Children's Museum of Maine
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| Established | Museum: 1976 Theatre: 1923 |
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| Location |
142 Free Street Portland, ME 04101 Winter Hours: Open 10am-5pm Tuesday-Sunday; Closed on Monday Summer Hours: Open 10am-5pm everyday |
| Type | Children's museum |
| Visitors |
Primarily children (ages 6 mos-12 yrs) and their families and caregivers; students (Pre-K through 5th grade) and their teachers |
| Director | Suzanne Olson |
| Website | http://www.kitetails.org/ |
142 Free Street Portland, ME 04101
Winter Hours: Open 10am-5pm Tuesday-Sunday; Closed on Monday
Primarily children (ages 6 mos-12 yrs) and their families and caregivers;
Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine is located in the Arts District of downtown Portland, Maine and features a wide variety of interactive exhibits and activities for children and families. Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine exists to inspire discovery and imagination through exploration and play. The Museum & Theatre serves as an indispensable resource for families and educators, helping to create a broad community devoted to our children's development and learning.
The Children’s Museum of Maine was founded by the Junior League of Portland in 1976, opening in just a few rooms in Fort Williams park in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. In 1980 the Museum moved to a Victorian home on Stevens Avenue in Portland. After more than a decade of successful exhibits and programs, the Museum once again needed a new space to accommodate growing interest. In 1991 a capital campaign was launched, and two years later the Museum opened to the public in a grand new home, the former Chamber of Commerce building on Free Street in downtown Portland. The 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) building has since been home to dozens of large-scale interactive exhibits, both permanent and rotating. In 2001, after careful assessment of community needs, the Museum chose to direct programming and exhibits toward children 6 months to 10 years of age, and selected three areas of focus: science education, early childhood education and multicultural education. In 2002, the Museum was ranked the #14 children’s museum in the country by Child (magazine).
The rich history of the Children’s Theatre of Maine dates back to 1923, when the Junior League of Portland began producing small shows for young audiences under the name Children’s Theatre of Portland (adopting the name Children’s Theatre of Maine in 1974). In the 1930s, the shows began to incorporate children as performers, and the tradition of shows for and by kids was born. The Children’s Theatre rehearsed and performed in donated locations all over Greater Portland, and in the summer of 1944 debuted their Trailer Theatre, a traveling fold-out stage that brought outdoor shows to parks and playgrounds throughout the city. In the 1950s, actors Bette Davis and Gary Merrill took the Children’s Theatre under their wing; Davis arranged to premiere her film The Virgin Queen in Portland as a benefit for the cause. Throughout the latter half of the century, the Children’s Theatre experimented with many locations, models, and creative strategies.
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