As seen in Best of Burlington - Summer 2009
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Preserving Play
A BURLINGTON GROUP IS DETERMINED TO OPEN A LOCAL CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
By Erica Donnis
By all accounts, Burlington is a wonderful place to raise a child. National organizations and media outlets have consistently ranked our fair city and its surroundings as one of the greenest, healthiest, and safest in the United States. We have a wide array of family-friendly places and programs at our disposal, as well as significant support for parents and kids from social service organizations. Given this track record, it is perhaps surprising that Burlingtonians do not have a children’s museum. In fact, Vermont is one of only six states without one, but that may be about to change.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “child-driven” unconstructed play is essential to physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.
Establishing a Plan
Since 2003, eight advocates and more than 30 additional volunteers have been working to establish the nonprofit Green Mountain Children’s Museum (GMCM). What they envision is a year-round space for unstructured play designed for a diverse audience of local and visiting children (and their caregivers) up to age eight. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “child-driven” unconstructed play is essential to physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. However, since the late 1970s, American children have lost 12 hours per week of free time. The free time they do have is increasingly spent in front of television: the average kid currently spends more than four hours a day watching TV and movies or playing video games.
Mindful of that, the GMCM’s board has done its homework. Their program goals and business plan cap five years of research, including parent surveys, conversations with area nonprofit and philanthropic leaders, and reviews of children’s museums in similar communities. The business plan aims for financial sustainability through affordability, stressing community impact and long-term organizational health. Admission fees will be reasonable, about $5 per adult. Even so, they estimate that the new museum will attract 50,000 visitors in its first year, which will add more than $1 million to the local economy. Moreover, they expect to earn approximately 70 percent of their operating budget, which will reduce the need to compete for philanthropic dollars.
Scouting Locations
Current efforts are focused on finding a suitable location. Board members are negotiating with the city of Burlington to occupy a portion of the proposed redeveloped Moran Plant at the northern end of Waterfront Park. GMCM would share the facility with two other proposed tenants: the nonprofit Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center, and Ice Factor, a for-profit company that would develop climbing, skating, and restaurant facilities.
The Moran Plant has been the focus of debate for several years. At the heart of the matter is how the community can best be served by an aging industrial structure on prime waterfront land and held in the public trust: by demolishing it to create a park, or by rehabilitating it and leasing it to nonprofit and/or for-profit tenant(s). In March 2008, after lengthy public discussion, Burlington voters approved an advisory measure allowing the city to proceed with the planning phases of the Moran rehabilitation project. Seven months later, the museum board signed a memorandum of understanding with city officials. At press time, the city and proposed tenants were discussing the details of the project design, as well as each party’s financial contribution. GMCM’s cost share was initially estimated to be ten percent of a total project budget of $21 million. However, design revisions under negotiation may reduce these amounts. If all goes well, construction may begin in 2010.
Community Support
Local parents and community leaders express enthusiasm for GMCM and its mission. Fletcher Free Library co-director Robert Resnik says he would “love to see it succeed.” Roxane Leopold, former executive director of the King Street Youth Center, praises the GMCM board for “their efforts to be inclusive, affordable, and complementary to other area organizations.” South Burlington mother of three Katherine Hunter speaks for many parents when she says that she “cannot wait for it to open.”
Accomplishing that goal may prove challenging. A number of city residents remain unconvinced of the suitability or viability of the Moran Plant. Although a strong GMCM supporter, Resnik considers the location inappropriate. He favors demolishing the structure, fearing that current plans may not generate enough revenue to justify a large taxpayer investment, and that the project “will open the northern part of the waterfront to development.”
Supporters must also heed lessons from similar efforts, such as the child-oriented Discovery Museum in Essex Junction. After operating for more than 20 years, it closed in 1998 due to financial instability caused at least in part from its reliance of a small community for both patronage and philanthropic support. GMCM board members are mindful of these issues and, given the current economic conditions affecting Vermont and beyond, eager to ensure that they have broad community support before going forward. They would position the museum as an attraction for locals and tourists alike, rather than a hyper-local community institution. “GMCM pledges to complement other nonprofit organizations, not compete with them,” asserts board member and Shelburne resident Mia Graham Beer, a mother of two.
Clearly Burlington stands to benefit if and when the museum opens, with the emphasis on when. It may be a tall order, but the board seems up to the challenge. As Beer puts it, “We are committed now more than ever to preserve play as a vital part of childhood.”
Erica Donnis is an independent historian and museum consultant based in Burlington.