The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and Leslie Science & Nature Center offset more than $300,000 in admission costs through their Access for All initiative, according to MLive. The program also provided $70,000 in classroom scholarships and served nearly 300,000 learners through on-site visits, field trips, outreach and community events, MLive reported.
About one in four general admission visitors to the museum on East Ann Street uses the program's discounts, Charlie Reischl, director of advancement for both organizations, said in a Monday, Sept. 7, WEMU interview.
"We're really proud that about 25% of our general admission visitors to the museum are utilizing that discount," Reischl said on WEMU.
The initiative tackles cost, physical access and sensory needs. Families with an EBT card pay $3 per person, compared with the standard $16 admission, for up to six people per visit. The Leslie Science & Nature Center is free and open to the public.
About one in four classrooms that books a program receives a scholarship, according to the organizations' website. Free sensory kits are available for neurodivergent visitors. A recurring "My Turn" series offers quiet hours for families affected by autism spectrum disorder or sensory processing disorder.
Both sites are verified accessible destinations through Wheel the World, with wheelchair-accessible pathways at the nature center and elevator access to all four museum floors. The two nonprofits serve an 11-county region across Southeast Michigan. Reischl told WEMU that on any given day, visitors speaking more than a dozen languages can be heard across the organizations' public spaces.
Flutter fundraiser set for Thursday
The organizations' fourth annual Flutter fundraiser is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 10, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Leslie Science & Nature Center, 1831 Traver Road. The adults-only (21+) event raises money for Access for All programs.
The evening begins with refreshments, silent-auction browsing and live wildlife encounters. Attendees will meet a red-tailed hawk, a barn owl and a bald eagle from the nature center's raptor loop, Reischl said. Butterfly tents will let guests feed monarch butterflies sugar from the tip of a Q-tip.
Dinner, catered by The Produce Station, starts at 6:45 p.m. Presentations run from 7 to 7:45 p.m., and the silent auction closes at 8 p.m. A bonfire follows.
Event tickets for Flutter are sold out, but the silent auction remains open to anyone through Sept. 10 at 8 p.m. at discoverscienceandnature.org/flutter, with bids benefiting Access for All programs.
