Santa Fe Children’s Museum updating outdoor education, play space

Caitlin Brodsky believes in the magic of the Santa Fe Children’s Museum.

As a child whose grandmother lived just down the street from the museum on Old Pecos Trail, she frequented its multilevel play spaces. She got her first job in the museum’s gift shop. And when she had her own children — now 5 and 7 years old — her family became regulars once again.

Brodsky, president of the Santa Fe Children’s Museum board of directors, is now part of a communitywide effort to lead the institution toward its next big step: a full-scale renovation of the Backyard, an outdoor education and play space that will feature more than 20 new or refurbished exhibits accessible to visitors with disabilities.

Museum staff and board members, donors, state officials and contractors gathered Monday in the Backyard to break ground on the first phase of the project.

“The Santa Fe Children’s Museum is unique in that it has this acre-plus outdoor space,” Brodsky said. “It’s really an extension of our museum — where we can extend our learning and exhibit space and education programming.”

Over the next five years or so, the museum will add or renovate 28 exhibits in the Backyard, including a music performance plaza featuring a stage and new equipment, a 30-foot zip line and nature-based play spaces built in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation’s Early Childhood Health Outdoors initiative, Executive Director Hannah Hausman said.

Don’t worry — children’s museum classics like the traditional mud-adobe oven and community garden will be incorporated into the refurbished space.

The project will cost an estimated $1.5 million, Hausman said, adding the museum already has raised about $500,000 from a combination of public and private sources.

Phase 1 of the Backyard’s renovation, which began Monday, is designed to ensure the space is accessible to everyone through smooth walkways and an accessible entrance.

The children’s museum moved into its current space in 1989, Hausman said; that’s the year before the Americans with Disabilities Act — which, among other things, requires accommodations for people with disabilities — was signed into law.

The museum’s outdoor paths now include steep inclines, uneven surfaces and inconsistent trail widths, all of which could be difficult to navigate for visitors who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids, as well as caregivers pushing strollers.

In addition to doing away with those hindrances, the changes will send a message, Brodsky added: The Backyard is a space for everyone.

“Making the pathways ADA accessible helps us achieve that. … We want [the museum] to represent our community as a whole, so we need to be able to offer everything to everyone equally,” she said.

This initial portion of the renovation will be paid for entirely by state capital outlay funds, Hausman said. House Bill 505, passed during this year’s legislative session but not yet signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, includes a $350,000 appropriation for the Santa Fe Children’s Museum’s upgrades.

The project will move into Phase 2 — or the larger renovation and addition of exhibits — right away, Hausman said.

This portion of the project will be largely funded by private donors because state capital outlay funds can’t be spent on removable decor required for exhibits, Hausman said, like the musical instruments and singing stepping stones that will be added to the museum’s new music plaza.

Currently, the list of supporters includes Enterprise Bank & Trust, the Rotary Club of Santa Fe and a collection of individual donors.

“Children are our future; that’s what we believe at the bank. We cannot be a healthy, sustainable organization if we don’t live a healthy sustainable community, and children are the succession plan for that community,” said Enterprise Bank & Trust Regional President Dion Silva.

Brodsky is excited to share a refreshed version of the museum’s magic with new and returning visitors in the coming years.

“It’s been hard for families over the past couple years with COVID, and I think a lot of families are back in the community,” she said. “To offer them something new and exciting and fresh is what I’m really looking forward to.”