LOUISIANA– After closing down almost entirely to the public last summer due to the pandemic, the Louisiana Children’s Museum will reopen May 29.
Julia Bland, the museum’s CEO, said in a statement that she is “counting down the days” until children and adults could once again gather together in the New Orleans City Park-based museum’s indoor and outdoor settings as the city and state continue to loosen gathering and capacity restrictions.
“Our children’s lives have been filled with uncertainty, anxiety, fear, and loss from being in and out of school, away from friends, teachers, and caregivers, and separated from grandparents, family members and others,” Bland said. “Children thrive on the dependability and predictability of their daily routines. We hope returning to a favorite, familiar, and playful museum will create joy and a sense of normalcy for children and families.”
Officials said guests can expect a number of health and safety procedures to be in place. For instance, the museum will have hand sanitizing stations strategically placed for “frequent use,” and high-touch surfaces and exhibit pieces will be frequently cleaned.
Museum staff and volunteers will also be on hand to encourage social distancing and repeated hand washing, officials said. Masks and face coverings will be required for all staff, volunteers, and guests over the age of 8, and masks are “strongly encouraged” for children over the age of 4.
In a statement, Bland said the museum also had state-of-the-art air and water quality, a safeguard put in place when officials first designed the museum.
“The 100-foot Mississippi River water exhibit in our Move With The River gallery was specifically designed to ensure that the water that flows is purified and consumable — all day, every day,” she said. “Even the cistern-runnel water features outdoors have purified water.”
Museum admission will be $14 per person for adults and children 12 months and older. LCM family memberships will once again be available for purchase and will include general admission for a full year.
Officials said any Children’s Museum memberships that were still active when the museum closed due to the pandemic will be automatically extended for the duration of time the museum was closed. In other words, all members will receive the full 12-month value of the membership they bought.
New membership cards with updated expiration dates will be mailed to members in early May, officials said.
After operating for more than 30 years on Julia Street in the Warehouse District, the Children’s Museum relocated in August 2019 to a five-gallery, 56,000-square-foot building on a scenic 8.5-acre plot in City Park overlooking a lagoon.
But the public was able to enjoy the new location for less than a year before coronavirus took full swing in Louisiana in March 2020, and Gov. John Bel Edwards announced statewide closures to curb its spread. The museum briefly reopened in June with new health and safety protocols, but closed down again in August 2020 when Bland said the non-profit suffered too steep a decline in ticket sales.
At that point, most staff were let go. Through donations from the Helis Foundation, the museum became a temporary school site for PreK and kindergarten students at Langston Hughes Academy during the week.
In September, the Helis Foundation started offering free visits to the museum every second Saturday of each month.
When the Louisiana Children’s Museum and Museum Store reopen to the public in May, they will operate from Tuesday — Saturday, 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and Sundays from 11:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. throughout the summer months, officials said in the release.
Acorn Café, the neighboring eatery on the museum’s campus, remains open for families and park-goers.
The news release said the museum was accepting resumes for full and part-time positions. Detailed position descriptions, qualifications, and directions for applying can be found at www.lcm.org/about/join-our-team.
