The Smith Center Announces It Will Be Future Home of Children's Museum

Officials from Lied Discovery Children's Museum and The Smith Center for the Performing Arts announced today that Symphony Park will be the future home of the children's museum, where it will be able to expand the interactive, hands-on experiences it provides to the families of Southern Nevada.

The completion of the downtown cultural arts and education block is made possible due to an unrestricted gift of $56 million from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to The Smith Center.

When it opens in the fall of 2012 - shortly after The Smith Center's grand opening in the spring of that year - the nonprofit museum will change its name to Discovery Children's Museum. The building will be named the Donald W. Reynolds Discovery Center.

"This gift gave us a remarkable opportunity to build on the creative foundation already underway at The Smith Center," said MyRon Martin, President & CEO of The Smith Center. "We searched for the perfect addition to complete our arts and education complex and we are thrilled to bring this wonderful new project to the families in our community. The Discovery Children's Museum further enhances our educational mission, and creates great synergies for our culturAl Block."

The Smith Center will use the bulk of the grant, $43 million, to construct the future home of the Discovery Children's Museum, a 58,000-square-foot building, complete the building's interiors and outfit its exhibit halls with entirely new interactive exhibits. The balance of the grant will be used to construct a parking garage on the site and provide for long-term maintenance for the new buildings.

"In recent years, our board has been exploring the possibility of relocating the museum from its current location to allow for expansion and growth," museum Executive Director Linda Quinn said.

"Symphony Park provides the ideal synergy between cultural partners while furthering our plans to create a premier children's museum experience for the Las Vegas community," Quinn said. "The new Discovery Children's Museum will build upon the great foundation from its past 20 years and create an experience that is fun and engaging, while remaining relevant to the world in which children grow up, today as well as in the next 20 years."

Donald W. Reynolds Foundation Chairman Fred W. Smith said he is more than supportive of the plan.

"We believe The Smith Center and the entire complex will have a transformational impact on the quality of arts and educational experiences for families in Las Vegas," he said. "We couldn't be more pleased with the direction The Smith Center is taking in partnering with the children's museum."

Lied Discovery Children's Museum is celebrating 20 years in 2010, having opened on September 9, 1990 in the historic Cultural Corridor on Las Vegas Boulevard. In addition to providing a wide array of all-new exhibits, the new museum will be larger, allowing for expanded programs, services and events.

"This is a realization of the vision we've always maintained for the museum, and an absolute gift to the children and families in our community," said Judy Cebulko, President of the Museum Board of Trustees. "It is in honor of the leaders who worked tirelessly to establish this great institution decades ago that we proudly guide the children's museum to its dynamic new home, where we can fulfill our mission to serve a community when it needs it the most and deserves no less."