BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM — The North Country Children’s Museum is requesting $20,000 in village ARPA funding to help cover the cost of a music and sound lab planned as part of the museum’s expansion into the second floor of its red barn building at 10 Raymond Street.

Dr. Ana Estevez and David Trithart, both NCCM board members, and professional violinist and music educator Gretchen Koehler, made the pitch in a special presentation to village board members at their meeting May 13. Representing the museum, the presenters highlighted the role and impact of the children’s museum on local economy and culture in the community.

“As children’s museum board members we are very excited about the expansion project that’s been underway for some time,” Trithart told the board. “In particular, today we will be focusing on the plans for the music and sound lab exhibit activity station.

The museum’s $3.6 million expansion, funded in large part from grants, state Downtown Revitalization Initiative funding, and extensive donations, will open up the second floor of the Red Barn. The museum is working with exhibit creators Blue Rhino Design on exhibits for the new space like a maple tree climber with a glass lookout over the village. Other plans call for a small scale Amish homestead house, an additional program room, and a family resource room, in addition to the music and sound lab activities station.

“It’s called the children’s museum but it really serves a much larger community than just children,” Trithart said.

“The North Country Children’s Museum has a demonstrated positive impact on the village of Potsdam,” Estevez said. Estevez said a Clarkson University impact study demonstrated that there was around $700,000 added into the local economy outside of the museum from visitors to NCCM spending at local businesses.

“In 2023 we had over 22,000 visitors to the museum and over 600 member families,” Estevez said.

Estevez said the expansion of the museum into the second floor of the Raymond Street building will support five more skilled jobs with benefits and about 3-4 part time jobs. She said with the expansion the economic impact on the area is expected to increase to $1.5 million annually.

“The North Country Children’s Museum has created a regional tourism destination bringing visitors into Potsdam,” she said.

Koehler, who was part of the planning group along with Crane School of Music faculty, said the new music and sound lab activities station which will be featured in the museum’s expansion area will provide informal music education experiences. However, the space will require enclosure, she said.

“Sound mitigation strategies will be a requirement for this space as the intended activities will embrace both the creation of music and the exploration of sound. In other words, it's going to be noisy in a great way,” Koehler said.

Estevez said the building renovation will be completed by the end of June. The new exhibits planned for the second floor space are fully designed, she said, however, they are not fully funded yet.

Estevez said the NCCM board is requesting $20,000 from the village’s American Rescue Plan Act funding received from the federal government to support the music and sound lab activities station.

“The ARPA funds were intended, in part, to help revive local economies,” she said. She said the project would support both the economy and culture of the village.

Estevez said the plan is to open the second floor expansion in 2025.  

Village Mayor Alexandra Jacobs Wilke said that there were some unspent funds from a separate American Rescue Plan project that came in under budget. She said the NCCM proposal would be to utilize some of that funding to grant the $20,000 request to support the music and sound lab.  

The village board is expected to discuss the request at its next meeting May 28.