Elevator Repair: Update and Impacts
Thank you for our patience while our elevator has been under repair. The new steel piston is now on its way to Maine and the messy job begins of installing it. This involves loud noises and work around the elevator shaft which will begin on Monday February 24th and last through Monday March 10th. While the majority of the work should happen outside of our regular business hours, we recognize that this may have a noisy impact on your experience as a visitor during this time. As such, we are offering a 50% discount on all admissions on the days the loud work may be taking place: Tuesday Feb. 25th, Wednesday Feb. 26th, Thursday Feb. 27th, Tuesday March 4th, Wednesday March 5th, and Thursday March 6th. Additionally, if you are a current member with accessibility needs and the lack of the elevator has impacted your experience, we would like to offer you an extension to your membership. Please contact our Director of Visitor Engagement, Lily Gilbert, at lily@kitetails.org if you would like to request a membership extension. We all look forward this work being complete!
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Celebrating Women’s History Month at the Children’s Museum & Theatre
In honor of Women’s History Month and the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment that gave women the right to vote, the Museum & Theatre is celebrating with music, stories, art, and a pop-up voting booth.
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Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine Announces $14 Million Capital Campaign, Begins Construction on New Facility
On February 3, 2020, the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine announced at a press conference the public launch of its $14 million Imagine Capital Campaign to fund construction of the Museum & Theatre’s new state-of-the-art 30,000 square foot facility at Thompson’s Point. Doubling its size and projected to host nearly a quarter of a million visitors per year, the Museum & Theatre will offer performing and visual arts, STEM, and cultural education for children, youth, and their families. All new exhibits will be fully inclusive to children and caregivers of all abilities. Campaign leadership announced that this largest capital campaign in the Museum & Theatre’s 97-year history has already raised, to date, $12.5 million dollars in gifts and pledges from individuals, corporations, and foundations, and from the proceeds of the sale of its 142 Free Street building. Throughout 2020, community members will be invited to participate in completing the Museum & Theatre’s campaign.
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Keynote Speaker Announced for 2020 Auction Gala: Al Race
Chief Knowledge Officer and Deputy Director Al Race of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University will speak about the role of play in children’s growth and development-especially in the face of adversity- with our 2020 Auction Gala attendees on May 15, 2020.
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Elephant and Piggie Performances Extended by Popular Demand at the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine
Elephant & Piggie performances have been extended to ten more dates through Saturday 2/22 due to popular demand that sold out all of our January shows! Come watch this children’s play filled with fun and laughter about the importance of friendships! Grab your tickets while they last!
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Museum & Theatre Educators and Actors Participate in Inaugural Portland Nutcracker Experience at Brick South
Portland Bach Experience and Thompson’s Point announce the inaugural Portland Nutcracker Experience on Saturday, December 28, 2019 at Brick South, Thompson’s Point in Portland, featuring a live orchestra and prima ballerinas from Portland Bach Experience (PBE), and child actors and educators from the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine (Museum & Theatre). At a time when families are gathered together for the holiday, this interactive event provides a rare, family-friendly opportunity to bring your loved ones, your tutus and dancing shoes, and your creativity together for this immersive experience for all ages where families can dance in the Nutcracker alongside ballerinas.
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Youth Actor in The Velveteen Rabbit Celebrates 20th Show
When the main stage production of The Velveteen Rabbit opens on Friday, December 6, actor Darby Defilippis of Portland will be playing the Skin Horse in his 20th show since 2016 with the Children’s Theatre & Museum of Maine. His first show was also, the The Velveteen Rabbit, but this time around he’s accompanied on stage by his brother, River, who plays Alex, a little boy ill with scarlet fever. Fourteen youth actors in the production - spanning from 8 to 14 years in age - come from five southern Maine towns.
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Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine Advances Plan, Sells Building to Portland Museum of Art
Executing its strategic plan to serve twice as many children and families and to expand programming to a more diverse community by moving to a new facility at Thompson’s Point, the Children’s Museum & Theatre closed on the sale of its 142 Free Street building to the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) on October 15, 2019. Thompson’s Point is the newly-developing public-transportation friendly destination and hub of creative activity on the Fore River. Proceeds from the sale of 142 Free Street are contributing to the Museum & Theatre’s construction of the new building and its exhibits; a capital campaign for the balance needed will be announced in the coming months.
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Exhibits Associate Curates and Contributes to Folkland Exhibit at Portland Public Library
Exhibits Associate Andy Rosen is curating a show called FolkLand at the Portland Public Library that opens on First Friday October 4, from 5-7pm. The FolkLand show is described as “crafting a new kind of folklore” where the featured artists “tell a story about the natural world now, threatened by change, still rife with mystery and wonder. Their works ask us to revisit and reclaim our relationship with the world around us.”
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