Amazeum project funds roll in

Lee and Linda Scott have spent more than 30 years in Northwest Arkansas, and they have no doubts about the benefits the Amazeum, formerly known as The Children’s Museum of Northwest Arkansas, will bring to the region.

“The Amazeum will open so many avenues as to what is available in the world,” Lee Scott said of the interactive family museum, to be located near Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. “It will expand horizons for the children who enter its doors.”

The former CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced the Amazeum project in July as a $28.5 million living art center museum for children, located a stone’s throw from Crystal Bridges.
 
Holly Hook, capital campaign director, said in just a few short months more than $20 million has been raised for the project. The Walton Family Foundation pledged the land and $10 million in a 1:1 matching grant. The grant match has already been raised with major contributions from Lee and Linda Scott, The Hershey Company, General Mills, Nickelodeon, Johnelle Hunt and the Walker Family Foundation.

Supporting children is the reason the Scotts have donated generously and secured presenting rights to the Amazeum. When Linda Scott first heard plans to build the newly named museum, she didn’t hesitate to get involved.

“This is something that is going to enhance the lives of children, not just in Northwest Arkansas, but from all around our region,” she said.

Having visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City as a child, Linda Scott said she recalls it being a magical experience, one that made an impression on her to this day.

“We hope the Amazeum will give children proficiencies to draw on their entire lives,” Lee Scott said, noting the museum will provide visitors a taste of science, art, creativeness and logistics, all wrapped around fun experiences. “The Amazeum will add richness to their lives.”

The Amazeum will feature 44,500 square feet of exhibit, meeting and learning spaces inside the museum. It will also bring learning to life and enhance family involvement, while evoking a sense of curiosity and discovery through hands-on activities.

Hook said the board has not yet decided when it will break ground on the facility, given they are still raising money. The organization’s main fundraising event — Dancing with the Stars — is planned for March 8, 2014.

“We certainly appreciate the contribution from the Scotts, not just from a financial aspect, but for their overwhelming enthusiasm for the Amazeum,” said executive director Sam Dean. “It is efforts like theirs and others who are getting involved that will make the Amazeum a world-class facility.”

The Scotts are simply looking forward to the doors opening and hearing the excitement and noise coming from a museum filled with young people.

“I imagine it to be a place that families will want to go to frequently as part of their lives in Northwest Arkansas,” Lee Scott said. “It will be a place that’s always changing, full of energy and life.”