A $203 million donation from philanthropists Cici and Hyatt Brown will support a significant transformation of the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, Science & History in Daytona Beach, as reported by Spectrum News 13.
The museum, previously called the Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS), says its goal is to transform from a hidden gem into the cultural crown jewel of Central Florida.
Once it is redesigned as a larger cultural campus on Nova Road, reshaping how it presents art, science, and history for future generations, leadership hopes it will attract visitors from across Florida and beyond.
“We kept hearing repeatedly, you're a hidden gem, you're a hidden gem,” says Tabitha Schmidt, CEO of the Brown Museum. “And when we came out of that planning, this was during strategic planning and master planning, we were just like, well, we don't want to be a hidden gem anymore.
"We want to be a crown jewel.”
A redesigned campus
The expansion plans involve demolishing the museum’s existing 100,000-square-foot main building and replacing it with a redesigned campus. The plans also include a new welcome centre, expanded galleries, a larger event space, new offices, and an environmental education pavilion linked to the museum’s 63-acre preserve.
A major new feature is a 60-foot tilted dome planetarium that can seat 200, more than twice the current theatre's capacity.
Museum leaders have collaborated with Daytona Beach city officials, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the St. Johns River Water Management District, and Volusia County on zoning and planning. They reported that the approval process has been progressing smoothly.
After obtaining all necessary approvals, the project will enter the groundbreaking phase, with completion anticipated within a few years.
Elsewhere in Florida, the Museum of Science & History (MOSH) in Jacksonville recently shared a first look at the visitor experience and galleries in its new museum. The newly released concept images reveal three of 10 planned galleries that will provide more than 50,000 square feet of permanent exhibit space.
Charlotte Coates is blooloop's editor. She is from Brighton, UK and previously worked as a librarian. She has a strong interest in arts, culture and information and graduated from the University of Sussex with a degree in English Literature. Charlotte can usually be found either with her head in a book or planning her next travel adventure.
