Taft Museum of Art (2)
316 Pike Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Update the Dater Education Room at the Taft Museum.
Grant Application:
The Dater Foundation made a grant of $125,000 in 2017-18 for updating the Dater Education Room, site of many of the Taft's educational programs for young people. When the Taft made a decision to embark on a major renovation a short time later, the Dater Education Room update was folded into the that program to leverage cost efficiencies. At the conclusion of the room's update it was determined that additional funds were needed for new tables and chairs which had not been in the original budget. Hence, this grant application to complete the project.
Grant Evaluation Report:
New tables and chairs were secured and placed in the Dater Education Room.
The Taft Museum of Art is extremely grateful to the Charles H. Dater Foundation for this support. The Learning and Outreach Director, Elise Solomon, said that the tables and chairs installed in the Dater Education Room have made a world of a difference in being able to deliver programming to a variety of groups and most recently, to several school groups. The tables and chairs accommodate 60 individuals and when we have a school visit, many times a school will bring two classes of students. The seating for 60 perfectly accommodates two classrooms of students and still provides for movement around the room for students, teachers and docents.
Ms. Solomon said the entire package of Dater Education Room updates from lighting, flooring, cabinets and tables and chairs has created a much brighter, welcoming and more functional space. In fact, the favorite outcome for docents and educators is that now they do not have to stand on a chair to plug in electrical cords into the ceiling!
Results:
This grant from the Charles H. Dater Foundation fulfilled the museum’s third category of updates for the Dater Education Room, “education equipment.” The museum purchased 8 tables, 60 chairs, and 2 small tables. This capital upgrade followed the completion of the rehabilitation of the historic house and technological and structural updates to the Dater Education Room. Thank you to the Foundation for the initial capital grant of $125,000 to renovate the education room and update its electricity, lighting, flooring, and cabinetry. This grant for tables and chairs represents the finishing touches of the project. The functioning and well-designed furniture purchased with the grant helps to facilitate the museum’s art-making activities and programs.
The education room’s prior furniture consisted of mis-matched (in height and size) tables, a few with wobbly legs, that were too heavy for one teacher move. The chairs were also mismatched and in need of replacement. In preparation for deciding on this final stage of the upgrades, the Director of Learning and Outreach, Elise Solomon, met with the museum’s architectural firm GBBN, (our same architects for the Bicentennial Infrastructure project), to engage in design ideation for the education room.
After talking with the education team about their needs, GBBN did a three-dimensional model to determine the number and type of tables and chairs that would fit in the space. GBBN presented a few different proposals for the space that would achieve the flexibility needed to host many types of groups and ages. GBBN also helped to source the furniture from a vendor who specializes in classroom furniture.
The tables have several special features such as casters on two of the legs that makes moving the tables by one person easy to do and enables instructors to reconfigure the room for different groupings in a quick and efficient manner. The surfaces are easy to clean, and the weight of the table makes them sturdy and durable. The two smaller tables have telescoping legs to vary the height of the table, making the space available to our littlest of visitors, and to those in wheelchairs.
The chairs have wide seats for comfort and safety and are stackable, adding to the flexibility of the space. There are rubber balls on the bottom of the legs of the chairs that reduce noise as children and people of all ages move in and out of chairs. Both the tables and chairs match the new cabinetry and are finished with a light wood veneer. The chairs are of a streamlined modern design appropriate for a museum education space.
The tables and chairs are fully installed in the Dater Education Room and have already been in use with several school groups this past Fall 2022. Cost was below the estimated $40,000 of the grant; as a result, $17,000 was repurposed for use in the overall youth education program.
Website:
http://www.taftmuseum.org Amount: $40,000
Date: June 2022
