Children's Museum Is Moving On

Photo: Morgan McGivern

The energy in Guild Hall's Woodhouse Gallery was vibrant on a rainy afternoon last week, as kindergarteners from the Bridgehampton School squeezed in a visit to the Children's Museum of the East End exhibit before its final day on Sunday.

Children swarmed across the bridge over a fishing "pond," twirled about the room dragging the hems of overlarge, old-fashioned dress-up clothes, and waved their arms, covered with plush sea-creature puppets, as they crouched in front of a mural of East Hampton's shore.

Since its inception in October, 5,141 visitors, adults and children alike, have explored the interactive exhibit. And, while the museum's organizers look for land to build a permanent museum, C.M.E.E.'s first show, "Time and Place/Light and Space," which focuses on the East End environment past and present, will head to the Manhanset Chapel Museum of the Shelter Island Historical Society.

To Shelter Island

Though plans were tentative this week, the exhibit's Shelter Island run is likely to last from March or April to September, according to Louise Greene, the Historical Society's director. The details, including a rental fee, are still being negotiated.

"We're excited, because now all the schools on the North Fork can visit," said Lucy Kazickas, a member of the museum's founding committee. "We weren't happy about the prospect of putting the exhibit in storage."

Though the Shelter Island Historical Society has hosted "quite a few children's exhibits," said Ms. Greene, this is the first aimed specifically at young children up to 10 years of age.

Looking For Land

The exhibit will continue "on tour" after Labor Day, if there is interest from other organizations. A minimum of 1,200 square feet, and a ceiling height of 12 feet, are required to set up the show.

Children's Museum of the East End committee members, who have been seeking a permanent home for the museum, will meet with a children's museum consultant on Wednesday to forge plans.

"If we could find the land, we would build," Ms. Kazickas said. A central location, in the Bridgehampton area, for instance, is preferred.

Beyond Expectations

Fund raising will not be a problem, organizers feel, as the children's museum concept has garnered enthusiastic support.

"We had no idea it was going to be this successful," said Janet Jennings, another museum committee member.

A new museum building, "in the best world," would be 5,000 square feet on two acres of land, Ms. Jennings said. It would encompass permanent displays as well as rotating exhibits, with an outdoor playground, perhaps with an East End theme.

Guild Hall "Thrilled"

On Monday the panels of "now and then" photographs were dismantled, the pretend farmstand packed up, and the bullfrog, fiddler crab, and old boot from the pond tucked away.

As the paintings and artifacts in Guild Hall's corresponding Moran Family exhibit came down, so did the Children's Museum's copy of "MidSummer's Day," a Thomas Moran painting of East Hampton, where, behind "discovery doors," children could learn about windmills, trees, and Long Island's glacial origins.

"We're thrilled with the outcome," said Henry Korn, the director of Guild Hall, as "Time and Place/Light and Space" was loaded up. "It was marvelous for the community and also wonderful for Guild Hall."

Guild Hall is "looking forward to future cooperation with the Children's Museum of the East End," Mr. Korn said. The children's museum's focus on education for young children dovetails nicely with Guild Hall's educational mission, he noted.

"We would be happy to have them back in our galleries, and delighted to host workshops," Mr. Korn said. Guild Hall also would be willing to collaborate on activities at a future Children's Museum site, and would make its collection and other resources available, he said.