Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Kids' museum moving past hitch in plans

Children's Museum organizers are adjusting to repercussions of the art museum decision.

By JANET ZINK
Published April 7, 2005

TAMPA - Supporters of a new Children's Museum in downtown Tampa were moving along quickly with planning when they got the news that the proposed Tampa Museum of Art had fizzled.

Mayor Pam Iorio wanted to come up with a new plan that would incorporate the art and children's museums.

Last week's announcement didn't bring work on the Children's Museum to a screeching halt. But it did slow it down.

"Our next phase was to move into the architectural side. With this change we've got that on hold to see if there's going to be collaboration," said former state Rep. Sandra Murman, who with Heidi Shimberg is coordinating a campaign to raise money for the Children's Museum.

The Hillsborough County Commission committed $250,000 to the museum in 2003. In September, Iorio announced plans to give city-owned land between the Poe Parking Garage on Ashley Drive and the proposed Tampa Museum of Art to the Children's Museum, now on N Boulevard next to Lowry Park Zoo.

Since then, Children's Museum organizers have moved forward with planning and preconstruction work. They completed a feasibility study, held focus groups about exhibits, hired a capital campaign development director, assembled an exhibit design team from Memphis and Indianapolis, and hired Tampa architectural firm Gould Evans Associates to come up with a building design.

The museum had an April 30 deadline to submit an architectural plan to the city. The City Council is scheduled today to vote on extending that deadline because of changes to the art museum, Shimberg said.

Meanwhile, Iorio tapped Murman and Shimberg to serve on a committee that will develop a new plan for the Tampa Museum of Art. Iorio has said she wants the plan to take a "holistic" approach that encompasses other projects in the Cultural Arts District, including a redesign of Ashley Drive, Curtis Hixon Park, the river walk along the Hillsborough River and the Children's Museum.

Other committee members so far include: art museum board members Cornelia Corbett, Sandy MacKinnon and Don Wallace; developer Al Austin; Tampa philanthropist Frank Morsani; and city staff members.

"I do want a certain amount of autonomy for the Children's Museum," Murman said. "I would like for us to have an identity. But that doesn't mean we can't share other common areas with another facility. We should entertain the idea."

Sharing amenities such as a cafe and lecture halls would create more exhibit space and save money, she said. Murman isn't sure how the blended museums might look.

David Penn, president of the Children's Museum, cautioned against completely integrating the two facilities.

"Experiencing art is sometimes a quiet experience and working with children in a children's museum is not a quiet experience," he said. "I wouldn't want to share a lobby."

He also doesn't want the Children's Museum to be lost visually, he said.

The current Children's Museum has 5,000 square feet of exhibit space, most of it outdoors in a miniature village called Kid City, which includes a grocery store, fire station, city hall and library. The new museum will feature 15,000 square feet for permanent displays and 5,000 square feet for rotating exhibits and an education center with information for teachers and parents and free tutoring in math and reading.

The museum is expected to attract 100,000 visitors a year and open in three to five years.

Other than the $3-million land donation, Iorio has said the city will not give money to the Children's Museum.

Fundraising is in a "quiet phase," Shimberg said, and museum officials don't expect to go public with the capital campaign for another six to 12 months. An estimated $13-million is needed for construction and an endowment.

Even though changes with the art museum have stalled architectural drawings for the Children's Museum, work will continue on developing exhibits, which Murman said is the most complicated part of the planning.

"We're still moving forward. We're talking to donors, getting the master plan finalized," Murman said. "It's going to be great for Tampa that all these projects are working together."

Janet Zink can be reached at 226-3401 or jzink@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 7, 2005, 01:22:13]