‘Museum without walls’ : The group behind a push for a Children’s Museum of Northwest Arkansas has hired its first employee and begun educational programming in the community.
Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008
As the towering twin cranes above the woods in northeast Bentonville serve as a constant reminder that the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is coming, at least two other groups continue to work to bring additional museums to northwest Arkansas.
A group known as the Northwest Arkansas Museum Foundation is currently looking at potential sites for a science museum. And while that group expects to make its decision in the coming months, it’s another potential museum that just took a significant step forward.
A volunteer board that for nearly five years has been studying potential sites and working up a feasibility plan for what it refers to as the Children’s Museum of Northwest Arkansas hired its first employee last week. Holly Rachels Hook, who taught for five years in the Bentonville School District and serves as adjunct marketing teacher at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, has spent the early part of this week setting up the museum’s temporary office above Java on the Square on the downtown Bentonville Square. A phone has been hooked up, and youth-related programs are being coordinated across the area.
“ We’re becoming a museum without walls, ” said Hook, who with her husband, Dr. Todd Hook, co-owns Hook Eye Care in Bentonville. “ We’re trying to create public awareness and get some things going out there. You’ll be hearing about more programming, and now we have a point of contact. ”
The Children’s Museum of Northwest Arkansas Board of Directors, which held its first fundraising event — a Dancing with the Stars contest — in March, continues to entertain offers for potential sites. Like the contingent pushing for a science museum, the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Museum board said sites in Benton and Washington counties are being considered. With Hook, a focused board of directors and an education committee in place, the Children’s Museum of Northwest Arkansas is following in the footsteps of Crystal Bridges, which has been offering educational programming and temporary exhibit space for more than a year.
The Children’s Museum of Northwest Arkansas, in partnership with the Bentonville Public Library, will serve up a taste of its own programming from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. Saturday at the library, 405 S. Main St. Inspired by the half-size replica of a Tryannosaurus Rex that dwells in the library, Rexy’s Jurassic Party will include a variety of activities, including story times with guest readers, games and crafts, artifacts, puppet shows, food and more.
The opening of a physical location for the museum, however, may still be some time off.
“ We’re putting together a strategic plan and are really trying to do it right, ” Hook said. “ To do anything right takes time, but we’d like to see something open within five years. I think that’s a realistic goal. I know the support is here for something like this. ”
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