Children's Museum Of Cleveland To Begin "Floating" Tour Across City

By ideastream's Brian Bull

Come the New Year, Cleveland’s hands-on, interactive learning facility is shutting down.  And administrators at the Children’s Museum aren’t sure exactly when they’ll re-open in their new home.

Since 1986, the museum -with its distinctive double-peak tent design- has stood out among other more traditional buildings in University Circle. 

But as of January 3 ^rd, the museum is closing its doors. During these last few days, the exhibit space is enjoying a final hurrah, with crowds of families cramming in for the holidays, their busiest time of year, according to executive director, Maria Campanelli.

“I think it’s just really important that parents come for one last time, and especially to the child….they can talk to the child about saying goodbye, and kinda talk a little bit more about what’s to come in the future of the museum.”

That future meaning a new, bigger space three miles away, in the Stager-Beckwith Mansion near East 40 ^th and Euclid.  Campanelli says there’s no set date yet for a grand opening, but figures it’ll happen in 2017. 

In the meantime, she says they’ll become a “museum without walls.”

"We have programs scheduled within the Cleveland Public Library, some of our STEM-based programs," says Campanelli. "We are definitely committed to going to University Circle’s ‘Wade Oval Wednesdays’, and we have more people who are reaching out to us, asking us to come to their events.” 

During the transition period, museum staff has been cut from 13 full-time employees to just five, but Campanelli says some may be rehired once the new space is complete.