The Clay Center anticipates a second phase of its museum renewal project to be completed and open to the public almost one year following the first phase.
The project includes three new, hands-on exhibits, featuring health, water and music-related activities.
Al Najjar, Clay Center president and CEO, shared a timeline at the Center's board of directors meeting Thursday afternoon. He anticipates they will open for the public Nov. 18.
"Phase One has been a great success," Najjar said. "Wait until you see Phase Two opening. It's going to be even more wild and more exciting. There's going to be all kinds of activities and exhibits that are focused on older kids. It's focused much more on science. My Town has a much bigger focus on children and family. Phase Two, which is water, music and health, is going to focus on middle school and middle grade school kids, as well as families and will have a much broader range of topics as well."
The three connecting exhibit areas - Water Works, Music Studio and Healthy Me! - will be located on the first floor adjacent to the main lobby where the children's area and the Grossology exhibit currently are.
Healthy Me! will feature sporting activities like basketball hoops, a pitching cage and virtual sports as well as other activities for kids to test their physical and overall health. Children may build a human skeleton, measure their heartbeat to see how many calories they are burning and other challenges.
"The topics that are going to be featured are more of a how to live a healthy lifestyle, how to make healthy decisions, how to be active and learn more about your body," Najjar said.
Water Works will feature activities around the engineering and science of water. The exhibit includes waterfalls, water wheels, launch and lift platforms, a boat yard, sprinklers, a geyser and other interactive experiences.
The exhibit is designed somewhat like the Kanawha River, Najjar said.
"It's something they can see outside and see a connection to every day life," he said.
Music Studio will feature areas for children to compose, mix and make music.
"The first thing you'll see is a big competition room where the more visitors you have in there, the more music is going to be generated by the visitors of the group," Najjar said. "Visitors will be responsible for rhythm, some for melody and some for harmony and the composition will grow and change depending on how many visitors you have in the room."
Inside the designated instrument studio, visitors can play Garage Band and jam to music. Guests also will learn about the physics of music.
"We're looking at how sound cannot only be heard by ears, but you also can see the sound waves," Najjar said.
The Clay Center plans to open some windows along the back wall in the Phase Two activity area to bring in natural lighting.
In total, the area is about 7,500 square feet. Phase Two falls under a $7.5 million capitol project, which includes the renovation, upgrades to the Washington Street parking lot and the Ratrie Greenspace.
The exhibit bidding will take place in April and fabrication will be from May through October. Installation is planned for October through mid-November. Previews will take place Nov. 12-17 and the public opening is set for Nov. 18.
Phase One consisted of completion of the vertical climbing sculpture in the main lobby as well as the interactive and career-centered My Town exhibit. Both opened Nov. 19, 2016.
The board also passed resolutions for the Center to apply for Neighborhood Investment Program tax credits and Katharine B. Tierney grants.
Najjar, on behalf of the Clay Center, is authorized to apply for Neighborhood Investment Program tax credits to match donations raised to provide scholarships for students from the West Side of Charleston to participate in camps at the Center.
"With the themes of science, engineering, acting and all sorts of fun topics, we know that this is going to be something that the students really want to attend," said Kathy Bush, vice president of development.
Najjar also is authorized to apply for a Katharine B. Tierney grant on behalf of the Center for admission fee waivers for McDowell and Mercer County students to attend field trips at the Clay Center during the 2017-18 school year. The foundation has provided these funds to the Clay Center for several years, Bush said.
"The funds are utilized," Bush said. "This is a very in-need portion of the state. This will provide admission for 250-300 students from McDowell and Mercer County."
Kayte Kincaid, education director, shared reminders of upcoming spring and summer camps at the Center. Spring break camps are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 10-14. The Clay Center is offering a Charlotte's Web camp for ages 5-8 and an Inventor's Lab for ages 9-13.
This summer, students can learn how to build and program robots with the VEX Robotics Academy camps. A skill builder camp is June 26-July 14 and a tournament week for robotics is July 17-28.
Other summer camps at the Clay Center are Sensational Summer Plants and Animals (June 19-23), Art Explorers (June 26-30), PBS Odd Squad (July 10-14), Girls Science (July 17-21) and Performing Arts 1 and 2 with Alban Arts (July 24-28). Family Day camps will be July 5, 6 and 7.
Contact the Clay Center at 304-561-3570 for details about registration for all camps.
Members of the Clay Center board and board of directors include Kristin Anderson, Charles M. Avampato, Alisa Bailey, Claire Barth, Bobby Blakley, Greg Burton, Sara Busse, Gaston Caperton, Ellen Cappellanti, David Carrington, Fred Clark, Loren Claypool, Andy Cooke, Steve Dexter, Bob Douglas, Michelle Easton, John Elliot, Horace Emery, Hap Esbenshade, Michael Fidler, Scott Freshwater, Georgette George, Amanda Gianola, Timothy Gibson, Michael Graney, David Haden, Eric Iskra, Lloyd Jackson, Danny Jones, Andrew Jordon, Dee Kapourales, Virginia King, Tom Kittredge, Adam Krason, Kyle Mork, Al Najjar, Eric Nelson, Roger Nicholson, Nate Orders, Andy Paterno, Steve Robey, Brad Rowe, Sharon Rowe, Missy Ruddle, Ben Salango, Doug Skaff Jr., Sandra Thomas, Janet Victorson and The Rev. Matthew J. Watts.
Reach Anna Taylor at anna.taylor@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4881 or follow @byannataylor on Twitter.