With the grand opening of the newly renovated and expanded Sienna Plantation this coming weekend, Neil Gordon, the museum’s chief executive officer, is taking stock of their message.
“I think the message of it is that every kid is naturally a scientist,” said Gordon. “That they’re creative, they’re curious, they know how to explore, how to experiment, how to try things out and we’re giving them the chance to do that in an endlessly open-ended way.”
Saturday and Sunday, July 14-15, the Sienna Plantation Children’s Museum will reveal its new building and new exhibits, the result of a multi-million dollar fundraising campaign. And as a thank you to the community, kids under 12 will be admitted free this weekend.
The original goal was $8.4 million. Gordon said they surpassed that amount, raising $8.8 million. The project began with a site reconfiguration completed in 2016, the construction of Sienna Plantation Children’s Museum, and the outdoor nature play area, and culminated in combining the museum’s two buildings into one large building, effectively doubling the size of the place to 15,000 square feet. The remainder of the money will be used to create a bit of an operational reserve.
