CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Museums across North Carolina are still closed as the state remains in Phase 2 for five more weeks.
The American Alliance of Museums recently surveyed 760 museum directors regarding the financial impact of the pandemic. A third of the museums that replied weren’t confident they could make it to next fall without any financial relief.
Catherine Horne, president and CEO of Discovery Place, said it is in a good place financially thanks to the support of donors, pay cuts, and frugality, but she worries about others.
"The cultural sector is really in crisis in this, and I'm not sure that our elected officials have yet realized what will go missing in our communities when the museums are not able to go back to normal,” Horned said.
Discovery Place pivoted back in March to utilizing virtual ways to showcase the museum, exhibits, animals, and experiments.
"It has been a radical change,” Horne said. “We no longer say we fear the pivot."
Discovery Place has been able to host camps throughout the summer, which are allowed under Phase 2, but it has not been able to open its doors to the general public. Horned said the museum would have typically seen hundreds of thousands of visitors over the last five months.
“We lost an unbelievable amount of reservations for field trips, you know, children’s birthday parties and family celebrations,” Horne added.
Thankfully, Horne said the community has stepped up to support to Discovery Place through this time.
"Every week we spend thousands of dollars feeding the animals,” Horne said. “And so donors step up, and they love to help us, whether it’s to feed the giant tortoise or to celebrate the opossum’s birthday.”
Now that museums will be closed till at least Sept. 11, Discovery Place announced it will open a School Camp program. This will be a full-day program designed to help children get through the virtual school day while caregivers go to work.
In Hickory, the Catawba Science Center faces a similar situation while its doors are closed.
The Catawba Science Center is asking for donations via a GoFundMe page to help take care of its hundreds of animals.
According to the GoFundMe page, “Without emergency funding, the center will be forced to find new homes for their fish, turtles, snakes, sharks, stingrays, reptiles, insects, arachnids, and mammals at other science centers in the USA. Doing so would put the science center at risk of never reopening.”
"The cost in running the aquarium is our greatest cost,” said Tracy Hall, executive director of the Catawba Science Center, “and whether we have staff on-site or not, we have to have the animal care staff."
The science center had to cancel all of the items that generate revenue when it closed in March, including field trips, education programs, and birthday parties.
"We really do depend on the programs that we do and the visitors that we get and the memberships, and again, sponsorships,” said Hall.
The science center has put on day camps in the summer, but they are ready to fully reopen safely when it is allowed by the state.
"At some point, we want to reopen,” Hall said. "It is not sustainable because you're just not going to get a constant stream of donations, and it is very worrisome."
Now the museum will wait patiently at least five more weeks to reopen, hoping the support continues to pour in to keep the science experiments going beyond the pandemic.
"We want what's best for the community,” Hall said.