news releases

Children's Museum Hosts Monthly Mixer & Fundraiser
Toast the New Museum at Campaign Cocktails

April 25, 2007—The Children’s Museum/Museo de los Niños San Diego is hosting a series of cocktail fundraisers through the summer to benefit its Capital Campaign. Campaign Cocktails will be held the third Thursday of every month, alternating between downtown’s Chive and Laurel restaurants. Each event will include an evening of hors d’oeurves, drinks and entertainment.

While dining on an array of fine epicurean offerings, guests will learn about the exhibitions and installations that will be an integral part of the new Museum, and meet the people who are making the dream a reality. Local business leaders, visionaries and philanthropists will host each event. The cost to attend is $15 at the door. As space is limited, RSVPs are required. E-mail cocktails@childrensmuseumsd.org or call 619 233 8792 x108.

The Capital Campaign goal is to raise $28 million. The largest portion of this, $25 million, is funding the construction and operation of the new downtown facility expected to open early next year. The remaining $3 million will be held as an endowment to help fund the day-to-day operations of the Museum in perpetuity.

The next Campaign Cocktails is scheduled for May 19, at Laurel, 505 Laurel Street, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm and will be co-hosted by Joyce Gattas, dean of the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts at San Diego State University, and David Peckinpaugh, president and CEO of the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau. Laurel previously held 3 Kitchens for Kids, another fine-dining fundraiser benefiting the Children’s Museum last fall. Chefs from Kensington Grill, Chive, Laurel and Urban Kitchen Catering gathered to prepare a four-course dinner and wine pairing. The Children’s Museum/Museo de los Niños San Diego is a cultural and educational institution with more than a quarter-century history of arts-based programs for children and their families.

The new 50,000-square-foot facility at 200 West Island Avenue in downtown San Diego will include art galleries, the Museum Charter School, the Toddler Space, Clay, Art and Design Studios, the Tech Space, birthday party rooms, a revolving artist-in-residence space, children’s store and sit-down café. The adjacent Museum Park will include outdoor works by artists and space for children to create art.

Designed by Rob Wellington Quigley, the state-of-the-art structure contains a cooling tower, which exhausts hot air from the naturally cooled and heated gallery spaces. The majority of the gallery and staff spaces are naturally day lit, amplified by rooftop photovoltaic panels. Quigley’s staff worked with scientists and engineers at UCSD to create an environmentally friendly structure that will set a new standard for urban green architecture. For more information on the Museum, visit the website at childrensmuseumsd.org.