The Glazer Children's Museum is a non-profit

children's museum Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums fe ...

located in downtown

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

, next to the

Tampa Museum of Art The Tampa Museum of Art is located in downtown Tampa, Florida. It exhibits modern and contemporary art, as well as Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities. The museum was founded in 1979 and debuted an award-winning new building in 2010 just north ...

and Curtis Hixon Park, alongside the

Tampa Riverwalk The Tampa Riverwalk is a open space and pedestrian trail along the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida. The Riverwalk extends along most of the downtown Tampa waterfront from the Channelside District on the eastern terminus to the mouth of ...

. It is part of the Waterfront Arts District. Housed in a 53,000-square-foot facility in

downtown Tampa Downtown Tampa is the central business district of Tampa, Florida, United States, and the chief financial district of the Tampa Bay Area. It is second only to Westshore regarding employment in the area. Companies with a major presence downtown i ...

, the museum features interactive exhibits in multiple themed areas. Traveling exhibits occasionally supplement the museum's permanent collection as well.

History

The history of Glazer Children's Museum dates back to the 1965 opening of Safety Village in Lowry Park. The Children's Museum of Tampa, Inc. was founded in 1986 by community volunteers and with support of many private and public partners. The Children's Museum of Tampa served children and families in the

Tampa Bay Area The Tampa Bay area is a major populated area surrounding Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the United ...

for over two decades. From humble beginnings in a small storefront location, the

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

provided exhibits that gave children a safe place to learn and play. In 1989, with support from the

City of Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough Count ...

, the museum relocated next to the city

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zool ...

. This site operated under the name Kid City and consisted of a series of outdoor miniature buildings simulating a small town. From 1989 to 2003, Kid City was an ideal space for the museum to provide

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

centered on the value of community. Kid City served over 750,000 visitors from the Tampa Bay Area and became an important part of the cultural and educational fabric of the community. In 2003, museum volunteers and staff began looking at the next step of expansion to meet the needs of its community. After conducting a feasibility study and gathering input from more than 400 people, plans were drawn for a new 53,000-square-foot state-of-the-art

in downtown Tampa's new

Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park is an public park located along the Hillsborough river in downtown Tampa, Florida that opened in its current configuration in 2010. It is adjacent to the Tampa Riverwalk, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa ...

. After a $22 million

capital campaign Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

to build the new building, construction began in March 2009 and was completed in April 2010, the museum was then opened on September 25, 2010. In honor of the Glazer Family Foundation, who had donated $5 million, the Museum was named as Glazer Children's Museum. In its first year of operation, the museum served 250,000 guests, donated more than 25,000 admission tickets to underserved youth populations, and saw approximately 26,000 children during school field trips and educational programs. Since its opening in 2010, Glazer Children's Museum has hosted over 2 million guests and is an integral part of the cultural corridor of museums, libraries, theaters, and performing arts centers in Tampa Bay.

Awards and Accolades

* 2012 - Recipient of Educational Outreach Award from WEDU Be More Awards * 2015 - Recipient of Educational Outreach Award from WEDU Be More Awards * 2016 - Recipient of Diversity and Inclusion Award from FL Division of Cultural Affairs * 2017 - Non-Profit of the Year: Arts, Culture and Humanities from Tampa Bay Business Journal * 2017 - Finalist in the WEDU Be More Awards * 2019 - Finalist in the Tampa Downtown Partnership Urban Excellence Awards * 2019 - Finalist in the WEDU Be More Awards * 2019 - Best Place to Have a Birthday Party from Tampa Bay Times Best of the Best Awards * 2019 - Employer of the Year from Mayor's Alliance for Persons with Disabilities * 2019 - Marketer of the Year from AMA Tampa Bay * 2019 - Non-Profit of the Year Honoree from TBBJ ONE Tampa Bay * 2020 - Finalist: Best International Digital Activity from Kids in Museums]

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glazer Children's Museum Museums in Tampa, Florida Children's museums in Florida 1987 establishments in Florida