Exploration Summit will pair immersive entertainment with science and technology education
Aug. 29, 2024
Colorado Springs will soon be home to a new museum focused on providing interactive hands-on learning and offering new perspectives through science, technology, engineering, art and math-centered exhibits.
Exploration Summit’s CEO Caroline Morales said that the community-built and inspired museum is set to open in 2025. Right now, the museum’s team is primarily working to cement its brand and location.
“We're securing a location right now. We're working with architects and getting that location to be as whimsical and spectacular as we can for our budget. So, we are currently in the phase of our capital campaign. We've got everything lined up downstream, so we're just trying to race, and hurry up and get there,” Morales said.
While Exploration Summit will be open to everyone, the museum was designed with children ages 6 to 12 in mind.
Creating exhibits requires feedback from a Junior Advisory Board made up of eight children in that age group. Morales said the team behind Exploration Summit observed the reactions and interests of the Junior Advisory Board’s members, both while visiting other museums and after sharing exhibit concepts, to generate new ideas.
“We've taken them to all of these museums here around town. They get the same reaction. ‘Look what I did. This is what I can do,’ and that's using science and technology. And so, that's really what we're trying to bring out in Exploration Summit is how cool our kids are when you equip them with science and technology,” Morales said.
According to Exploration Summit’s website and Morales, the following exhibit halls were planned for the museum:
The Power Pavilion exhibit will have activities focused on generating electricity and creating energy.
Exploration Summit’s Sports Annex will focus on how the human body works and include a way for visitors to visualize their heartbeats.
Morales said the Cloak and Daggers exhibit will demonstrate the science of being a spy. Activities will include a laser maze and a place to make invisible ink.
The Sound Lab will allow visitors to experiment with and visualize sound.
The Fascinating Forces exhibit will demonstrate physics concepts and principles through interactive activities.
The museum will only have three or four exhibit halls because it is a preview for a bigger museum. Morales noted that over 100 exhibits have been designed for use later on.
“That's not going to come for a couple of years. We're going to have eight exhibit halls, but for right now, we're actually only planning around four to five in our preview project. It's going to be a smaller museum to help get the word out [and] help us do our own fundraising before we build the big museum,” Morales said.
Morales said volunteers and corporate sponsors make a lot of what the museum’s team is planning and doing possible.
Exploration Summit will eventually host events, like adults-only nights and military family nights, which Morales said will require the help of volunteers. “I would love to say that I would like to have an event, a big event at Exploration Summit, at least once a month, and that means come or volunteer to help run our events so that we can continue to kind of bless those in our community,” she said.
Exploration Summit is also in need of corporate sponsors, especially in the form of local investors. Morales said that at least one local investor is needed for Exploration Summit to access the rest of the funding they need.
Sponsoring Exploration Summit is worth more to their team than a logo displayed on a website. Morales said the sponsors will be featured in videos on LED screens throughout the museum to demonstrate how much the community played a part in its development.
Morales said she and the Exploration Summit Team are excited to bring a STEAM museum experience to Colorado Springs. She thinks it’s important for people of all ages to learn and support others in their learning, especially adults.
“It keeps your brain malleable. It keeps your brain always thinking about things in new ways, and I think as adults, we can kind of get stuck in our ways and forget to think creatively or only see things one way,” she said.
Visit Exploration Summit’s website to learn more about their exhibits, view updates, access information on corporate sponsorship packages, buy memberships and explore volunteer opportunities as they become available.
Exploration Summit will also post updates, announcements and information on their Facebook and Instagram accounts as they become available.