Coyote Point museum revived

The S.F. Examiner has an article describing the revival of the nature museum on Coyote Point.  Reporter Andrea Koskey writes

In 2006, visits to the environmental museum in Coyote Point Park plummeted to 78,000 per year from its peak of 110,000 in 2000, said Abi Karlin-Resnick, the museum’s director of advancement.

One significant factor that contributed to the decrease, she said, was that the museum’s only exhibit — a text-based collection explaining different California habitats — had not changed in 20 years.

20 years is a long time for one exhibit so the new executive director, Rachel Meyer, took the approach that

To pull the floundering museum out of trouble, Meyer introduced interactive exhibits, rather than just the one permanent display where visitors could read about environmental change. In addition to science-based exhibits, the museum also houses live animals — including an African hedgehog and a California newt — that can be viewed up close, along with 1.3 acres of botanical gardens.

Fund-raising and attendance are growing again.  I'll designate it a Gem of Burlingame even though it's in San Mateo!

Comments

[Joe]

The Daily Journal is featuring the Coyote Point museum's progress again today:

Just three years ago the Coyote Point Museum — suffering from low attendance — was threatening to close.

After a community fundraising campaign and the rollout of several new features and exhibits, those days seem to be over.

Now it is the new home for bobcats, sea otters for interactive exhibits on “tinkering,” which offers the chance for kids and adults to engage in educational activities.

Open since November, the tinkering exhibit offers a variety of displays like the “Pedal Power” where one can sit on a bike and pedal seeing the amount of energy it takes for you to make the tape player work. Another display is the “Build it up” where people can connect the plastic pipes using the connectors.

Declining attendance and instability in leadership led to the threat of closure, but a “SAVE” campaigns which generated more than $600,000 from approximately 800 people kept the museum open along with new leadership and a new look.

“Since then, we have made significant upgrades to the content of the museum which the community appears to be to be really enjoying,” said Executive Director Rachel Meyer.