Grappling with a loss of grants it typically relies on for exhibits, activations, and operations, the Long Island Children’s Museum is gearing up to raise more money than ever at its annual Oct. 9 fundraising gala.
“This fundraiser accounts for about 15% of our overall budget. It’s extremely important,” said Erika Floreska, the museum’s president. “This year, it’s even more important because we face challenges where federal grants, which have traditionally been 8% to 10% of our budget, are no longer available to us.”
Floreska said the museum had slowly learned over the past year that grants from the Institute for Museum and Library Service, or IMLS, National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Science Foundation they had been counting on weren’t coming through after President Donald Trump cut funding for art and museum programs.
“The IMLS has really been fundamental to us being able to develop the innovative programs that the Children’s Museum is known for,” Floreska said. “The loss of the National Science Foundation grant was our heartbreaker. We finally got one after four years of trying, and it was for a research project on STEM learning with families. We had to actually stop the project and not fulfill what we had planned to do.”
She said the museum had also been planning to use grant money to develop a fourth-grade curriculum in conjunction with its newest exhibit, Saltwater Stories, which teaches visitors about the island’s cultural and economic connection to its surrounding water. That plan, along with hopes to revive a clam-themed musical, is now on hold indefinitely.
The museum is also closing an hour early on weekdays to cut back on costs.
Floreska and her team have raised their fundraising goal to fill the gap left by the lack of grants in their annual budget, which, as the most visited museum in Nassau County, sits between $400,000 and $600,000. The team is declining to share the fundraising goal or progress until the night of the fundraiser, Floreska said.
Tickets to the Cupcakes and Cocktails Gala cost $450 per person and $250 per person if you work at a nonprofit. Corporate sponsorships, which include tickets for an office team, start at $5,000.
Each ticket includes entry to the event, access to an open bar, a full dinner catered by Elegant Affairs, cupcakes from For the Love of Frosting, a gift bag, caricaturists, tea towel and seasoning creation activities and dancing.
The gala also gives guests a sneak peek into the museum’s Saltwater Stories exhibit two days before its official opening.
Cocktail hour runs from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., dinner starts at 7 p.m. and runs through an 8 p.m. program, after which the museum’s main floor turns into a dance floor until 10 p.m.
“Every nook and cranny of the museum is activated,” Floreska said. “We have hands-on activities for adults to do and all of the exhibits are open, so people can play with bubbles, and you can build blocks and really just have a fun time. Let your inner child out.”
The fundraiser also features a silent auction with gift baskets filled with tickets to city shows, golf outings, luxury jewelry, yacht rides, a grill, kitchen appliances, a bicycle and more.
Along with filling the federal funding gap, Floreska said the fundraiser and silent auction support the museum’s general operations, specific exhibits and subsidized tickets for active military and veterans, disabled children and low-income families.
Since this is the museum’s largest fundraising push of the year and any little bit helps. She said the museum truly welcomes donations of all sizes and encourages those who want to support to help the team reach the fundraising goal, even if they don’t plan on buying tickets or attending the gala.
She said supporting the museum is akin to supporting Long Island.
“A children’s museum is an essential resource for a community…The children who play together today will work and live together tomorrow,” Foreska said. “The Long Island Children’s Museum is an essential resource, both for the kids who are learning and playing, but also for the families that engage and the businesses that want to really strengthen Long Island, keep people here and make it a great place to live. We’re one of the pieces of that pie.”
Those looking to purchase tickets or make a donation of any size can do so at https://fundraise.givesmart.com/e/FdeRfQ?vid=1lsal0.
