Annual Appeal 2010

The Ocean Explorium at New Bedford Seaport opened its doors full time on July 4, 2009.  The response was truly amazing, with visitors waiting in line to view the exhibits.  The official ribbon-cutting took place a few days later; Chancellor Jean MacCormack, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, joined New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang in welcoming the Ocean Explorium to the mix of educational institutions in the city.

For the next three months, we opened each day to educate and entertain with living exhibits, hands-on learning activities and the extraordinary Science on a Sphere®.  During that time, 8,113 individuals visited the Ocean Explorium.  On October 1 we instituted Winter Public Hours and resumed our successful school field trip program.

In mid-October, we welcomed NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Traveling Exhibit, shifting our focus from the deep ocean to deepest space.  Students enjoyed field trip curricula tailored to take advantage of the Hubble's potential as a teaching tool.  Attendance increased during the three months of the exhibit's stay, reflecting great local interest in space and astronomy.  In 2009 we served 30,000 people with all our programs.  With the New Year, Ocean Voice became a monthly event for speakers on ocean-related topics while Cosmic Voice was funded by a Creative Economy grant through the University of Massachusetts President's Office.  The Second Annual Women in Science + Engineering (WiSE) speaker series, underwritten by the Women's Fund, has just concluded its five-week run. 

We are preparing now for our second summer of full activity.  Staffing levels will ramp up to a six-day-per-week operation, including on-going program delivery within the Ocean Explorium and community-based education outreach.  We hope to offer a broader range of programs and expanded opportunities, but these require an investment of capital and expertise.  As a result of the recent economic downturn, we, like so many worthy organizations, are shy of our fundraising goals. 

Now, more than ever, we need your help to maintain a level of operation that will continue to make a difference in the greater New Bedford area.  We hope you will support our mission by donating to the 2010 Annual Appeal.  Thank you for the support you have provided in the past and we hope you will make a contribution this year.

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