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Flipping the switch
Powerhouse prepares to reopen to power-hungry community
by Tracy Chamberlin
JusttheFactsWhat: Community Listening Sessions |
Back in May, the Powerhouse Science Center was suddenly gone. The local children’s museum didn’t vanish overnight, but unexpectedly became an unusable relic, much like the historic 1890s power plant it brought back to life in 2011.
Questions lingered, rumors were whispered and the Powerhouse’s new executive director, barely one month on the job, was left standing in the crosshairs.
“I was on the job long enough to see the crisis, plain and simple,” said Nana Naisbitt, the fifth director in just four years, including interim directors. “It’s easy to vilify the person who identifies the crisis.”
On April 8, just one day after taking the reins, she got updated financial numbers and realized the Powerhouse wasn’t just living on the edge. They were in crisis mode.
Over the four years the Powerhouse was open, the monies taken in from donations, grants, entry fees and other revenues were never enough to cover the operational costs.
“We were always spending money today that was earmarked for programs in the future,” Naisbitt said. “That’s not sustainable.”
Besides living in the red, some of the other causes for the Powerhouse blackout were unchecked overspending, overstaffing, disorganization, a lack of board oversight, focusing on outreach programs rather than in-house ones and providing services and the facility free of charge.
And, that’s just to name a few.
The decision to close the doors was made by its governing Board of Directors but, Naisbitt said, it was a decision they all came to together. Soon after, the board president and several members resigned.
“They were resigning to open the door to new energy, new opportunities,” she explained.
Ultimately, the board took full responsibility for the lack of oversight, however, neither the staff nor the Powerhouse’s auditor raised any red flags. Naisbitt said boards don’t typically jump in and micromanage, unless the red flag is raised.
In addition, she added, it took her weeks to unravel how the business was being run and the financial implications of those decisions. “It would have been close to impossible (for them) to spend the hundreds of hours I did.”
After coming to terms with what went wrong, Naisbitt and the new governing board are putting together a plan for the future. It begins by letting the public back in.
The Powerhouse’s reopening is scheduled for Sept. 1, and ahead of the official opening are two community listening sessions, when the new board will be on hand to hear what the public has to say about the Powerhouse, both its past and its future.
The first session is at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 9, and the second is at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 28. Both will be held at the Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio.
Rebooting the system
Naisbitt has called Durango home for the past seven years. She’s been commuting to Telluride during that time, running the Telluride Science Research Center for 12 years.
Although, as a Chicago native she’s not originally from the area, she does have roots in the West. Her family has lived all over the Centennial state, and her great grandmother was even the first female telegraph operator in Colorado.
Along with bringing her past experiences to the Powerhouse, she comes with a vision for the future.
“I know that this place can be unique in the world,” Naisbitt said. “If we allow the facility to tell us what kind of children’s museum it wants to be, we’ll get it right.”
As one of the earliest alternating current, or AC, power plants in the country, Durango was ahead of its time. The engineering achievements of the past make the Powerhouse unlike any other. Naisbitt called it an important building, historically. And one that had been forgotten for too many years.
“We can make this building part of the adventure and part of the exhibit space,” she explained.
She’s planning to turn the old powerhouse boiler room into a place where visitors and locals alike can remember how it once powered a community.
From diagrams and simulated sounds to audio tours on mechanics and engineering, Naisbitt said it has the potential to inspire and fascinate kids in a way that will stick with them their whole lives.
“The mission is to get those kids hooked (on science) from the time they are little,” she said.
The Powerhouse’s new program structure will focus on two main age groups. The first one, ranging from 6 months to 11 years, is aimed at getting kids hooked on science education, and the second, for 12- to 18-year-olds, moves into internships, college and professional experience.
For the first group, two of the new programs they’ll offer are Science Backpack Rentals and Eye Spy Powerhouse Tours.
The backpack rentals, which Osprey has offered to supply, are just that – backpacks for rent. The unique feature is the contents. Each pack will include educational materials and activities for kids and their caregivers, concentrating on one particular branch of science, like biology or physics.
“It’s a way of extending their experience here,” Naisbitt said.
When they’ve finished completing the activities in one pack, they can come back to the Powerhouse and get the next one in a line of graduating difficulty.
The Eye Spy Powerhouse Tours bring the Powerhouse to life.
All a child would need is a hard hat and a flashlight to explore the building, and discover how previous generations powered the past. Naisbitt hopes those kinds of educational experiences just might help them power the future.
By age 12, Naisbitt said, it’s time to start applying for internships. The next stage of the Powerhouse’s programs would help applicants fill out resumes, letters of intent, get references and transcripts.
Internships could start at the Powerhouse, moving on to local businesses and eventually at top institutions, like the Smithsonian Institution.
Another part of the Powerhouse’s new beginning is the addition of two advisory boards. Although, the board of directors took responsibility for the Powerhouse’s closing, it doesn’t mean adding more boards is a bad thing.
“They’re resources, not decision-makers,” Naisbitt said.
The Community Advisory Board consists of local community members who can offer their experiences and local knowledge whenever it’s needed.
The second board is more of a national effort. The Science Advisory Board is filled with top scholars and scientific heavyweights from some of the most prestigious institutions across the country.
Naisbitt said she’d like to bring one of these board members to the museum each month to both talk to and inspire the next generation, like scientific rock stars for kids.
With so much potential and future plans, there’s plenty to do ahead of the September opening.
For one, Naisbitt said it will be in compliance – with fire codes, liquor laws, chemical storage and more. In addition, they’ll also be trimming down their operating budget, which Naisbitt said could be cut in half.
The focus will be on education driven by kids, and the exhibits will be built around them. The idea is to return to the roots of the original concept behind the Durango Children’s Museum.
There’s no set date for having all the new exhibits open and programs running. Reworking the Powerhouse business model from an unsustainable endeavor into a profitable education center and museum will take time. Something Naisbitt calls her nemesis.
But she also said, she likes a challenge.
The building is inspiring. All they need to do is add an opportunity for learning, she added. “If we marry those two, we can’t lose.”