Michigan Science Center opens on Boxing Day

Time to follow up on some good news.  WXYZ has the video.



Michigan Science Center opens
Fox 2 News has an even livelier segment on the facility.

Fox 2 News Headlines
Those clips give a good introduction to the visitor experience.  For what's making this possible, the Free Press gives some details in Michigan Science Center celebrates holiday opening in Detroit.

The science center’s leaders announced earlier this month that they had raised more than $5 million to re-launch the beleaguered venue.

New leadership and business plans were put in place, and a new commitment to science, technology, engineering and math education were revealed. The 2013 budget for the nonprofit is less than $5 million, with staffing at about 45 people; both figures are less than half of what the numbers were before the center closed.

The Detroit News provides even more on the money.

In September, the center announced it had raised more than $2.5 million. Other contributions include a $1 million gift from the GM Foundation. Lear Corp., ITC Holdings, the Manoogian Fund, the DTE Energy Foundation and the Penske Corp. also gave. The Toyota Technical Center, a division of Toyota North America, Inc., also donated $300,000 to the science center.

Michigan Radio explains what the Michigan Science Center means to Detroit and what it hopes to accomplish.

Ben Falik, who was there for the grand opening with his dad and three-year-old son, said it’s important to have a science center in Detroit’s cultural district.

“There’s so much momentum in midtown and the cultural center now,” Falik said. “We were crestfallen, like a lot of people, when it [Detroit Science Center] closed. I think we didn’t really appreciate the science center until it was gone.”

Organizers say the Michigan Science Center will have a “broader mission” that includes outreach throughout the state, and a more formal commitment to science, technology, engineering and math education.

Michigan Science Center spokesperson Kerri Budde said the center has “broadened its mission” beyond its Detroit hub.

“We’re gonna be taking our traveling outreach statewide, versus just being southeastern Michigan. So we’re partnering with folks [from] Michigan Tech University, to the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum,” Budde said.

The Free Press elaborates on these goals.

Among the new initiatives is the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) experience, an outreach program aimed at attracting 150,000 people across the state to the science center by making it an educational hub, he said.

“We want to reform, educate and really change the experience of what the science center is moving forward,” [Todd Slisher, the center’s director of visitor experiences] said.

So, how did the Michigan Science Center do the first day?

Slisher said officials, who didn’t anticipate a snowstorm, expected 500-700 people for today’s opening, with attendance growing to about 1,000 people each day through the holiday weekend.

The Detroit News answers the next question, how many people does the center expect to visit next year?

Museum officials say they anticipate 260,000 visitors will walk through the doors in the first year of operation.

I'll do my part to make that happen by sending my students there and visiting myself.  Here's to a healthy cultural center helping lead to Detroit's recovery.

Michigan Science Center to reopen Boxing Day

It's time to follow up on Detroit's Science Center is reopening; Professor Farnsworth pleased.  First, how did Noel Night go?  MLive has the answer.

Thousands crowd into Midtown, line up outside Detroit cultural fixtures for Noel Night

DETROIT, MI -- Thousands filed into long lines outside the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Public Library, the Cathedral Church of St. Paul and other Cultural Center fixtures Saturday for the 40th annual Noel Night.

Gridlock traffic and tight parking stretched into the city's New Center as people flocked to Midtown for countless free musical acts and art exhibits.

Looks like a success to me.  One of my New Years resolutions will be to go next year.  What about the Science Center?

"They even reopened the Science Center tonight," said Brandon Carter, 22.

Plans to permanently reopen the Michigan Science Center are set to be announced next week, but it was open for a sneak peek tonight.

WXYZ and the Detroit Free Press have the news.

Science Center to reopen

The Detroit Science Center is getting ready to reopen under a new name later this month.

What's missing from this report is what this means to the community other than the auto industry, but the Free Press article includes a broader perspective.

Located behind the Detroit Institute of Arts, the science center is widely viewed as a key cultural and educational asset in Detroit and its closure was an ugly black eye for a city built on the engineering achievements of the auto industry. Before closing, it attracted about 300,000 visitors a year.

“I was very disheartened when it closed,” said Commerce Township resident Kim Murray, who regularly took her two boys, now ages 7 and 9, to the center.

“I think it’s more important than ever that kids are immersed in science and technology. We know that jobs will be more competitive than ever, and I’m not sure what the schools do is enough. The science center gave kids access to that information in a fun and entertaining way. They’re getting more out of it than they realize.”

As a science educator, I have to agree with Murray.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention what the opening of the Michigan Science Center would mean for employment.

The board projects a 2013 budget of less than $5 million with a staff of about 45, including college and high school interns as docents interacting with visitors.
...
About two dozen employees have been hired so far, a few of whom previously worked for the center.

I've already used Professor Farnsworth for this story.  Time for this month's Nablopomo badge.

Detroit's Science Center is reopening; Professor Farnsworth pleased

It's been 14 months since I wrote Detroit Science Center closed temporarily (I hope), which detailed what happened to Detroit's science museum.*  At the time, I had hoped that the institution would re-open the next month.  It turns out it's taking a lot longer, but it will reopen.  The Detroit Free Press has the news.

Detroit Science Center to reopen as Michigan Science Center; details to come next week

The former Detroit Science Center will announce its reopening date next week.

Renamed and reorganized as the Michigan Science Center, the long-dormant venue will open “sooner rather than later,” said Shelly Otenbaker, a board member who has been serving as a spokesperson for the museum, which closed amid financial problems in September 2011. Otenbaker would not discuss specifics.

The date will be revealed at a Tuesday news media event, and museum officials will also discuss issues related to staffing, fund-raising and programming, Otenbaker said.

That's for the permanent opening.  The Science Center will also be open this Saturday as part of Noel Night, as Crain's Detroit Business reported a week before Thanksgiving.

On its Facebook page Monday, the institution formerly known as the Detroit Science Center said Noel Night will give people the opportunity to get a "sneak peek" before it officially reopens.
...
The science center will be open 5-9 p.m. on Noel Night, offering access to hands-on exhibits, entertainment and other special activities.

The Michigan Science Center won't be alone in being open this Saturday.

Noel Night, scheduled for Dec. 1, will feature open houses at more than 60 venues in Midtown between Cass and John R and Kirby and Willis.

Among those opening their doors to the public that night are the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit Historical Museum and the Detroit Public Library.

There also will be horse-drawn carriage rides, shopping, crafts, performances by more than 120 local music, theater and dance groups, and shuttle service between venues, all free.

So, who's responsible for the Michigan Science Center reopening?  Crain's Detroit Business has the answer to that, too.

The organization told Crain's in September that it had raised a little more than $2.5 million toward its $5 million goal. The DTE Energy Foundation's $250,000 commitment was publicly announced in mid-October, following gifts from others including the Ford Foundation, General Motors Foundation, ITC Holdings Corp., Lear Corp., Alex and Marie Manoogian Foundation and Penske Corp.

Additionally, the science center's white knight — Ron Weiser, founder of McKinley Associates Inc. in Ann Arbor, national finance chairman for the Republican National Committee and former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party —indicated that he and his wife, Eileen Lappin Weiser, a member of the Michigan Board of Education, planned to make an additional gift to the center.

Weiser, a former U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, this summer acquired the science center's debt from Citizens Bank of Flint for "significantly less" than the roughly $6.2 million owed, saving its building and assets from being sold to the highest bidder at a public auction. He said at the time that he planned to sell the building and its contents back to the science center board for less than the amount he acquired it for, minus legal fees and closing costs.

I wish more Republicans were like the Weisers.  If they were, I might still be one of them.

*Cranbrook out here in the suburbs is a good museum, but it's much more about natural history than it is about hard science.  Besides, there is no public transportation to it.

Detroit Science Center closed temporarily (I hope)

From WXYZ.



Money problems have at least temporarily shut down the Detroit Science Center.
The Detroit Free Press asks Will the Detroit Science Center close for good?

The Detroit Science Center has such significant cash-flow problems and bank debt that the institution may close permanently, its interim president said today.

The museum closed Monday for at least two weeks because it couldn’t guarantee that it would be able to make its biweekly payroll of about $150,000 and other expenses. All 114 employees have been furloughed, and museum leaders told staff members that permanent layoffs were possible.

“In these kinds of situations, anything is possible,” said John Miller, former vice chairman of the board, who stepped into the chief executive role on a volunteer basis when former president and CEO Kevin Prihod resigned in August.

I've been blogging about libraries since the very first post here on Crazy Eddie's Motie News. But libraries aren't the only cultural institution I care about. Museums are just as important as libraries; it's just that there are more libraries; every city has at least one, while not every city has a museum.

In my case, I find this particular closing to be very distressing, as I sent my students there for extra credit field trips, so it affects my work. I'm not the only one.