Miami Children's Museum
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| Established | 1983 |
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| Location | 980 MacArthur Causeway Miami, Florida, United States |
| Type | Children's museum |
| Director | Adrienne Pardo |
| Website | Miami Children's Museum |
The Miami Children’s Museum is a non-profit educational institution located on Watson Island, in the city of Miami, Florida.
About the museum
Founded in 1983, the museum opened its current building to the public on September 7 2003. The museum was originally titled the "Miami Youth Museum" and was originally located in Coral Gables in a building called the Miracle Center. Visitors of all ages are brought to the museum with different areas with activities for everyone. The 56,500-square-foot (5,250 m2) facility includes 12 galleries, classrooms, parent/teacher resource center, Kid Smart educational gift shop, 200-seat auditorium and Subway restaurant. The museum offers hundreds of bilingual, interactive exhibits; programs and classes and learning materials related to arts, culture, community and communication.
The museum's goal is to establish itself as a primary center for the educational enrichment and entertainment of all children and their caregivers as well as to build alliances with families, educators, community organizations and promotional partners to meet the developmental needs of all children in the community.
Location
The MCM is located on a landfill island called Watson Island in Miami, on Biscayne Bay. Its neighbor, Jungle Island, is on the other side of the MacArthur Causeway on the way to and from the Miami Beach islands. A few hundred feet away is the former location of Chalk's Ocean Airways, a seaplane charter company now based in Fort Lauderdale. Across the bay is the Port of Miami and Downtown Miami.
Film program
MCM also offers a free annual film program to Elementary School, Middle School and High School students. The film program has two components: a series of film workshops, and a film competition.
The film workshops include guest speakers with experience in the filmmaking fields as well as volunteers that teach the kids about the trade, with one set of workshops for 4th - 6th graders, and another set for 7th - 12th gradrers.
Volunteer program
The museum has many opportunities for individuals and groups to volunteer. benefits of volunteering includes Community service hours, Working with children, develop skills, working experience and a chance to be around children.
Board of directors
Officers
- Adrienne Pardo, President
- Marianne Devine, Vice President
- Sara Herald, Vice Presidents
- Carlos Bared, Vice President
- Randall Lee, Treasurer
- Marilyn Gadinsky, Secretary
- Richard Lampen, Immediate Past President
Members at large
- Jose Bared, Air Operations, Inc.
- Marta Casas-Celaya, Bellsouth
- Linda Coll, Carnival Cruise Lines Foundation
- Michelle Diener, Diener Partners
- Martha Fornaris, Fornaris & Associates
- Lilia Garcia, Dade County Public Schools
- Scott Leeds, Leeds & Colby
- Tracy Mourning, Honey Child
- Jonathan Nitkin, Habour Pilots
- Julie Paresky, Bayview Financial
- Laura Paresky Gould, Paresky Design
- Beverly Parker, Founder & Principal, retired
- Rafael Peruyera, Peruyera Consulting
- Claudia Potamkin, Community activist
- Evan Reed, Bank of America Private Bank
- Gary Reshefsky, Summit Global Partners of Florida, Inc
- Stephen Riemer, Riemer Insurance
- Stephanie Rosen, Real Estate, Community Activist
- Samuel Terilli Jr., Ford & Harrison