Western Maine Play Museum capital campaign launched; new website, logo revealed

WILTON – Organizers of the new Western Maine Play Museum are officially launching a $750,000 capital campaign, along with their new website on Sunday, June 1. They have also chosen the museum’s logo and a slogan.

The museum’s future home at 561 Main Street in Wilton was donated by the York family in March. A capital campaign with a total goal of raising $750,000 is expected to continue into next year to help pay for building renovations, furnishings, and exhibit creation. Upright Frameworks of Wilton has volunteered to help with the renovation at cost. The goal is to have the children’s museum open during the summer of 2015.

According to museum board president Angela McLeod of Wilton, the nonprofit is looking raise $500,000 for the building’s complete renovation, $200,000 for furnishings and exhibits, and $50,000 for green space. The complete interior and exterior renovation, includes new electric, plumbing, insulation, roofing, windows, plus items to meet ADA and commercial building codes like a sprinkler system, wheelchair lift, ramps, etc.

“Our goal is to renovate it once and have it serve a whole generation of children. It’s important to us that it’s a safe building that’s completely accessible for folks with disabilities, and that it’s made energy efficient. With a building this large, we want to make sure that we’re doing the right things to reduce long-term energy costs,” McLeod said.

She added for those who wonder about do anything with an old building, “it’s a beautiful old building, with a great history, in a great location. We’ve had two builders and one structural engineer walk through it with us and the consensus is that it’s solid and worth renovating.” The York home was built in the early 1900s by Dr. Albert York, for his family and housed his medical practice there. His daughters, Mary and Ruth York remained in the home throughout their lives, having never married or had children; they were active in the community until they passed on at the ages of 95 and 96.

The museum’s interior design plans call for several themed rooms, such as a nature room for rotating exhibits on biology, agriculture and more; a room with a central idea of building; a smart room that features a permanent exhibit using interactive technology; a gathering room for special events like birthday parties next to a kitchen, which will also be used for food labs. Also in the plans is a play village, a two-story play space with a grocery store, doctor’s office, diner, and other Main Street attractions. A magnet room, infant and toddler room, a dark room, a trains room and invention room are also all part of the plans.

“This is a place meant to ignite a life long love of learning in children,” McLeod said. “The learning in this building will be completely child-led, they will follow their own interests and curiosity, rather than following a schedule or an agenda. Our exhibits will be very open-ended meaning that each child brings their own imagination, personality, and interests and then generates their own learning at their own pace.” Also included will be regular programming like story times and “kitchen science” programming, with a regular after-school program and school vacation day camps which will compliment the learning already available for kids and help to keep the museum sustainable.

The concept for the new logo design chosen for the museum originally came from a contest held at the Commercial Arts Program at the Foster Technology Center. The contest was sponsored by County Seat Realty of Farmington, and the winning idea,  children’s building  blocks with the word “play” incorporated, came from  Mt. Blue High School junior Levi Meader, who was awarded $100 for his efforts. Meader’s original design concept was then given to a professional designer for additional refinement.

WMPM’s website was initially started by a board member, Chris Bennett, and then finished by a design committee member, Joni James. The website includes details about their board members, a complete layout of the interior with specifics on each room’s expected contents, and information about the capital campaign. It is to be launched June 1.

The slogan for the capital campaign is, “Play it Forward: A Campaign for our Future.” This slogan was adopted as a reflection of WMPM’s commitment to create an interactive learning space that works towards improved lives for children, healthier families, and a more supportive community. It puts playful learning as the foundation of a better future.

On the homepage of the new website, a short video can be found of local kids talking about why play is important. WMPM found that although there is plenty of research on the benefits of play, that kids explain it best. This video was created and donated by Joni James and was filmed at Inch by Inch Preschool in Wilton. The website also provides a community calendar for kid-focused events that can be updated by anyone in the community that is hosting an event.

Western Maine Play Museum is a registered non-profit that incorporated in November of 2013 and is led by a 13-member board of directors. Community members interested in supporting this project should see their website for donation options or email them at: westernmaineplay@gmail.com. Project updates can be found at: www.facebook.com/WesternMainePlayMuseum and on their website: www.westernmaineplay.org beginning on Sunday, June 1.