Executing its strategic plan to serve twice as many children and families and to expand programming to a more diverse community by moving to a new facility at Thompson’s Point, the Children’s Museum & Theatre closed on the sale of its 142 Free Street building to the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) on October 15, 2019. Thompson’s Point is the newly-developing public-transportation friendly destination and hub of creative activity on the Fore River. Proceeds from the sale of 142 Free Street are contributing to the Museum & Theatre’s construction of the new building and its exhibits; a capital campaign for the balance needed will be announced in the coming months.

Exhibits Associate Andy Rosen is curating a show called FolkLand at the Portland Public Library that opens on First Friday October 4, from 5-7pm. The FolkLand show is described as “crafting a new kind of folklore” where the featured artists “tell a story about the natural world now, threatened by change, still rife with mystery and wonder. Their works ask us to revisit and reclaim our relationship with the world around us.”

The Museum on the Go program at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine provides informal, experiential learning stations in settings with large numbers of children and parents or caretakers (often 100 or more people). Museum on the Go provides open-ended programming from a six-foot table, accommodates large groups, and allows for varied stay times. The Life of Istar, the Humpback Whale program is an exception as it requires considerably more space to accommodate the 40-foot inflatable whale.

Educator Samantha Connelly attended the Youth Climate Change Walkout on Friday, September 20, 2019 in Portland, Maine to document how children were talking about their passion for and activism on behalf of the environment. These are some the quotes and images that she brought back with her.