Please Touch Museum announces a new permanent exhibit, thanks to a $2.5 million grant
Right in time for the museum's 50th anniversary, the Fairmount Park organization also completed a $4.2 million floor restoration project.
The Philadelphia Touch Museum is turning 50 this year. To celebrate, it’s adding a new permanent exhibit to its Memorial Hall.
The Fairmount Park children’s museum, specializing in interactive learning through playful activations, is adding “Character Quest: Building Character Skills Through Play” to its list offering, starting this fall.
According to a news release, Character Quest will incorporate a mix of large and small-scale activations focused on developing the museum’s young visitors’ social and emotional intelligence, growth mindset, and perseverance through physical play.
The new exhibit, which will be placed on the southwest corner of the space, is being funded by a $2.5 million grant through the Fostering Character Through Children’s Museums Initiative, organized by Lilly Endowment Inc.
The initiative, launched in November 2023, is a multi-year grant that develops and expands existing efforts that encourage positive character traits among children and youth. Please Touch Museum is one of 23 children’s museums in the country being funded through this initiative.
Melissa Weiler Gerber, president and CEO of Please Touch Museum, said this grant is “transformative” for the institution’s plans to further this work.
“We are grateful to Lilly Endowment for its investment, and we are especially honored to be included in this initiative alongside respected peers from across the country,” Gerber said in a press statement. “We are thrilled to introduce this new exhibit as a lasting legacy of our 50th birthday year — one that we hope will give children and caregivers alike tools and experiences to understand their emotions, learn more about themselves, and connect with others.”
The exhibit’s central fixture includes a 20-foot climbing structure, complete with various pathways and modalities to test children’s strength of “heart, mind, and will.” The walls lining Character Quest will be filled with content that encourages emotional exploration and collaboration.
Features also include rope swings, slides, climbing nets, and multiple viewing platforms of West Fairmount Park through large windows inside Memorial Hall. The exhibit is designed in partnership with Art Guild, Metcalfe Architecture & Design, and Studio Ludo.
Ted Maple, vice president of education and youth programs at the Lilly Endowment, said he looks forward to seeing how this initiative will shape visitors’ characters and inspire them to put these exercises into practice.
“We are excited to see how the museums funded through this initiative will help children and their families to explore various character traits and reflect together on ways these traits can be practiced and strengthened,” Maple said in a press statement.
Along with the new exhibition, there will be ongoing programs and online resources for caregivers to help foster character development at home and in schools.
Last week, the museum celebrated the completion of a $4.2 million project that restored the marble flooring in the Memorial Hall, after an eight-year-long fundraising campaign and two years of construction.
For more information, visit pleasetouchmuseum.org
