Discovery Place welcomes all community members to its family of Museums with launch of new program

CHARLOTTE – Discovery Place, Inc. announced today the launch of Welcome, a new program that provides low-cost access to families with EBT or WIC cards.

Welcome will reduce the cost of admission to $1 per person for families who present EBT (electronic benefit transfer) or WIC (Women, Infants and Children) cards at Discovery Place, Charlotte Nature Museum or Discovery Place KIDS in Huntersville or Rockingham, for up to six family members. While this initiative provides families with accessibility, more importantly, Welcome is intended to celebrate the diversity of perspectives and ideas in the community and stimulate positive and progressive change in educational outcomes for Charlotte’s children.

"We inspire curiosity and creativity every day in the thousands of children and families that visit our Museums. Sadly, there are parts of our community who need our services most, and many have never had the chance to enter our doors," said Discovery Place, Inc. president and CEO, Catherine Wilson Horne. “Welcome will serve the whole community, creating the opportunity for learning experiences for all families because science and exploration should be for everyone, not just those who can afford it.”

Thanks to generous donors, Discovery Place, Inc. has always been able to provide scholarship assistance and reduced prices for school groups. Welcome will further those efforts by offering a new type of access where the whole family can experience Discovery Place, creating the opportunity for learning and positive experiences for all parts of the community. This creates a new return on investment for those donors who have supported the Discovery Place, Inc. mission over the years.

“For four generations, Discovery Place, Inc. has been the leading institution in the Carolinas to spark children’s interests in science and nature,” continued Horne. “If we are going to continue to grow economic mobility and educational fulfillment in our community, we need to engage the entire family with those educational opportunities. This engagement is needed more than ever as we face a significant shortage in the science-literate workforce, and Discovery Place seeks to be part of the solution in changing this future.”

To help launch the community access program, Discovery Place is working with organizations serving low-resource, high-risk populations, including Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, Loaves & Fishes, Charlotte Bilingual Preschool and others.

“Our children investigate S.T.EA.M. themes in our Discovery Room—a special classroom we named after Discovery Place. Now Welcome will enable our children and their parents to explore science and nature as a family in a playful setting,” said Claire Tate, Board Chair, Charlotte Bilingual Preschool. “On the rare occasions we’ve had the funds to make a field trip to Discovery Place or Charlotte Nature Museum, our children asked to live there! Now we can encourage our families to make the trip on their own and often.”

To redeem Welcome pricing, guests will only need to present their EBT or WIC card at Admissions at Discovery Place, Charlotte Nature Museum, Discovery Place KIDS-Huntersville or Discovery Place KIDS-Rockingham.

Through Welcome, Discovery Place, Inc. is participating in Museums for All, a national initiative of the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.

About Discovery Place

One of the top hands-on science museums in the nation, Discovery Place provides ever-changing, entertaining facilities that engage people in the active exploration of science and nature. The Museum brings relevant, contemporary science to life through groundbreaking exhibitions, interactive educational programming and hands-on activities.

Discovery Place is located in uptown Charlotte at 301 N. Tryon Street. Convenient parking is available in the Museum’s parking deck – the Carol Grotnes Belk Complex – at the corner of Sixth and Church Streets. For more information about Discovery Place, call 704.372.6261, visit discoveryplace.org or connect with Discovery Place on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Discovery Place, Inc. owns and operates Discovery Place, Charlotte Nature Museum, Discovery Place KIDS-Huntersville and Discovery Place KIDS-Rockingham and is supported, in part, with funding from the Arts & Science Council.

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We inspire curiosity and creativity every day in the thousands of children and families that visit our Museums. Sadly, there are parts of our community who need our services most, and many have never had the chance to enter our doors. Welcome will serve the whole community, creating the opportunity for learning experiences for all families because science and exploration should be for everyone, not just those who can afford it.”
Catherine Wilson Horne, Discovery Place president & CEO