The Tribune, Melanie Cleveland
08/28/2007
Recent gifts from local philanthropists are giving the San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum a boost it needs to reopen its doors this summer. The museum has been closed for a major rebuilding since 2004.
Executive director Roy Mueller received a $55,000 challenge grant from Greg and Jane Hind of the Hind Foundation to complete the museum’s centerpiece — a two story interactive clock exhibit — in the new museum. Within a week, a donor, who has asked to remain anonymous, stepped forward to provide the money to match the Hinds’ grant.
“This is truly a wonderful thing for us — particularly in our present economic climate,” said Mueller.
The 20-foot-tall clock is a kinetic sculpture, complete with moving gears, and a pendulum for children to swing on, Mueller said. About $600,000 needs to be collected by the end of 2008 to finish that phase of the museum, Mueller said. That money is expected to be raised by the end of this year, he added.
The new museum, at the corner of Nipomo and Monterey streets, is planned to open by the beginning of June.