Can Young Minds Save the Museum? New Exhibit Puts Kids in Charge of Its Fate

Is it just me, or does it feel like every museum these days is one bake sale away from becoming a yoga studio? Walking through the Memphis Science Center’s latest interactive exhibit, I couldn’t help but ask: what child’s dream is to balance a spreadsheet on a 10-by-10-foot calculator and then cold-call relatives for money? Yet here we are, strapping our kids into the wild ride of fiscal responsibility—because nothing says “fun afternoon” like budgeting for broken light bulbs while the scent of impending doom wafts over the dioramas . Honestly, it’s almost poetic how this center has turned imminent collapse into playtime. Maybe—just maybe—giving kids a shot at funding a beloved institution will spark some unhinged genius. Or they’ll close for condos and we’ll all get to watch history be replaced with open-concept kitchens (with “inspired” backsplashes) . Want to take a deep, awkwardly cathartic dive into the most gloriously desperate exhibit you’ll see all year? LEARN MORE.

MEMPHIS, TN—In a last-ditch effort to keep the lights on, the Memphis Science Center confirmed it had opened a new interactive exhibit this week that lets kids figure out how to manage the budget shortfall that, if it is not dealt with, will soon shutter the museum. “Through our ‘Fun With Funding Cuts’ display, children get a chance to resolve the devastating capital shortage that’s going to force us to close by the end of the year,” museum curator Colleen Gannon said while walking through the exhibit, which features a wall of spreadsheets that children can fill in via a 10-by-10-foot calculator built into the floor. “Kids gain hands-on experience with the painful realities of keeping a cultural institution running on a shoestring budget. We’ve got a telephone where they can make fundraising calls and get rejected. Plus, there’s a whole light-up display that walks them through how to apply for federal grants, be denied, reapply, win the grant, and then watch in despair as the administration guts the agency. We hope this gets guests thinking creatively about allocating an ever-shrinking pool of money, and more importantly, we hope someone can solve it for us!” At press time, it was announced that the museum had been purchased by a private equity firm and would be turned into condos.