Pressroom
… makes up tag’s Leadership?
Kim MacEwan – Executive Director
Board of Directors
tag! Children’s Museum is designed for kids and their families. And, while our target audience is toddlers through middle school, the benefits don’t stop with 12-year-olds.
Quick Facts:
… is the master plan?
tag! Children’s Museum will be built in phases on our 4.5 acre campus-style property. Phase1, the Newman Family Foundation Discovery campus is a playful collection of indoor and outdoor spaces including, the Lastinger Big Backyard, the Florida Blue Healthy Gardens, The Cofrin Family Tree Story Garden, and The PLAYERS Championship STEM programming. Phase 2 includes additional buildings on our campus with more indoor exhibits and learning labs, and outdoor learning adventures.
Children learn through play. Learning is an active process – a personal adventure. It can be messy, noisy, or even chaotic. Or it can be quiet and contemplative. tag! Children’s Museum will provide a safe play-based learning experience where children can explore open-ended exhibits and experiences. We will encourage curiosity, ignite creativity, and spark imagination in a multi-sensory, hands-on, active, child-centered, and family-friendly environment.
… are you building a children’s museum?
tag! Children’s Museum will be the first new cultural facility built in Northeast Florida in more than 20 years. For all we have going for us, Northeast Florida is one of the few metropolitan areas in the U.S. without a children’s museum. In a county with more than 70,000 children under 18, and with another 300,000 children within a 150-mile radius, there is not an opportunity for these children to investigate and explore the world around them, to be curious, to discover, to create … in an environment that’s made just for them. That’s where tag! Children’s Museum comes in. A place where kids, families, and the whole community can gather to explore the world through open-ended exhibits, where we ignite curiosity, grow community, and bring the family together.
… will the tag! Children’s Museum be?
tag! will be located on Arapaho Avenue, behind Target on US1 and next to Windward Marina. The Museum’s 4.5 acre site will be the perfect setting for indoor and outdoor exhibits and experiences for the entire family.
… will the Museum be Open?
We are excited to be breaking ground in October 2021 on Phase 1 of our indoor-outdoor campus with a projected opening in the first quarter of 2023.
… will the tag! Children’s Museum Project be Completed?
This project wouldn’t be possible without our partners. Master planning, architecture and landscape design is by Place Alliance. The tag! Children’s Museum will be built by Urban Partners Construction.
A construction loan has been made possible by the USDA Community Facilities Loan Program and First Federal Bank. We are conducting a $7 million capital campaign to give families, businesses, and others the opportunity to invest in the future of Northeast Florida. We are $2 million from our goal. Please think about helping us grow!
Tim Forson, Superintendent of Schools St. Johns County Schools – The Children’s Museum provides educational and fun programming that complements the experiences our children gain in the classroom. The hands-on learning opportunities are varied to build on life skills and academics. The Children’s Museum offers our community the ability to STEAM forward and we are very grateful for the impact it will make on our very youngest and oldest citizens.
Kaneika Nimmons, Dean, St. Johns County School District – When tag! volunteered to bring over science kits and get involved at our science fair STEM night, it was the buzz at our school for the next few weeks. It brought in so many families from the community and it allowed that time for kids, with their families, that they probably don’t get often.
Robert Nimmons, West Augustine CRA – tag! will be a force of nature in St. Johns County. I would give a plea out to the community and to business partners to invest in tag! I think it will have an impact economic impact in St. Augustine and St. Johns County that will also help other businesses along the way. It’s just a good investment.
Delores and Allen Lastinger – We were so impressed with their persistence and their dedication to this project. It was contagious.
Delores Lastinger – One of the things you’re seeing in education today is experiential learning – I think this is a wonderful opportunity to expand on that part of teaching and learning.
Ben Platt – We’ve invested in the children’s museum because we believe its a community asset, that’s going to be a wonderful legacy for the people that live here, for the people who visit here.
Doug Wiles – It all goes back to the imagination and having something to stimulate the thoughts and the dreams, and the desires, of ((children)) are important- and that’s why I’m really excited about the children’s museum.
Dr. Jimmy Glenos – It’s going to be a place like no other for young children to learn how to think critically. To learn about nature, and physics.. and science- It’s more than they would ever have the opportunity to learn without the museum.
Caren Goldman, Compassionate St. Augustine – Your (tag’s) collaborative and cooperative ethos is just really heartwarming.
Want to know a little bit more about what tag! looks like in action? Please visit our Vimeo collection to see for yourself!
Below are a selection of images from various workshops and community events.
