacon, will be at the museum through all of 2004 - possibly longer, depending upon funding. Exhibits such as Sea Chest can cost upwards of $60,000 per year - big bucks for a non-profit that charges only $4 for a child's daily admission or $45 for a one-year family membership. The cost of this exhibit is partially underwritten by a grant from Hawaiian Council for the Humanities.

As the museum completes its 10th year serving Kauai families, keeping money flowing in to afford quality exhibits has become critical, Reilly said, especially in the wake of 9/11, after which funding sources either dried up or became more restrictive. Right about the same time, the museum's free ride at Kauai Village Shopping center ended and it was asked to begin paying rent on its 6,900 square foot space in the back of the center under the clock tower, for the first time in 18 months.

Shopping center manager Wade Lord said he'd given the museum rent-free tenure for so long because the space had been a bust for more retail-oriented businesses who needed heavy walk-in traffic and frontage. "It was also our way of doing community service," he said, noting that parents bringing their children in to the museum helped increase foot traffic for neighboring stores.

Lord said he thought having the museum located in the clock tower "would compliment our existing retail tenants so they'd have some excitement and energy going on around them."

Times and market conditions have changed, Lord said, the shopping center owner wanted some financial return on the space, though the museum is now paying a "substantially discounted" rate.

Museum staff took the change in stride, regrouped and realized that attracting families that are visiting Kauai would help increase the flow of people and funds through the museum. "We've always had the intent of being more visitor-focused and this year by necessity we're forced to do it." Reilly said. "We find with visitor families the mom or dad is walking the kid through. It's a very intergenerational experience."

That's a large part of what Robin Mazor, the museum's founder and executive director, has always envisioned. "Science centers are for people of all ages," Mazor said.

The museum's family-style, visitor-oriented expansion idea impressed the Hawaii Tourism Authority funding selection committee and helped the museum secure an HTA grant, said Kauai HTA representative Nalani Brun. Members of the visitor industry "like this island being a family-style vacation so we need to offer more family things," she said. "The museum is perfect for that. They always bring in wonderful exhibits which everyone loves."

Being in business for 10 years has proven that the museum can weather the hardships of being a non-profit organization on a small island, Brun said. "Robin's energy amazes all of us."

Creating Community Partnerships

Creating new ways to partner with island businesses is also key to building on the organization's longevity and value to the community, Reilly said. A recent event brought well-known ocean artist Wyland to the museum and children were able to paint alongside him. In exchange for Wyland's time and support, the museum made all arrangements and orchestrated all the press coverage, publicizing Wyland's involvement. As an added bonus, the event previewed to participants and their parents an educational state program called "Hawaii's Living Reef" - a perfect fit for Wyland's desire to preserve the environments he paints.

Sometimes community partnerships help the Kauai Children's Discovery Museum do things they couldn't possibly do themselves - like shipping back to Oahu life-sized replicas of whales and giant squid that were part of the museum's "Journey into the Deep" exhibit that closed last summer. Kauai Commercial's Tim Hoxie and Ron Victorino to the rescue.

"From time to time we do trucking for her (Mazor) at no cost," said Victorino, Kauai Commercial's operations supervisor. In exchange, Kauai Commercial, Matson Navigation and their parent company, Alexander and Baldwin, were mentioned in the museum's newsletter that was sent to the museum's 400-plus member families.

"It always helps for the public to know that Kauai Commercial is community-minded," Victorino said.

Reilly says that's one the great selling points about businesses financially supporting the museum. "You're saying 'we care.' It's different than putting an ad in the paper. There's a halo over a children's museum."

Museum staff aren't planning to stand around with their hands outstretched for money, Reilly said. In exchange for sponsorship, a business can get free passes to the museum for its employees or customers, host a family-friendly event there or be mentioned in museum flyers about upcoming events.

Packages are tailored for each business. "We're trying to orchestrate something that's a win-win for everybody," he said.

Occasionally the museum can host free admission days if a business donates at least $500, as the Rotary Club of Kapaa has done several times in years past. "We usually get a total of 350 to 400 people through the doors," Reilly said. "A lot of people are cash-strapped and can't afford a family membership to the museum, but they do come on the free admission days. It speaks to the need."

Even though the museum welcomes more than 20,000 people through its doors annually, there are kids who need transportation to the site. The museum's new van helps a bit. Funded through various community grants, the van "allows us to be a museum on wheels," Reilly said. "The van has gotten kids in here who might never have come in."

Reilly sees the children's museum as providing a middle-ground for kids who don't fall into traditional categories, such as very athletic or very studious. Giving children a place to go that's both enjoyable and educational dovetails with island drug prevention efforts.

The museum "leads kids to aspire to something more," Reilly said. "It's fun. Kids love being here."

Contact Information:

Pamela V. Brown

(808) 651-3533 cell

(808) 821-1027 fax

pam@writepath.net

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