Adults-Only at Your Children's Museum? How The Discovery Appeals to the Child in All of Us

Imagine your children's museum flooded with laughter, music, and ... beer. Yes, I said beer. Sounds crazy, right?

Not to the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum. Starting in August 2012, The Discovery, a hands on science center, started offering adults-only fun with their Social Science event. Over 300 patrons came to "play like a kid again" with science demos and art projects - while enjoying a live DJ, gourmet dining options, and adult beverages.



I reached out to Kestra Bronneke, Membership & Special Event Coordinator for The Discovery, to get the scoop on offering their museum to adults. She's listed their reasons to cater events to adults, and the benefits they saw:

Here are the top 3 reasons we decided to offer adult-only events:

1. 
   
2. We have heard a lot of comments within the community from visitors, friends of staff and through the grapevine, that the reason a lot of people hadn't checked us out yet was because they didn't have kids. We wanted to create an environment that was inclusive for adults and inspired them to also create and explore.
   
3. This helps us to solidify our position as a vital center in the community. It is also an avenue to drive future memberships from those people attending that don’t have children yet, but will in the future.
   
4. If we engage adults in our community with programming and events, they become more invested in our future. Adults that attend often end up bringing their children here (or nieces/nephews/grandkids) and by informing them about what we offer, some even become donors.
   

Benefits:

1. 
   
2. It solidifies us as a community center.
   
3. It helps us reach a segment that we normally wouldn't have access to.
   
4. It serves as a revenue driver.
   
5. It allows adults to come to The Discovery and HAVE FUN!!
   

Connect with Kestra on the community and keep up with us on Twitter by following @bbsupport.