Update on the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine for Our Community

Construction remains on its timeline at the future home of Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, Thompson’s Point, Portland.

Dear Friends,

It's been a remarkable month. I am immensely grateful for the many messages of concern and support that I have received, for amazingly generous contributions, and also for your patience as the Museum & Theatre team adjusted to this new way of life. After closing our doors on Friday, March 13, our staff quickly went into crisis planning mode while adjusting to remote work. We devised a plan to ensure our building was still being cared for, especially our "team" of turtles, frogs, bees and sea creatures who need to be fed and kept healthy.

In our first month, we've launched free-of-charge online educational programming and reached nearly 30,000 children, families, and teachers at home.

Our community's response to this programming has been astounding. I'm really proud of what we accomplished in a short amount of time, but this closure has not come without serious challenges.

As we now face at least another month with no visitors, and a steep climb out of this crisis, we had to take action to ensure the long term financial sustainability of the organization. As you all know, we rely predominantly on earned revenue from admissions to keep CMTM running. With this funding stream now cut off, I had to make the difficult decision, with approval from our Board of Directors, to institute both full and partial temporary layoffs for several of my colleagues and salary cuts for senior management.

While these were gut wrenching decisions, they were made with an eye toward longevity, as it is still very unclear when we will be allowed to open our doors again. We certainly hope and expect to welcome many of our furloughed team members back when this crisis passes. The rest of the staff is now working diligently to cover our administrative functions from afar. As we also had to cancel our annual major fundraising event, we continue to explore all appropriate fundraising and federal support opportunities. 

Now for the good news: I am happy to report that the construction project to build a new Museum & Theatre continues on schedule with no significant changes, at least as I write this message.

That is certainly keeping all of us positive! The structural steel frame is up, and the cement floors have been poured on top of steel decking on the second and third floors. The elevator shaft is built, first floor underground plumbing and electrical wiring has been installed and backfilled, and the subgrade foundation for our new theatre area is being worked on right now.

The Imagine Capital Campaign has raised an incredible $12.7 million. With the benefit of extraordinary leadership contributions, and many wonderful gifts from our community, we are in a strong position to continue moving forward toward our goal.

Please know we hold the entire Museum & Theatre community of children, families, and partners in our thoughts and hearts during this difficult time. We will continue to share updates as we move ahead, expand our virtual offerings, and develop plans for the Museum & Theatre’s future.

With deep gratitude for your continued support and faith in our vision,

Julie Butcher Pezzino, Executive Director