By Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben | Yahoo! Contributor Network
COMMENTARY | The Detroit Science Center, formerly called the Detroit Children's Museum, is the third oldest hands-on children's science venue in the country. It houses over 100,000 artifacts. As of Monday, September 26, it is closed. Closure period could be two weeks. It could also be permanent.
Why the closure? It's due to budget cuts, those ubiquitously familiar words that Michiganders hear at every turn. The Detroit Science Center has been offering education, enrichment, and experience to children in Michigan for years, but it's done so at a loss. The investment in young minds has come at a price that Detroit can no longer afford.
In the space of two weeks, directors and staff hope to find a way to keep the DSC doors open. If not, the Detroit Science Center will join the many closed-up buildings downtown. So many once-vibrant facilities: churches, theaters, libraries, apartment complexes, shopping centers - even the closed K-Mart office complex in Troy and the beautiful Michigan Central Station sit quietly ruining. If the Detroit Science Center closes, 100 people will also be out of a job.
It's hoped that the two-week sabbatical, with the accompanying wage and operating cost freeze, will jump-start the Science Center's budget. Currently, the Detroit Science Center is in debt. Officials won't say how much, and I don't blame them. That's not the issue. We know how they got into the hole: doing good for the community. Museums aren't like entertainment or commercial venues, which operate only for profit. Museums nourish the soul of the community and must be kept alive by the community.
There is no way to put a pricetag on social enrichment and learning, but these things still cost money. Archives must be properly preserved. Staff and docents must be paid to share their wisdom. Buildings must be heated, cooled, and maintained. Displays need repair. Toilets need cleaning.
Children's events and museums are not huge money-makers, especially when the Detroit Science Center is always offering great specials to help families and encourage attendance. This is where we as a community and as a state come in. It's time for us to give back. For all these years, the Detroit Science Center has taught us, excited us, and improved our lives. Through lost mileages, they kept going. Now, it's time to see them through.
Raising ticket prices isn't a permanent solution. If people can't afford the current rates, they won't visit at higher rates. Somehow, public funds need to be found to keep this important venue open and not just temporarily. This two-week closure may only be a Band-Aid. If definitive action isn't taken to get this venue on its financial feet, they'll just end up revisiting the issue down the road. We need to show our solidarity and help this venue continue to help the community.
Michigan and Detroit can't afford to lose one more precious state resource.
A lifelong resident of "Pure Michigan," Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes for the Yahoo! Contributor Network about people, education, economy, history, and natural resources in the Great Lakes State.
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