a group of children and adults, seen from behind as they walk across Black Pond's bridge

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AN UPDATE FROM THE ANN ARBOR HANDS-ON MUSEUM AND LESLIE SCIENCE & NATURE CENTER ABOUT COVID-19

Last updated July 31, 2020

To our friends and supporters,

When we closed, it was with the hope that we would re-open in a matter of weeks. Unfortunately, those best intentions did not become a reality. As we move through summer, it is important to us to check in with our friends and supporters. As a science-based organization, we are watching information about COVID-19 to determine when we believe we may safely reopen.

The health and safety of our visitors and our staff is our priority. As our primary metric for reopening, we continue to assess how we may best serve you. While we have determined we are not yet ready to re-open, we have not been idle these past 4 months.

Our education team has developed new learning opportunities. Our educators miss their interactions with students through on-site field trips and outreach to schools and community locations. With a goal of providing unique and quality learning experiences to our community, our team has:

Continued to offer distance learning opportunities to schools – many in Canada;
Offered FREE weekly virtual programming for everyone;
Offered FREE daily virtual workshops to our members;
Created a camp-at-home experience, complete with activity kits and virtual learning opportunities; and
Offered scholarships to discount the cost of camp-at-home for ANY family who qualifies for free-or reduced-lunch OR has been negatively affected by COVID-19.

Our facilities team has been busy updating the Museum. When you next visit, we want you to feel comfortable knowing that your safety is important to us. We have cleaned and refreshed frequently touched surfaces throughout the Museum to ensure the best experience possible. We’ve added another layer of filtration to our H2O gallery, and added extra hand-sanitizer stations throughout the Museum.

Our exhibits team has CREATED an all-new health and wellness gallery. We are excited to welcome you to this new gallery where several new exhibits will be ready to explore when we do reopen.

We acknowledge that this is a stressful and challenging time. We continue to monitor COVID-19 data and we look forward to when we may welcome you again. Until then – we thank you for your support. We know that regardless of what happens today – we will get through it – TOGETHER.