After a summer of reorganization and rebooting, the Powerhouse Science Center will reopen Saturday.
“It’s a bare bones startup, and we’re starting small,” said Kathleen O’Connor, who has stepped down as president of the Powerhouse’s board and is now serving as executive director in a part-time interim position. “We need to build carefully and strategically. But we just wanted to be open for our community.”
The board of directors voted to close the center May 9 after learning about the center’s financial situation. The closing was always meant to be temporary.
After its reopening, the center will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday through Monday to the public for now, although it will also be open for classroom field trips during the week.
The Reopening Celebration will feature live music by the Powerhouse’s science, theater, education, arts and music park partners the Stillwater Foundation and Music in the Mountains, science and MakerLab demonstrations and historic tours of the Powerhouse.
Admission will be free for the celebration.
“It’s a thank you to the community for volunteering, for their support and for their patience,” said Joe Lounge, exhibits facility manager.
Memberships will be extended for at least the four months the center was closed as another thank you for patience.
The center received only a couple of calls from people who wanted a refund for membership fees, Lounge said.
What’s new?
What has changed since the Powerhouse closed?
There are new exhibits including an observation beehive, terrariums/aquariums, a rolling, jumping drone and an Interactive Projection project.
“It projects a piano keyboard on the floor and you can step on it and play it,” Lounge said. “It’s kind of like the keyboard in the movie ‘Big,’ but virtual.”
Exhibits have been updated and refurbished, including a telegraphy station as part of the circuit-board exhibit. Two prototype exhibits have now been fine-tuned and made permanent, and a naturalist’s cabin is in the backyard.
“We’re just in the beginning stages of what we’d like to see,” Lounge said.
The Powerhouse has created partnerships with the Durango MakerLab, Four Corners Beekeepers Association and the Fish Connection. It has contracted with two former staff members, Sarah Margoles and Leisha Lawson, to hold after-school MakerLab classes, O’Connor said.
“This is a match made in heaven,” said Ryan Finnigan, who will be teaching Ryan’s Inventors Lab in classes starting in October. “We are going to have our own little exhibit space in the Mensch Spark Shop, and we’ll be making prototypes of exhibits. If the center likes them, then we’ll build final exhibits.”
Six new people have joined the board, including a new president and treasurer. Training is planned for the board in the months ahead.
“We hadn’t had a treasurer for seven or eight months,” O’Connor said. “This will help understand numbers and what they mean.”
The facility has been upgraded when it comes to safety.
“I commend them for all the work they’ve done to bring it up to par,” said Fire Marshal Karola Hanks of the Durango Fire Protection District on Thursday.
She signed off, allowing them to reopen Saturday. “There are just a few minor things left on the list.”
A new, more usable website has been created by information technology volunteer Steve Schott.
The Powerhouse now has a fundraising committee meeting weekly as well as science and community advisory boards.
What is in progress?
A new business plan and budget will be available on the Powerhouse’s website in early October for review by the community.
Planning is underway for seasonal exhibits, more life-science exhibits and celebrations such as International Pi Day and Nicola Tesla’s birthday.
Finnigan hopes to expand maker classes over time.
“We’re planning activities for all ages,” he said. “We want to have adult-based projects in the evening for lifelong learning, where people can learn new skills.”
The Powerhouse is expanding a database of 40 volunteers and learning how to work with volunteers so they can accomplish more with a smaller staff.
The Powerhouse was given an extension to get its 990 tax return for 2014 into the IRS. The return should be filed in November, O’Connor said.
What have they learned?
“We hit a perfect storm of programming contracts running out and too much staff,” O’Connor said. “We may serve as a cautionary tale for other nonprofits.”
The Powerhouse now has a paid staff the equivalent of two full-time positions. In addition to O’Connor and Lounge, Sharon Orr with Third Party Rentals will work on event planning.
The Powerhouse crew also learned the center still has a lot of supporters and people who want to volunteer, including Frank Masiarz, who has a doctorate in biochemistry and retired to Durango after 35 years in the Bay Area in California.
His mind is coming up with ideas fast and furiously, including a photosynthesis exhibit, re-creating experiments by famous scientists in history and a place where people can use the scientific method to do experiments, collect data, plot it on graphs and discover scientific principles on their own.
“How about an organ week?” Masiarz said, “What does your liver do? What do your kidneys do? I have a real enthusiasm about this place and was incredibly depressed when it closed. I’m excited to get it going again.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
If you go
The Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio, will hold its Reopening Celebration at 10 a.m. Saturday, with activities continuing until 3 p.m. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday weekly after the reopening. Visit http://powsci.org/ to learn more.
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is once again donating tickets from its Dress Rehearsal Polar Express to the Powerhouse. First-class, deluxe and standard tickets for the evening of Nov. 20 will be sold during the reopening, and 100 percent of the proceeds from those ticket sales will go to the Powerhouse.
The Powerhouse has brought back its Trivia Night with host Brett Cadwell at 6 p.m. Thursdays. Admission is free.
In collaboration with the Durango MakerLab, the Powerhouse is offering several after-school PowerMaker classes starting at the beginning of October, ranging from a Mini Makers workshop for 6- to 8-year-olds to Ryan’s Inventors Lab for more advanced students ages 11 to 18. Visit http://powsci.org/programs/powermaker to learn more.
People who have not received refunds for summer camp fees should contact Kathleen O’Connor at kathleen@powsci.org.
