Ep 134 | Are museums really for everyone?

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Let's face it, learning is play, play is learning. Play builds the brain. So children's museums provide that opportunity for children to explore their world through their hands. It's social play, dramatic play, collaboration, pro-social play, all those happening, but it to the kids it's not. It's just play. But it is really informal learning.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambi County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. Kids seem to have endless energy and the need for entertainment. But how do you also support early learning without draining parent energy or bank accounts? My next guest is the Visitor Experience Manager at the UWF Historic Trust, and today she's going to share how the Downtown Children's Museum facilitates social play, healing, and parent interaction, making history playful, wearer of many hats, and Pine Forest High School graduate Wendy Davis. Thanks for being here. Thank you so much for having me. So when people think of a museum, they I mean I know I do. I think of people walking around in dress shoes with their arms crossed, looking thoughtfully at paintings. So what is a children's museum? Because I feel like my vision of what a museum is, plus children don't go together.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Right. So that archaic notion of museums just being cabinets of curiosities, we're long past that now. They are community resource centers for families. So according to the Association of Children's Museums, children's museums are institutions that allow families to come learn and play through engaging exhibits and programs. The children's museum is a safe space for families to come and play with their kids. So right when you said that, I thought, oh, so we can touch stuff. Yes. The exhibits are in our, I mean, let's face it, learning is play, play is learning. Play builds the brain. So children's museums provide that opportunity for children to explore their world through their hands. It's social play, dramatic play, collaboration, pro-social play, all those happening. But it to the kids, it's not. It's just play. But it is really informal learning.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

It's so funny that we still use the word museum when the word play and the idea of that is so central. Right. So tell me about the families that visit the museum. Like what's the normal age range? Who's going to a children's museum?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

So for us, the Penskola Children's Museum is really geared for children eight and under. We have two floors of exhibits. If you read any of our Google reviews, it's a small space. It's not a built environment. Well, yeah. When was the building? 1885.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Okay, so it's a little old. So you know.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Yes. We have our children's museum in a former saloon. So it is a small space, but it gives us opportunities to expand in in different ways and changing the exhibits and using the space that we have.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

I love that it's in such a historic building because when you think of the historic district, it does have that, like, okay, careful. Things are fragile because they're old. And so the idea that you would go out of your way to make an interactive children's space from that historic building, I think it makes it extra cool.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Yes. The family seem to enjoy it. I've been trying to form a coup to take over larger buildings.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

How's that going?

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Nobody wants to do it with me. But yes, we're using the space that we have. And we were lucky this year to receive an Impact 100 Pensacola Bay Area grant. So we will be reinterpreting the first floor of the museum. It is now the Discovery Gallery, and it's been there since we opened in 2012, and it will become our town. So it'll be still reinterpreting Pensacola's history, but just different aspects of it.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

So that makes me think of the Museum of Transportation, or I think it's called the Museum of Commerce and used to be called the Museum of Transportation, how it has that facade of downtown Pensacola in what the 1800s. Is it going to be something similar to that?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Well, let me walk you through what is there now. So right now it's a miniature version of historic Pensacola Village. We have the Lavalet Cottage, we have the Pant Leslie Trading Post, we have the little toddler space, and we have a fort. So when we close in August to reinterpret, we will then have when we reopen, hopefully not too long after that, we will have the Garden Street toddler spot, the Penn's Cola Dairy Bar milk bottle diner. I'm really excited about the Met Bottom. I can't wait for that. We will have the LN train station and a train for the kids to climb on to get a train ticket and then go to the Museum of Industry to see the actual T.R. Miller number 12 train. We have a new train covering and we're trying to interpret more on that as well. So it's kind of connecting the children's museum to historic Pensacola Village.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

And that's such a nostalgic point of interest for people who grew up in Pensacola as well, because they might have memories as kids playing on the train or taking their photo on the train. And now their kids can explore it in that same way. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

And then there's where the Lava Lake Cottage is now in the Children's Museum. It will become the Theo's House, a construction house based off Theopolis May, who I don't know if you know, was a preservationist in downtown Pensacola. He is the one that moved the LNN Marine Station, which is now the F Pan building, and moved it and saved it.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Okay, so I'm definitely seeing how all of this is exciting and the play aspect is there. How does this support the learning aspect?

SPEAKER_00 6:20

So our playologist, Haley, develops programs that families can do in Party Central, but also it is a chance for parents to play, get down on the ground. It's intentional that there's very little seating in the children's museum so that parents can get down on kid level and play and see what the kids see and interact in that way. Make-believe curiosity. It's all part of learning. It's informal learning that will help and benefit children later in their formal education because it helps with the social collaboration, morals, all that kind of interaction really benefits the children and their future.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

So it's not just like a playroom where parents would drop their kids off. How is Haley the Playologist? Love that title, by the way. How is she making, for lack of a better word, a curriculum that supports their learning or their readiness to learn? Because sometimes you have to learn how to learn.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Right. Some of her programs, for instance, she does exhibit exploration programs. Right now, she's done the public supermarket on the second floor. So she develops different programs using the public's exhibit as the classroom. Or the new kids clinic that just opened late last year. She'll do an exhibit exploration and explain and help children understand what processes are when you go to a doctor's office. What are those tools? So it's less scary when they actually go into a medical situation.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

So she's kind of leading these experiences when the kids are there.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

But it's still there are those opportunities, but it's just a lot of free play as well. Because just like make-believe, that's forming connections in the brain. So it's not all structured. And it's not just loose play all the time either. So it's just fun play. That's really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Like they get it's that middle ground that parents don't have to think of. I love that part especially, that a parent would not have to invent the this space or have to think of or organize it or initiate it or you know, gather the friends that the friends would be there. Which actually I wanted to ask you about that because your dad was Navy. Yes. And I was thinking about how this environment would be such a great place for military families to come and meet other families in the community and learn through conversation about other resources that might be there. Do you see that happening at all in the museum, children's museum?

SPEAKER_00 8:59

We do. So there are several mothers of preschooler groups that they will come into the museum. It's an opportunity for the kids to socialize, but also the parents and just be around peers. We also have several therapists who use the museum space again as an opportunity for the kids to socialize, the parents to interact with one another because they're going through similar things. They're two different. We have a speech therapist who comes in, and then also an early intervention specialist for children birth to three, I think, with developmental delays. So it provides that opportunity for the kids to come together, play with people, their peers, similar situations, their parents can talk and the kids are safe. They can all interact together.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

That is it sounds so unique to me. I mean, I don't I don't know where, you know, you've been here for a while since, you know, I think you said you were a toddler when you're when you moved here with your parents. Is this sort of community collaboration normal among museums? Because it seems pretty special.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

I think it's really special, but I do also tend to think that museums everywhere have similar ideals. We all want to be that resource community space. So I I do think it is fascinating to watch, to see all the new iterations of what people can come up with when they visit the museum. But for instance, as I I will sing to anyone who wants to listen to me talk about our partnership with the libraries. Um, we are museum people, so we love books and we love learning and we love libraries. So we do have a partnership with the West Florida Public Library. We have these admission books that families can check out. They are themed to the children's museum, but our tickets are unified. So if you come to the children's museum, your tickets are going to also get you in the Museum of Art, Museum of History, and Historic Penskola Village for seven days. These books are usually checked out a lot, and they'll give me a call. Hey, when are you going to bring them back to the library? People are waiting for these, which is exciting because there's so much technology available now, but families are still going to the library, are still coming to the museum, they're still looking for those opportunities to learn and play together.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Yeah, that there's there's still the all the digital things don't replace like the tactile experience. That really solidifies both the memories and the learning. Oh, okay. So for the books, they are physical books that act as a ticket to allow the child and the parent to get into the family, to get into not just the children's museum. Pensacola has 12 museums, I think, right? So all of the museums?

SPEAKER_00 11:54

All of our museums, the museums under the UWF Historic Trust. Okay. So the Museum of Art, the Pensacola Museum of History, and then all the individual museums in Historic Pensacola Village. Wow. So I can list them all. Museum of Industry, Museum of Commerce, and then our tour buildings, Old Christ Church, the Lear House, the Dore House, the Lavelay House, and then our small cottages. The John Appleyard Cottage, the Barrios Cottage, which is right now a 1940s USO, and the Jewley Cottage. Jewely Cottage, which is African American history. So yes, these are books that any of the library patrons can check out with their library card. They bring it to the museum. We keep the book, they get a ticket, and that ticket is good for the family, and it's good for seven days in all those museums.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

I'm starting to think it's just my own like misunderstanding of what museums are. Because the way that you've described this and the way that you describe that potentially lots of other museums desire to collaborate with community resources in these, you know, creative ways. It must be just my own stereotype of museums, that they're stuffy and they're just like these upper middle class people that, oh no, you can't come in here, you know, you have you're not dressed nice enough. What else do people potentially misunderstand about museums?

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Well, there is that misconception that there are museum people like what you just described. There are not museums for everyone. We also participate in the Museums for All program, which is a national program facilitated by the Association of Children's Museums, which provides free or discounted admission to museums with anyone with a Snappy BT card. We opted to do free admission, and um I think the program is supposed to limit to six people, but sometimes families have more than six people. They have more kids than that. So I don't limit the number of children either. But we have seen such an increase in people who will come in and say, I had no idea. We thought we weren't museum people, we've never been to a museum. This is a national program. If I'm traveling, can I do this? And I'm like, Yes, you just check the website. It has a list of all the museums that participate. We get phone calls from people because we are a tourist destination, people who are coming from out of town. I'm from Tennessee. I have a Snap card. Can I come? I'm like, yes, you can. It's a national program. It is for everyone who participates in that program. But it's a way to show that museums are community centers. We are the keepers of the community story. You know, we want people to come in and learn and play and experience everything. We want to be for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

I love keepers of the community story. I don't think that there's a better way to describe what the UWF Historic Trust does than keepers of the community story because I think that's the perfect, like, I know you were on a campaign to get a bigger building, but it it does kind of speak to the specialness of having these historic buildings that have been reinvented in their use over 100 plus years. Right. You know, like you said, it was a saloon and then it was a this and then it was a that. And to have people who work there who can tell you, oh, right, and then it used to be this, and and this person used to be here, and it was part of this historic event. And we know that because of the newspaper and just how it connects to everything. It's not just like a transaction, like I'm going to a museum that had its ribbon cutting last week. Like it's it's something special that is integrated both in story and in the community.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Tell me about the other ways that people can get admission into the museum, because I know there's some other ones too.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Because the children's museum is really geared for children eight and under, I was trying to figure out a way to meet the needs of those little bit older kids. So I got with the mess hall and asked if they would be willing to do this, but a half price admission. So if anyone has a ticket for our museums and go to the mess hall, they'll get half off the admission at the mess hall. And the same as with they are at the mess hall and they come to us, half off our admission. We're working together because we are neighborhood community partners and it's meeting the needs of those older kids and it's introducing them to science, fascinating things happening at the mess hall. I'm like, oh, I want to go do that. I want to try those programs, but that is not our mission. So it was like, I wouldn't know how to do those things. I could talk history, but so yes, with the mess hall, we have the half-off admission reciprocal program. We also I mentioned the libraries. I'm very happy and excited about that. Museums for all is another way. Or you could just come in and buy a ticket to support the museums of the UWF Historic. Wait, you take money? That's great. We too. As a 501c3 nonprofit, we are funded through our earned income. But we are also funded through grants. As I mentioned, we were lucky to receive the Impact 100 grant. We were also lucky to get donations from the Escambia County Medical Society Foundation, the Studer Family Children's Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart, Pensacola Pediatrics, and Touchstone Medical Imaging for our Pensacola Kids Clinic exhibit. So that exhibit was funded through all those partners.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Okay, that that is so cool. I love that. Talk to me about Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and the Guardian at Lightham.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Oh, yes. So any big who brings in their little gets free admission to our museums. And the same goes with any participants in the Guardian at Lightum program. Any foster kids, we will provide free admission as well for them to come in. When I start listing all our free admissions to my executive director, they freak out a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

But because we do have memberships and community donors, and we're able to do a lot of free admission programs like that because you know the children in the big brothers, big sisters, loving families, but just may not have the opportunity to always make it downtown to the museum and have that special moment with, you know, with the mentor. So um the same with Guardium, Adelaideum, foster families, snappy BT families, any family.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Yeah. Well, I mean, just to know that there's so much effort for the access paints a totally different picture than maybe people who struggled with that misunderstanding of, you know, the very closed-off museum stereotype like I had. And in fact, I remember this was years ago, always wanting, I love museums, but and I would always want to go visit one of the UWF Historic Trust museums. But every time I remembered that that was something that I wanted, they were closed. And now you've changed that. And so the hours of operation are much more friendly to, you know, people who live and work and do nine to five. So what are the hours of the children's museum?

SPEAKER_00 19:23

All of the museums are open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 4. The Children's Museum, the Museum of History, and the Museum of Art are open Sundays, noon to four. So theoretically, the only day we're actually closed is Monday. So we have an opportunity to clean and repair exhibits and things like that. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Well, what does the future hold? What's next? You mentioned you have a grant through the Impact 100, and so you're redoing that.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Anything else happening? We are creating a sensory space. We do not have that currently in the museum. It can get really loud. It's, like I said, very small. Put in a lot of people in there, it can just be overwhelming. So the grant is enabling us to create a quiet, sensory, silent, free space. It is also allowing us to do some sensory training through Culture City and then getting some sensory backs to have available at all of our museums for our neurodivergent guests.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

That is amazing. Well, I'm really glad that we could have this conversation and to let parents know that there's these other resources that can support both learning, learning how to learn the social connections and networking with other parents, all while supporting, you know, a historic organization in town. Yes. So where can people go online to see the different information about the children's museum, but also the other ones too?

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Historicpensacola.org.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Awesome. And I'll have that linked in the show notes. Thank you so much for doing this. I appreciate it. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.