The following Vision Statement was originally developed by founding board member Mary Grantham-Campbell of New Rochelle. The Vision Statement provides the foundation for our mission, programming, and institutional goals.
In fulfilling its mission, the Westchester Children's Museum (WCM) will...
...welcome all children and encourage the public to appreciate the power of play and exploration in a child’s life. As a part of this process the WCM will seek to be a creative space that develops confident, informed children, excited by inquiry and the world around them.
...offer audience-driven, educationally sound, fun-filled museum experiences. These experiences will be multisensory, multidimensional and multicultural. The WCM will be a tool to both communicate and model developmentally appropriate and socially responsible issues and concerns directly related to childhood, families and the organizations that support them.
...rely on best practices and ethical management, remain fiscally responsible and adhere to the highest standards of excellence as a museum and as a learning space.
The WCM specifically strives for the following:
- Attracting, supporting and retaining a diverse Board, staff and set of volunteers who share a strong commitment to happy, healthy children throughout our society.
- Stimulating a child’s lifelong intellectual and civic engagement in the world through relevant, creative and interactive exhibits and programs, which may include state of the art technology and display techniques.
- Sharing literary, artistic and other humanistic traditions, innovations and viewpoints of Westchester, the New York area and throughout the country in an honest and respectful manner.
- A deep understanding of our cultural and natural resources, a growing knowledge base of the biodiversity of our local waterways, and a commitment toward the "green" stewardship of our Sound Shore environment.
- Dialog and collaboration with a variety of cultural, governmental, educational and community organizations and agencies to insure that all children have access to the museum, that new museum audiences are identified in a timely manner, that museum resources are extended and shared, and that local and global concerns and interconnections are better understood.
- Attention to professional and academic discussions and debates in order to educate and provide pertinent resources for parents, teachers and other significant adults in children’s lives.