National Children’s Museum to Receive Museums Empowered Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services

Grant supports Museum Maker-Learning Environments Professional Development project

WASHINGTON — National Children’s Museum, a unique hybrid institution combining hands-on learning in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) with play-filled exhibit offerings specifically for young learners, is named one of 18 recipients of the Museums Empowered Grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). 

Fully titled Museums Empowered: Professional Development Opportunities for Museum Staff, the grant is a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program designed to support projects that use the transformative power of professional development and training to generate systemic change within museums of all types and sizes.

“As pillars of our communities, libraries and museums bring people together by providing important programs, services, and collections. These institutions are trusted spaces where people can learn, explore and grow,” said IMLS Director Crosby Kemper. “IMLS is proud to support their initiatives through our grants as they educate and enhance their communities.”

“At National Children’s Museum, we emphasize process over product. Maker activities and our tinkering space are key assets in our philosophy that learning is both effective and fun through hands-on building, experimenting, testing, and exploring,” said National Children’s Museum Director of Exhibits and Education Erik Smith. “This grant will allow us to ensure we are consistently offering the best maker experiences we can to our young learners.”

The grant will support National Children’s Museum’s Museum Maker-Learning Environments Professional Development project. In collaboration with experts from the Scott Family Amazeum, the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and the Bakken Museum — each renowned for effective and innovative approaches to museum-based maker initiatives — the Museum will create an internal staff training program to deliver effective and consistently high-quality activities and facilitation, ultimately improving the quality of both the maker experiences hosted in the Museum’s tinkering space as well as various outreach activities offered to the Museum’s diverse community.

Over a 24-month timeframe, project activities will include conducting observational site visits, creating a curriculum to train current staff and onboard new staff, and developing and implementing an evaluation framework. The Museum’s project team will also share out project results and lessons learned at the Association of Children’s Museums conference in 2026.

For more information on the Museum’s tinkering space, visit www.nationalchildrensmuseum.org/explore/exhibits/tinkerers-studio/. For more information on IMLS’s Museum’s Empowered grant, visit www.imls.gov/grants/available/museums-empowered-professional-development-opportunities-museum-staff.

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About National Children’s Museum

Celebrating five decades of play in 2024, STEAM adventure awaits at National Children’s Museum, located in the heart of downtown Washington, D.C. With a mission to inspire children to care about and change the world, the Museum sparks curiosity and ignites creativity for children under the age of twelve and their families. Through playful science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) based exhibits, programs and virtual offerings, the Museum reaches millions of people each year. Learn more and plan your visit at nationalchildrensmuseum.org.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.