Kidzu Children's Museum hopes to recoup lost revenue, introduce more families to its work through virtual benefit

The Chapel Hill children's museum, which makes its home at University Place mall, is designed for young kids, ages 0 to 8, with a maker space, indoor treehouse, climbing wall and a broad list of special events, activities, camps and more.

About half of its $900,000 budget is based on earned revenue that comes from admission, memberships, birthday parties and summer camps. And that's all but ground to a halt since the shut down.

Early on, Kidzu supporters came out to help, quickly raising $125,000. The museum also secured a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan. But the museum has lost a little over $500,000 in recent months, and the closure has forced Kidzu to make some hard decisions, including laying off members of the team. In March, the museum had 18 full-time employees. It's now down to seven.

"It's been an emotional hardship to have our museum doors closed for the past six months now," said Lisa Van Deman, Kidzu's executive director. "We've lost all of our earned revenue since mid-March, and that's been a real challenge."

Registration is open and free. But for every $20 donation, people will have the chance to visit Kidzu in person for private play sessions, special storytimes and more.

"We're taking it slow," Van Deman said. "We made a conscious decision to not be the first one out of the gate."

The Kidzu@Home page is divided up among the museum's most popular programs. They include Messy Mornings with dozens of craft activities; storytimes on YouTube featuring Kidzu staff reading picture books; Discovery Packs for exploring your own backyard; lots of family-friendly recipes; and other resources to keep kids entertained, education and healthy.

Melanie Hatz Levinson, the museum's creative director, said the online resources are garnering attention from beyond the Triangle and will continue even when doors reopen.

"It's been so popular, and we've been able to broaden our reach in ways that we weren't able to," Levinson said. "I don't think we will ever go back to only having a physical presence. We appreciate that not all families can come back on day one when we open our doors and we are a very inclusive community. We recognize that families have compromised children and grandparents they may live with, so we are committed to continuing to provide both."

Considering what's been lost, Kidzu's goal is small for this month's fundraiser. Leaders hope to raise $50,000 or $60,000. "This is our first foray into the virtual fundraiser format," Van Deman said. "We hope to raise as much money as we can."

The money will be used to continue the work it's doing virtually and also prepare the museum for the day when it's safe to reopen. But Van Deman also hopes the free event with lots of kid-friendly activities will introduce even more people to the work that Kidzu does.

"We want to be able to attract folks that might not know very much about Kidzu or might want to learn more about Kidzu without having a fixed ticket price," she said. "We just hope to raise funds to keep us going."