$2.50 Admission at Discovery Museum October 1-31 | Pay and Play Like It's 1982!
Acton, MA – Discovery Museum announced today that from October 1 through October 31, 2022, the cost of admission will be $2.50 per person, as the Museum wraps up the celebration of its founding in October 1982 to thank the community for four decades of support.
During “Pay and Play Like It’s 1982,” existing discount programs that offer deeper discounts—including $1 admission for EBT/WIC and ConnectorCare Card to Culture card holders, and free admission for active duty military families, teachers, and children under 1—will continue to be honored. Standard admission prices are $15.50 for adults and children ages 1 and up; $14.50 for seniors 60+.
Advance reservations are required to visit and can be made 10 days advance through the Museum’s website www.discoveryacton.org.
“Discovery Museum has served more than 5 million children and families over the past 40 years—and that is due in no small part to the generosity and support of our community,” said CEO Neil Gordon. “That support, combined with the vision and dedication of our staff and volunteers, has enabled us to stoke kids’ natural curiosity and creativity to explore and better understand themselves, their capabilities, and the incredible possibilities of the world around them. We are honored to be an enduring part of the lives of so many families, and are very grateful to our community for four decades of strong support.”
Discovery Museum offered special programs and events all summer including free outdoor movie nights, accessible arts performances, a 21+ party, visitor-favorite special programs, and more. A free admission day is scheduled for Saturday, September 10, as previously announced.
Discovery Museum’s 40th anniversary programs and community events are generously sponsored by TJX Companies, with additional support from Enterprise Bank and MathWorks, along with Corning Life Sciences, Dunkin'/Locally Owned and Operated by the Pesce Family, Hologic, Inc., and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Discovery Museum Major Milestones
Founded in October 1982 by local schoolteacher Donald Verger, the Museum opened in a 130-year-old Victorian house, with each room a unique immersive learning environment for child-directed exploration. Five years later a second building was added to the campus with interactive STEM exhibits for a broader set of ages. In-school Traveling Science Workshops, first introduced in 1992, brought hands-on STEM explorations into classrooms and now reach upwards of 40,000 students per year.
Discovery Museum served its 2 millionth visitor in 2000, and in 2010 launched its Open Door Connections program to reflect an increasing focus on removing barriers to access for families that faced economic, physical, or developmental challenges to visitation. More than 25% of those served each year at the Museum and in schools now come through Open Door.
An $8.8M capital campaign in 2013 began a full renovation of the physical campus, with a primary objective of accessibility. In 2016, Discovery Woods—including an accessible nature playscape and treehouse—opened, followed by a fully renovated and expanded Discovery Museum in 2018; both the building and all exhibits were designed based on Universal Design guidelines to be accessible to most ages and abilities.
In 2022, the Museum announced its conversion to 100% on-site generated solar electricity—a first among children’s museums in the country—with excess energy sold to other regional nonprofits at a discount, as well with a first-of-its-kind carbon offset program for members, staff, and volunteers. These constitute major steps in the Museum’s 5-year Sustainability Plan toward carbon neutrality.
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About Discovery Museum
Discovery Museum is a hands-on museum that blends science, nature, and play, inspiring families to explore and learn together. The museum and its Discovery Woods accessible outdoor nature playscape and 550sf treehouse blend the best of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning on a beautiful 4.5-acre campus abutting 180 acres of conservation land in Acton, MA, about 20 miles west of Boston. Originally founded in 1982 and expanded to two museums in 1987, the museum reopened in a single, 16,000sf accessible building after a complete renovation and expansion in early 2018. Hands-on, open-ended exhibits developed by professional educators inspire curiosity and exploration, providing a fun and engaging experience for children and adults to discover their world together. Serving families and schools from towns throughout the region, the Museum is devoted to informal education that enhances classroom learning. Discovery Museum is committed to accessibility and is a proud recipient of the 2017 Massachusetts Commonwealth Award, the only winner in the Access category, and a 2018 LEAD® Community Asset Award from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Discovery Museum is a community-supported non-profit organization. Discovery Museum programming is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
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