"Renewal" was the key word at Thursday's Clay Center Board of Directors meeting as the board voted to approve a new $14 million fund that will be used to upgrade, add and expand a host of features to the Avampato Discovery Museum, including a multi-story, climbable statue in the museum's main lobby.
The changes will come by way of a new "Discovery Museum Renewal Fund," a new fund that will be added to the center's Permanent Fund. The Clay Foundation has already committed $8 million to the fund, which leaves $6 million to be raised for a project intended to reinvigorate the Clay Center's arts and science presentations, outreach and sustainability.
"We are essentially renewing the entire museum, which is more than 50 percent of what the Clay Center stands for in terms of the impact in the community, our impact on education, on quality of life in Kanawha County and frankly in the entire state, by renewing every single exhibit that we have in the museum," said Clay Center President and CEO Al Najjar, after the meeting.
Visitors will see changes in fairly short order, said Najjar. "This is not a five or ten-year project. We're talking about two, two-and-a-half years. It's all about the integration of the arts and sciences."
Phase One of the project, targeted for completion by Thanksgiving 2016, includes two notable additions to the heart of the Clay Center.
One of the signature pieces of the renewal project is an original interactive sculpture referred to during the meeting as "the Climber." The vertical sculpture, which will be created by Spencer Luckey, will be commissioned and built in the lobby, starting at the lower level where the museum cafe is located and climbing two stories up to the Avampato art museum. Children will be able to climb through it to get to different levels of the building.
"It will be designed to reflect what the Clay Center's all about, what Charleston, West Virginia is all about," said Najjar. "But also it's an active and living sculpture, if you like. Kids will be crawling into it, going through it, exploring it. It will be intermeshed and integrated into the museum."
The center will also add a simulated city, temporarily dubbed "My Town." where children will take part and be in charge of civic life, an interactive exhibit along the lines of "Kidtropolis" at the Children's Museum of Houston. The same designers of "Kidtropolis" will design the Clay Center's version, which will include Charleston and West Virginia references such as the state Capitol gold dome.
Children will be able to perform different jobs for a paycheck, deposit that paycheck onto a pretend debit card and use it to "pay" for fun experiences in the town. The exhibit will be installed on the lower level of the museum, where the STEAMworks gallery currently is.
"Kids and students can become the next mayor of Charleston or the governor of West Virginia, or could be a doctor or fireman or policeman, a cook, a plumber or a policeman," said Najjar. "What do they do in a pharmacy? What does it take to be a doctor? All of that through exploration, engagement, through meaningful play, learning-based type of play."
Phase Two of the renewal project, slated to be completed about a year after Phase One, will include a new music exhibit, a water exhibit and a health exhibit, replacing exhibits currently open on the Clay Center's main level.
"The other major upgrade that will happen is that all of our science exhibits - water, health - will be upgraded as well," said Najjar. "We're adding a component about music. We have one of the best performing arts centers in the country and having an exhibit on music will be a new addition."
The art museum will also feature new interactive, digital features as well as hands-on activities for children. During the meeting, Najjar showed a video from Gallery One at the Cleveland Museum of Art that illustrated new interactive components recently introduced to that facility.
The goal of these news features is "injecting new dimensions and new experiences to the museum of art, where visitors - whether adults, students or children - can become part of the museum, can become part of the collection through digital technology, through workshops and programs and speaker series and guest artists."
The renewal project also includes upgraded film technology for the Digital Dome.
Of the total $14 million cost of the project, $6 million is slated for the actual exhibits and features and $8 million for an endowment that will allow the center to continually keep up and renew the museum in years to come.
Clay Center chairman of the board Kyle Mork said the single word "renewal" summed up a lot about what was needed for the Clay Center's museum operations.
"I think it's a perfect term," said Mork. "You consider that the Clay Center has been here since 2003. The exhibits were planned before that. You're looking at almost 15 years, quite frankly, of these exhibits and their genesis.
"So, it's not about a whole new direction. It's renewing the direction we've always gone, in terms of engaging with the community, getting kids here, and the ability, which I'm most excited about, to really make this a regional attraction. I believe, firmly, when this is all in place, starting as soon as the end of next year, we'll have kids and families coming not only from all over West Virginia, but even from outside the state because this will be such a high-quality attraction for them."
During the meeting, board member Harvey Peyton voiced concerns about whether the renewal campaign would pay enough attention to the visual arts. Najjar assured him that $250,000 to $500,000 of the fund will go to the art museum.
"There is a substantial part of the project dedicated to the art museum."
After the meeting, Peyton said he was glad to hear Najjar's reassurance that the visual arts would be part of the renewal plans. "His answer - about 10 percent of this money - is going to be allocated to the gallery and to exhibits, that's fine with me. That's something to work with."
Melissa Ruddle, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for Kanawha County schools, said afterwards that she was "extremely enthusiastic" after hearing the details of what lies ahead in the next couple of years for the Clay Center.
"The kids are going to have an opportunity to do something different every time they come here, kind of to 'own' their learning. It's not a "sit-and-git,' They will be hands on," Ruddle said. "I looked at that 'My Town' and I could think of a hundred different things that you could do with it. It's pretty exciting. I can't wait to see it. And that Climber? I want to get on it. It'll be fun."
Members of the board include:
Richard Adams, Kristen Anderson, Phyllis Arnold, Charles M. Avampato, Alisa Bailey, Claire Barth, Bobby Blakley, Sara Busse, Gaston Caperton, Ellen Cappellanti, David Carrington, Lisa Fischer Casto, Fred Clark, Stephen P. Dexter, Robert E. Douglas, Michelle Easton, John Elliot, Horace Emery, Harry H. Esbenshade III, Scott Freshwater, Georgette George, Timothy Gibson, Michael R. Graney, David Haden, David J. Hardy, Eric Iskra, Lloyd G. Jackson II, Danny Jones, Laurance Jones III, Dee Kapourales, Virginia King, Thomas Kittredge, Ken Kleeman, Jane Kopp, Adam Krason, Charles W. Loeb, Jr., Kyle Mork, Eric Nelson, Roger Nicholson, Nate Orders, Andy Paterno, Shawn Patterson, Harvey Peyton, Steve Robey, Brad Rowe, Sharon Rowe, Missy Ruddle, Douglas Skaff Jr., John Strickland, Sandra Thomas, Joanne Tomblin, Richard M. Wallace, Rev. Matthew Watts, Steve Wehrle, Joan Weisberg and Judith Wellington.
Contact Douglas Imbrogno at 304-348-3017, e-mail douglas@cnpapers.com or follow him on Twitter at @douglaseye.