Merger marks new venture for children’s museum in Myrtle Beach

A merger will mark a new venture for children’s museums in Myrtle Beach and Columbia.

The Children’s Museum of South Carolina, in Myrtle Beach, and EdVenture, in Columbia, will combine resources as of March 1, continuing a partnership already in place through various channels for several years.

Margaret Clarkson, marketing director for EdVenture, which has managed the Myrtle Beach museum for the past 18 months, said Friday that formally combining forces will enhance their assets for education, adding to their attraction for tourists in and from their respective Midlands and Grand Strand markets.

The Children’s Museum of South Carolina, with 7,000 square feet, opened in 1994, nine years before EdVenture, which at 92,000 square feet, Clarkson called “the largest children’s museum in the Southeast.” Each will keep its own name.

Clarkson said memberships at each museum already have utilized reciprocal free admission and that people already “come from all over the state” to EdVenture, much like Myrtle Beach’s wide appeal, another reason that personnel at both sites “are all very excited” for this merger.

“We really got to test the waters, so to speak,” she said, praising the positive results of the management agreement since mid-2015 with the Myrtle Beach museum’s board of directors..

She said exhibits, for example, that have been embraced by the public in each place can then be set up on the floors at the other, “fresh ... with a whole new life and audience.”

Clarkson said for “day-to-day operations,” the museums’ management – led by Karen Coltrane, EdVenture’s president and chief executive officer – will aim “to keep everything the same as much as possible,” while finding new ways “to mirror all” of the events and exhibits “that have been successful at both museums.”

The Myrtle Beach museum’s annual traditions include “Noon Year’s Eve,” a mid-day, family celebration every Dec. 31.

Data show that more than 800,000 people have visited the Children’s Museum of South Carolina overall, and that annual tallies exceed 220,000 at EdVenture.

This merger will strengthen both museums, Coltrane said, “because the more you can get collaboration, the better it is for everybody.”

“I think that people in our region will appreciate the synergies,” Coltrane said.

Plans also include, with people with special needs in mind, to develop a new museum in Myrtle Beach, Clarkson said, summing that up as “looking for a place that’s easily accessible for families of all types.”

Coltrane said she has observed in Myrtle Beach that “the community really cherishes” the Children’s Museum of South Carolina and that finding a bigger site that’s “sized for all the visitors” in traffic, with “better visibility” in location, is an immediate wish. She welcomed community help and input in that endeavor.

She said EdVenture’s staff also conducts 12 after-school programs, also with events “throughout the region and state.”

Asked how operating a children’s museum differs from engaging patrons who go to art, science and natural history museums, Clarkson cited several variables, such as how EdVenture and the Children’s Museum of South Carolina will continue a mission to connect with children through age 10, and their parents and grandparents who bring them on visits.

Without the need for guests to stay behind a line to view valuable artifacts, children’s museums lack the need for any “exhibit roped off,” which affords “a completely different way of thinking,” encouraging youngsters to “run in.”

“Children learn by playing and being extremely interactive,” Clarkson said, adding, “the more interactive we are with exhibits, the more they can learn.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 9:47 PM with the headline "Merger marks new venture for children’s museum in Myrtle Beach."