About MCM
History
Madison Children’s Museum was founded in 1980 as a vision of a group of early childhood specialists. The founding board of directors and volunteers built traveling exhibits that were displayed at neighborhood centers, parks and playgrounds. They also operated a pilot museum in the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. The success of the pilot program prompted the museum to relocate to a warehouse at Bedford and West Washington. The new location was a success, and the museum was often filled to capacity.
After a successful capital campaign, Madison Children’s Museum opened its doors on 100 State Street in 1991. Madison Children’s Museum flourished at this location until January 4, 2010. With the Ready, Set…Grow! Capital Campaign now under way, doors will open on a new museum, tripling the size of the State Street location.
Mission
Madison Children’s Museum (MCM) connects children with their families, their communities and the world beyond through discovery learning and creative play.
In 2005, MCM acquired a $5 million, five-story office building through the generosity of the Overture Foundation. The museum is in a $10 million capital campaign to renovate the building, create an accessible green roof, and install new exhibits. The new facility, opening August 14, 2010, will greatly expand the museum’s capacity to serve larger audiences, older children and school groups in a strong interdisciplinary program that emphasizes the arts, sciences, culture, health, civic engagement and early learning.
Awards
2007 – MCM was rated as one of the “Top 20 Children’s Museums in America” by Grand Magazine
2004 – MCM won the American Folklore Society Dorothy Howard Prize for Folklore and Education for the Hmong at Heart exhibit
2003 – MCM was selected as one of just nine children’s museums in the country to receive a grant for the Freeman Foundation Asian Exhibit Initiative, administered by the Association of Children’s Museums
2002 – MCM was rated one of the top 10 children’s museums in the nation, Child Magazine
Sustainability Commitment
At Madison Children’s Museum we focus on children, including their future. We are committed to being a sustainable organization, balancing economic, social, and environmental factors to help ensure that we meet our present needs, while enabling future generations to meet their needs. We empower and equip children to actively shape the world they will inherit.
As educational and community leaders, we will:
- integrate the principles of sustainability into all major business decisions
- seek strategic collaborations
- evaluate and reduce the environmental impacts of our operations
- design and develop our products, services, and materials with the long-term health of our children and community in mind
Give today to help us further our sustainability commitment.
Several leading children’s museums, including the Madison Children’s Museum, have begun employing green practices in their operations, expansion projects, and exhibit environments. To coordinate this endeavor, the Madison Children’s Museum launched www.greenexhibits.org to provide museum exhibit designers and fabricators a resource for designing and building exhibits and environments that best support healthy spaces and a healthier future for kids and the environment. Visit the Web site today to learn more!
