After a month of restoration and renovations inside the building, the Virgin Islands Children’s Museum reopened for the season on Sept. 3. The museum will maintain its regular operating hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday through Saturday, as well as 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays, and it will remain closed on Mondays. The museum is calling on the assistance of the community to help build the capacity of the museum by submitting resumes for volunteer opportunities and positions on several governing committees for the museum.
The Virgin Islands Children’s Museum depends heavily on its sponsors, volunteers and employees to continue its services to the Virgin Islands community. It can cost around $26,000 a month to keep operating, and it takes both funds and manpower to support those operations. As such, the museum is seeking members for all its committees with a heightened focus on the events planning committee.
“We’re looking for people across the board. We need graphic designers, we need CPAs. Having those committees is huge in galvanizing support from the community and finding funding,” said Executive Director of Operations and Development Chantel Hoheb.
The Virgin Islands Children’s Museum typically closes for a week twice during the year for deep cleaning and renovations, but the large number of repairs needed and the short list of staff and volunteers forced them to close for the entire month of August.
“This is the first time in four years that we’ve closed for a month. We didn’t get as many volunteers as we would have hoped for, but I feel good about the progress we have made,” said Hoheb.
Hoheb worked alongside Executive Director of Facilities and Programs Amber McCammon, Museum Manager Euell Dixon, museum staff and volunteers on a variety of tasks to prepare the facility for the reopening, including resanding the wooden playground, cleaning playmats, floors and props, reorganizing, inventorying museum items, disinfecting surfaces, and more. A new safety gate was also installed at the entrance to ensure that young guests do not get separated from their guardians during the check in process.
“We hope to reinforce the rules this season in order to keep all our museum visitors safe,” said Hoheb. Parents and guardians are also reminded to accompany their children at all times while in the building, especially when using the restroom, to help prevent the spread of germs and ensure that their children are not running inside the building and that all rules regarding conduct inside the facility are being followed. “As the museum continues to grow in both visitation and operating budget, we are working to raise our level of service and support,” said Hoheb.
This season will see the continuation of the museum’s LEGO Education Robotics program, where students have the ability to work in groups and explore building and programming. Be on the lookout for a photo exhibition by Dan Mele highlighting local coral research done by Reef Response.
On Saturday, Sept. 28, the museum will participate in the Worldwide Day of Play, an annual celebration of physical activity and learning through play observed by many children’s museums. Hosted by the Association of Children’s Museum and Nickelodeon, some of the sponsors and organizations that supported last year’s event included the Feurzeig Family Fund via the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, Island Designs, Happy Times Entertainment, the V.I. Waste Management Authority, JS Therapies and others. The VICM is seeking sponsors for this year’s event to offset costs and ensure that the museum is free to all guests on that day. Visit www.vichildrensmuseum.org/dayofplay for more information.
Virgin Islanders living outside the territory are especially encouraged to support the V.I. Children’s Museum by purchasing a museum membership for themselves or families on the island that may not be able to afford it.
The Virgin Islands Museum is a member of the Association of Children’s Museums, and by purchasing a membership to the museum, people can get a 50% discount on admission to museums within the same reciprocal network.
Community members interested in donating funds or volunteering their time to the museum’s operations or committees can send resumes and letters of interest to vichildrensmuseum@gmail.com and by contacting the museum at 340-643-0366.
