Daytona Beach Museum of Arts & Sciences to create 'a brand new experience'

DAYTONA BEACH — Big changes are coming to the Museum of Arts & Sciences. Huge changes. Many millions of dollars worth of changes.

Details won't be revealed until the beginning of December, but there's going to be a new building constructed near the museum property's Nova Road entrance, and there will be a new chapter for the museum's building that's been located back in the woods for decades.

When all is said and done, there will be a very modern, high-tech Museum of Arts & Sciences that's more streamlined and connected to the 21st century.

"It's a transformation," said Tabitha Schmidt, the museum's chief executive officer. "This is not just a new building. I call it a campus transformation and expansion project. It's affecting our footprint on our 63 acres, our exhibits, how we engage with the community."

It will all begin with both the main museum building and Cici & Hyatt Brown Museum of Art closing down at the end of March to get ready for the project's groundbreaking in the fall of 2026. Only the planetarium will remain partially open for a limited number of events.

The reimagined museum campus won't reopen until the fall of 2028, so the museum is looking into holding some programming and educational experiences during the construction shutdown at the Ocean Center, Daytona Beach Shores Recreation Center, Brannon Center in New Smyrna Beach and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Some longtime displays in the main building have already been taken down. Schmidt said the 70-year-old museum is "evolving its personality, moving to a new era and changing its brand."

"I think the community will be excited," she said.

How did the Daytona Museum of Arts & Sciences begin?

In the late 1940s, a tiny children's museum was located in a vacant military barracks building that stood on what is now the eastern edge of the Daytona State College campus. That little museum became the foundation for the Museum of Arts & Sciences, which opened on its current site south of Orange Avenue in the summer of 1971.

With plenty of room to grow on a sprawling piece of forested property just west of Nova Road, the museum evolved into a 126,000-square-foot, Smithsonian-affiliated facility that housed more than 33,000 objects and was backed by tens of millions of dollars in endowments.

After 54 years of operating in that location south of Tuscawilla Park, now more changes are coming to the museum long known for its giant ground sloth skeleton and Coca-Cola memorabilia, changes that are surprising some people.

Gary Libby was the CEO of the Museum of Arts & Sciences from 1977 until 2002, when he retired earlier than he had planned to deal with a health issue. He recovered and again served as CEO temporarily two more times when the museum was between directors.

When Libby took the helm of the museum in 1977, the facility had only been operating at its large wooded site for six years. He oversaw the museum's evolution during his long tenure, and he's stunned that some of the museum's displays and collections have recently been taken out of public view.

"It's failing to appreciate the great collections the museum has acquired over the past 25 years — huge, valuable and culturally important objects," said Libby, who served on the museum's board of trustees before becoming CEO.

He said he's "very disappointed" that the museum won't be incorporating some of the objects it acquired over the past 50 years into its plans for the future.

Schmidt, however, maintains that the museum will be "honoring the history and legacy of the past 70 years."

She said a $150 million donation from Cici and Hyatt Brown is giving the museum "a rare and special gift" and a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to reimagine the museum.

"You have to grow with the times," Schmidt said. "People don't want static exhibits. They want to engage in dynamic ways. You either ascend to a next level, or you become terminal and you decline. You need a rebirth."

Museum of Arts & Sciences to get $150 million in donation from Browns

A plan for the museum unveiled at a gala event a year ago calls for the Browns, longtime museum supporters and philanthropists, to donate up to $150 million and other donors to give an additional $25 million.

Last fall the Browns had already given the museum $83.7 million for the project, and they promised to give up to $67 million more in a three-for-one matching campaign. So far, other donors have given about $4 million in the matching campaign, so the Browns have matched that with $12 million.

The Browns' total donation currently stands at $104 million, so with the other donors' $4 million, that brings the total raised to date for the project to $108 million. The money will go toward construction of the new building and the museum's endowment.

Daytona Beach Museum of Arts & Sciences CEO Tabitha Schmidt is pictured last year in the facility's Root Museum, which will remain open to the public until the end of March.

If the current $50 million endowment mushrooms to $125 million, that will allow the museum to draw the standard 4% off of it every year and cover $5 million of the expected $9 million in annual operating costs.

The museum is also still making money off of memberships, rentals, admission and gift shop sales.

Since some plans for the museum property have changed over the past year, Schmidt said fundraising has been paused until the new concept is revealed Dec. 1 at an invite-only event. Major donors will see the vision first, and they'll be offered naming rights.

"The design is far better and more exciting than what we showed in September (2024)," Schmidt said.

Will the Daytona museum change its displays?

Some items that had been displayed in the main museum building will be decommissioned. Most items in the children's museum have been donated to Burns Sci-Tech, and some things have been given to Daytona State College.

"It's not business as usual," Schmidt said.

Hyatt Brown is pictured during a gala last fall when he and his wife, Cici, announced they would be donating up to $150 million to the Daytona Beach Museum of Arts & Sciences for its upcoming overhaul.

The Museum of Arts & Sciences will be more focused from now on. Many museums display only 5-7% of what they have, Schmidt said. The Daytona museum had been displaying more than 40%, she said.

"In the future, we'll curate more carefully and tell more targeted stories," she said.

The Browns' art museum is still fully open for now, and visitors can still see the vast majority of the galleries and collections in the main building. There is also a new dinosaur exhibition.

When the museum reopens in three years, it will be "a brand new experience," Schmidt said.

You can reach Eileen at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach Museum of Arts & Sciences to create 'a brand new experience'