By Savannah Cooper | Staff Writer
If you’re looking for a cute date place or a great way to pass the time with your family when they’re in town, the Mayborn Museum is your answer. It’s free with a Baylor ID for students and faculty.
Located on 1300 S. University Parks Drive, the Mayborn offers a taste of science and social studies for all ages. The museum has two floors filled with activities such as biannual interactive exhibits, an outside village and Play Waco for children 5 and under. Play Waco is a smaller version of the greater Waco community that allows children to act like adults as a food truck operator, a Hippodrome worker, a bank teller and much more.
Rebecca Tucker Nall, assistant director of communications, exhibit and visitor services, often sees the light most museums are placed under and wants to change that stereotype.
“Museums are often misidentified as not being available for everyone, but we pride ourselves in being accessible to all,” Nall said.
Mayborn is working on that accessibility by rolling out their new program, Museum for All, a program that will provide discounted museum admission for families that receive public assistance.
Starting Oct. 1, there will be a fee of $1 for a one-time admission for each person wanting to go into the museum. There’s also a $10 year-long membership fee option for those interested. To qualify for the benefits, visitors need to present a Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card.
Prior to Museum for All, there was a Free Sunday program on the first of each month that’s ending in September of this year. Nall is looking forward to rolling out museum for all and reaching its target market more effectively.
“The Museum for All initiative represents a long stride toward the goal of reaching more children and parents, especially those living in poverty, with the valuable learning resources of museums,” Nall said.
Allen sophomore Serena McArthur, a visitor services associate understands why most college students don’t know about the Mayborn.
“Number one, they’re busy and number two, they don’t know about it,” McArthur said. “I had no idea what the Mayborn was until in my biology class we were actually assigned to go to the Mayborn.”
McArthur explained how the new program isn’t taking away from the previous one: instead, it’s an evolution of it.
“It’s not that we’re taking away free Sunday, we’re evolving free Sunday into a new program called Museum for All that allows people who typically wouldn’t be able to afford it or experience the wonderfulness of the museum. They get to participate as well.”
