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Explore and More museum behind on donations, asking for publics help

Posted at 11:21 PM, Oct 02, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-02 23:21:21-04

Before the new Explore and More museum can become a piece of Buffalo, it needs to finish construction. 

"We're still six months away from actually opening" CEO Michelle Urbanczyk said. 

The $29 million project is currently $2.6 under its goal, so to help with the building of one exhibit, Explore and More is asking for the publics help through crowdfunding.

"(People) want to be able to say, 'you know what? I bought that exhibit', I think that is a cool thing to actually do and say" Urbanczyk said. 

The crowdfund is asking for $100,000 to build the exhibit. According to Urbanczyk, the museum being short on donations was expected. 

"I think that we are just at the tail end."

They say that crowdfunding was always part of the plan. 

"We anticipated crowdfunding to come towards the end."

Initially, the museum said it anticipated an opening would occur in the 4th quarter of 2018. According to Urbanczyk, the full opening will not happen until the spring of 2019, something she says was not harmed by the need for donations. 

"We're looking at the same timeline as the exhibits will start arriving in December."

The current plan is for a soft opening, or testing phase to begin in December of 2018. That will continue in stages until late April, or early May of 2019 where the full opening will take place. 

 

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