Community: Bay Area Discovery Museum

Celebrating Community

A primary mission of the the Bay Area Discovery Museum is to ensure that children from the diverse and varied communities of the Bay Area have access to the Museum and can participate fully in our many educational programs. We want all families to feel welcome and to have a sense of inclusion, safety and respect while visiting the Museum.

The Museum interacts with the community to achieve this mission through the following three initiatives:

Connections
Festivals and Special Events
Family Access Programs

Connections

We are pleased to announce the launch of Connections, the centerpiece of our Celebrating Community outreach program. Through Connections, the Museum will initially partner with 20 local preschools through their parent organizations:

Marin Head Start
Marin County Child Development Program
San Francisco Unified School District Child Development Program.

Through Connections, the Museum will facilitate 6,000 visits by low income, Latino, Asian, and African-American children and their families this year. Each participating school has committed to work with the Museum for three years to provide focused feedback so Connections can meet the needs of the teachers, the children, the families and the Museum.

For more information about Connections, please contact Bruce Simon, Director of Education, at (415) 339-3922 or email at bsimon(at)badm.org

Festivals & Special Events

Thanks to long-term partnerships with community organizations, the Museum hosts annual events reflecting the Bay Area’s rich cultural diversity.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Kwanzaa
Chinese New Year
Month of the Young Child
Earth Day
Asian Pacific Heritage

Click here for more information.

This past year, the Museum welcomed:

22,110 visitors to the site free of charge
10,000 students with discounted admission
1,700 visitors through community partner free visits
4,000 visitors through free events in the community
12,200 visitors during free Saturday hours
11,300 visitors at the Museum’s on-site festivals
over 100 community organizations as partners through our Celebrating Community program

Family Access Programs

The Museum offers free admission on the First Wednesday of each month - all day long. In addition, many of the Museum’s cultural festivals are free to visitors.

Free coupons are available to individuals and groups upon request by calling Community Programs at (415) 339-3922.

Open Door Policy: It is the Museum's policy that no one be turned away due to lack of funds. Families are welcome to visit the Museum on a pay-what-you-can basis.

The Bay Area Discovery Museum offers classes throughout the year for children and adults. Scholarships are available for summer camps, performances and other Museum programs for families that quality. Please call (415) 339-3922 for scholarship information.

Donations

The Bay Area Discovery Museum gave passes to over 600 school and community groups who submitted Donation Requests in 2008. Click here for detailed information on donation requests.

Meet our Park Partners

The Bay Area Discovery Museum is pleased to be a Park Partner with the following organizations located within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area: