The Science Museum of Virginia on Thursday announced the receipt of a $2.2 million gift from Health Diagnostic Laboratory. It is the largest corporate donation in the museum's history.
The money will mostly go to helping fund a new exhibit gallery that will be called "Improving Grounds." It also will be used to create an interactive display and to come up with a wellness and self-improvement curriculum for students.
"It's a way for us to take a subject like fitness or health or childhood obesity and make it fun and relevant," said Richard C. Conti, the chief wonder officer of the Science Museum.
The gift is the first major donation to the museum in a wide-ranging effort designed to overhaul the museum. The museum is reviewing everything it does, he said, and is focusing on engaging people in ways "where we don't have to beat them over the head. They can just enjoy it and learn."
Conti said the fundraising goal for the new gallery is $4 million and that the gallery could open as soon as 2013. He said the museum is still figuring out a fundraising goal for the whole overhaul but that the gift was "just too good to bottle up for now."
"We're inspired by what they're doing," he said of the laboratory.
The laboratory's co-founder and chief scientific officer, Russ Warnick, said, "Our lab focuses on saving lives through evidence-based medicine and early intervention, so it's fitting that we partner with the Science Museum to emphasize ways in which we can all measure — and improve — our health at any age."
Health Diagnostic Laboratory is based in the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park downtown. Last month, it announced a $68.5 million plan for capital improvement at the site, the second-largest construction project there behind the Altria research facility.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement