The Iowa Children’s Museum (ICM) first opened its doors on November 16, 1999. This Thursday, it celebrated its 25th anniversary with a ceremonial ribbon cutting and a new temporary photography exhibit inside the museum at the Coral Ridge Mall.
Hosted in conjunction with Greater Iowa City, the ribbon cutting saw a crowd of around 50 Greater IC ambassadors, ICM board members, parents, and kids.
Coralville Mayor Pro Tem Laurie Goodrich was also in attendance, and gave a few remarks before the ribbon cutting.
“It’s my delight to represent Coralville to congratulate the Iowa Children’s Museum,” Ms. Goodrich said at the event. “We are on our second generation of kids in our family, and I’m delighted to have a grandparent membership and look forward to many, many happy times to generations in the future.”
Jeff Capps, executive director of the ICM, also spoke before the ribbon cutting ceremony, thanking attendees and board members for making the museum what it is today.
“Laurie was alluding to this vision that’s now close to 30 years old when this first started percolating, and then to our start at the old Sycamore Mall — now the Iowa City marketplace. So we’ve come a long way, truly,” Mr. Capps said. “But being here for 25 years; it’s just incredible to think about how fast that has gone. So we are grateful that we made it that far, and all the countless individual donors, corporate sponsors, grantors, event attendees, the list goes on and on.”
Mr. Capps also went on to discuss the museum’s tentative plans for the future, highlighting a new “road trip” theme to its developing 3-year plan. He said the museum aims to find out what its exact next steps will be through meeting with community focus groups, partners, stakeholders, and board members over the next year.
“And we feel like in 25 years, it’s time for us to step up and say, ‘Okay, no, we’re going to be here for another 25 years plus,’ and we’ve got to figure out what else the community needs of us and what else we can be doing to serve our community, what else we can be doing to grow,” Mr. Capps said.
The museum’s new touring installation, which opened on Aug. 31 and will be available to view until the ICM’s official 25th anniversary on Nov. 16. Created by photographer Nancy Richards Farese, “Potential Space: A Serious Look at Child’s Play” features 16 years of photos from 14 different countries, all focusing on how kids play.
“That’s where our commitment lies, to this community and to obviously, children and families in this community and beyond,” Mr. Capps said. “But as we think about those young children that we serve and young families, grandparents, aunts and uncles, all those folks who believe that children deserve the right to play, it is all of you who make that possible.”
