Q&A with Erica Schmidt of Koch Family Children’s Museum of Evansville
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In May, Erica Schmidt was named executive director of the Koch Family Children’s Museum of Evansville (cMoe). Former executive director Stephanie Terry was elected mayor of Evansville in November and took office in January.
Schmidt’s background includes two decades of working in community relations. She spoke with Inside INdiana Business about arriving at cMoe during the Play It Forward campaign and her goals as executive director. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
What did you do before coming to cMoe?
Most recently, I taught communications at the University of Southern Indiana and Ivy Tech. I’ve done that on and off for several years, but I focused on that the last two years. Prior to that, I worked in higher education. Within the Ivy Tech Foundation, I was the executive director of resource development.
I’ve had a very colorful background: hospitality management, community outreach, training and teaching. But it all goes back to the public. I’ve always worked in some type of customer relations role. The customer just changes over time.
How will your experience help you lead cMoe?
Kids are naturally curious. They typically ask a lot of questions about how things work and who people are. The big one is, why? Why can’t I? Or why should I? And my parents can attest to me being that kid. I joke that it’s actually benefited me greatly in my career path. I still lead with curiosity.
I try to cultivate meaningful, very intentional relationships. Communication, that’s my undergrad and graduate degrees. I worked through planning and implementation and serving others. That’s been most of the work I’ve done. There’s always some type of mission aligned to the organization that I’ve had to cultivate partnerships, make strategic plans and execute them. I definitely see all of that connecting back here to the museum.
What are your short-term goals as executive director?
I’ve been diving in to truly be informed of cMoe’s rich history. We’re in a historical building. This started as a lot of programming with the Junior League of Evansville. Certainly, things have changed. We moved into this building in 2006. So I’m focusing on understanding the history and who has been involved with cMoe internally and externally, those stakeholders. But then also looking at how to grow the museum as a new chapter comes in.
We’ve been in a campaign called Play It Forward. What are we doing as a children’s museum that keeps us a part of the conversation and involved in the quality of place for our region’s economy? Those partnerships in the community and people understanding what a children’s museum is—I need to know that first. And then to be able to communicate that intentionally back out into the community.
What are your long-term goals in this role?
We’re part of Evansville, but we have field trips that are coming from an hour to an hour and a half away. That’s super exciting. How do we engage and expand outreach throughout other communities outside of Evansville but then also tap into all of the families that haven’t been here?
Looking at the engagement components, I go back to the economic component about how we’re involved in the big picture of downtown initiatives and the big picture of city planning. That’s very important. And then, of course, I’ll collaborate with our staff, board and great group of volunteers to execute our strategic plan, which has our campaign built into it.
That focus now is looking at our programs and exhibits. Many of them have been here since cMoe started. And elevating a sustainable revenue model. Kids play hard. We encourage the discovery and the play. But long term, we need to look at how we continue to be a pillar in quality of place for this community. Part of that is looking at a holistic revenue model and updating the exhibits and programs.
And rolling out the campaign to its completion. I anticipate over the next couple of years most of our capital renovations that are coming out of Play It Forward will be on their way to completion.
Tell me more about the Play It Forward campaign.
As a nonprofit, we rely on guest visitors, members and private resources to maintain and advance our facility and operations. I’m excited to come in at this time because this particular campaign is the first large-scale campaign since 2004. This initiative allows us to create new exhibits, update favorites, enhance programming and keep pace with advancing technology.
Some kids know how to use smartphones better than adults. How are we integrating informal learning that includes these very tangible items but also the technology side? Our art maker room, kids love that area. We have 3D printing. We have Cricuts. They love seeing things they build come to life and get to take them home. What are we doing to advance that and keep up to date?
What are the challenges cMoe is facing in 2024?
Unlike other museums, children’s museums are unique. Our primary guests are children and their families. But as children grow up, they may no longer engage with the museum again until they have their own children or nieces and nephews to bring to cMoe. We’re always trying to think outside the box for unique ways to engage all ages and keep a pulse on what’s happening within our region to ensure we’re an engaged partner.
We have hundreds of kids interacting with our equipment and materials. Those items are constantly needing to be repaired and replaced. The benefit—although it’s a challenge—is our members see the wear and tear, and they get it. They stay with us through the exhibit maintenance, updates and program changes.
What are cMoe’s successes?
We have long-term members, field trip partners and community members. And we still have people who come in for their first cMoe experience. We can look at success in 2024 from the lens of how many members come in, how many visitors we have that experience cMoe for the first time and certainly all the contributions to the Play It Forward campaign.
We walk around and see these kids experience the wonderment of learning something new. Success to me and the whole team is when you hear kids running around yelling, “This is my dream come true!” Or, “Best day ever!” Or, I recently heard this one, “I’m never leaving this place. Can I work here when I’m older?” When we think of success—while we would love to see a large group in here every single day—it’s these moments of experience that bring cMoe to life.
What’s happening at cMoe this summer?
We have our summer camps, which run through August 2. We increased the numbers in our summer camps, the slots available. We have several programs scheduled around [Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics]. We’ve got an upcoming sewing class. There are art classes, a kids’ flea market and many other things.
We have the beach out front on 5th Street. That opened May 30, so that’s a crowd favorite. Kids can come and enjoy the sand and sunshine. We’ve got beach balls, chairs, all the beach toys and umbrellas. There are folks that may not make it to the beach, whether that’s cost of living, transportation or whatever that looks like. To have the feeling of sand and being right here in this area, that’s a pretty neat experience that we offer.
How can people support cMoe?
Visit us. Become a member. The other piece is gifting a membership. My family has always loved receiving tickets to various children’s venues. Lots of kids have toys. What I want to give is experiences. So gifting a membership is a great tool to come and support us.
Thinking of cMoe as a destination for family vacations, a field trip or a birthday celebration. We have lots of birthday parties every week. Of course, donating to our Play It Forward campaign so we can continue to create new experiences with the updated exhibits.
We love volunteers. It’s critical to have volunteers at a museum, and volunteering can look like many different things. It could be experiences with children. It could be facilities and operations. There are lots of ways to volunteer.
And then this seems simple, but sharing information on social media. We call them MILLIE MOE-ments. Moe is our duck. Millie’s our dinosaur. We love hearing reviews of people’s experiences. It helps us grow, and it also helps give our team feedback.
Anything else you’d like to add?
My kids believe I have the best job ever. As I’m experiencing cMoe day by day, I think they’re right. I am super grateful to have this opportunity to lead cMoe into its next chapter. I encourage folks who have not been to cMoe to come and experience who we are today.
cMoe is part of this community and the greater region. I want people to have that sense of wonderment that many of us get to see every day by visiting us.