Children’s Museum of C. Oregon launches KIckstarter campaign

The Children’s Museum of Central Oregon has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for camps and classes. The Kickstarter campaign aims to raise $50,000 by March 11.

Funds from a successful Kickstarter would be used toward hiring program staff to develop and launch camps this summer.

Camps would run for kids ages 4-14 years old in the areas of performance art, studio arts, science, engineering, and inventing/making. This program staff will then be responsible for developing in school programming for the 2016-2017 school year. Camps will be conducted with community partnerships that include the DIY Cave and Armature, a Creative Space.

This $50,000 is the first benchmark in CMCO’s capital campaign of $3 million.

The $3 million capital campaign is set with established benchmarks at $50,000, $200,000, $500,000, $1 million and $1.5 million and will focus on raising funds for securing a physical space, building out the museum space, operation for two years and creating the foundation for a stable and permanent fixture for the Central Oregon community.

CMCO intends to secure an approximately 40,000-square-foot space close to the downtown area. The space will include a children’s theater, hands-on science exploration hall with changing exhibits (the MESS hall: Math, Engineering, Science and Stuff), a clay room, a creative painting room, and a large “free choice” play area.

Also included in this vision are two classrooms to host pre-school through middle school classes, and three open rooms for rentals for special events and birthday parties. Services provided to the community would include a full time educational staff that will work in the community, camp programming, and programs in performance art, studio arts, science, engineering, inventing/making for for 4- to 14-year-olds.

CMCO will work with local non-profits serving the community to ensure that gaps in programming and needs are filled, and to not duplicate existing resources. The organization will also serve as a resource for other non-profits in terms of space, materials and staffing when needed.

For more information or to back our Kickstarter, visit http://www.childrensmuseumcentraloregon.org/.