By Catherine Cuellar, KERA 90.1 Reporter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-495547.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Catherine Cuellar: It's been known for some time that The Dallas Museum of Natural History is leaving Fair Park. They acquired almost five acres at Woodall Rogers and Field between the American Airlines Center, the West End, and the Arts District. Yesterday Frank-Paul King, the Natural History board chair, announced another development.
Frank Paul King, board chair, Dallas Museum of Natural History: After much discussion and deliberation, The Science Place and the Dallas Museum of Natural History are choosing to do what is best for the city of Dallas and for all the future scientists of north Texas, coming together to form a single institution to be known as The Museum of Nature and Science. (applause)
Cuellar: The chair of the Science Place board, George Consolver, left open the possibility of maintaining a presence in Fair Park.
George Consolver, board chair, The Science Place: Collectively we have three facilities at Fair Park, which serve roughly 500,000 people a year. We will continue to offer great science learning experiences here at Fair Park, with our exhibits, with our TI Founders IMAX theater, and our newly renovated digital planetarium. We also plan an exciting new expansion facility in Victory Park in downtown Dallas.
Cuellar: The new museum's new building is still three to five years away, according to the chairman of the council that will oversee the merger, Forrest Hoglund.
Forrest Hoglund, Chair, Museum of Nature & Science Leadership Council: We will need to raise $155 million to build this first major building, and to date we're closing in on 30 million dollars. So we've already got a good start, and I think with this announcement we have a whole new reason and impetus to get people excited about it.
Cuellar: Hoglund previously fundraised and chaired the board for the Houston Museum of Natural Science, which claims to be the most popular museum in Texas and the fourth most-visited museum of any kind in the United States. City Councilwoman Pauline Medrano, whose district includes the new museum location, has high hopes for the Museum of Nature and Science.
Pauline Medrano, Dallas Council District 2: I look forward to the many, many Dallas guests that will come, and the museum will be a point of destination for those guests.
Cuellar: Effective immediately, The Science Place and the Dallas Museum of Natural History will honor each others' memberships. In May, the museums will also co-host the Einstein exhibit, which has previously been seen in the U.S. only at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Displays from this show will be in both Fair Park buildings. But the future of the Fair Park facilities is uncertain, according to the Museum of Natural History's board president Frank Paul King.
King: What we'll do over the next 120 days is finish our plan on how to utilize those facilities after we open our new 150,000 square foot building downtown. So this will continue to be an educational center, whether that's a charter school or whether that's specialized classrooms for DISD and other local school districts. We don't know today but it will absolutely continue to be a fundamental part of our overall operation.
Cuellar: The Friends of Fair Park's executive director, Craig Holcomb, has agreed to advise the two museums' unification committee.
Craig Holcomb, Executive Director, Friends of Fair Park: which to me says they are making a stand to stay in Fair Park, plus build the facility in Victory Park. Also, if you're trying to raise money to build a new facility in Victory Park, you're going to want your existing facilities to be as popular, successful, and fulfilling their mission as possible, which is very good news for Fair Park.
Cuellar: The merger is the latest development for Fair Park. Officials are trying to keep it viable by renovating the Cotton Bowl, seeking bond funds in the November election, and adding DART light rail service in 2009. For KERA 90.1, I'm Catherine Cuellar.
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