The Science Museum of Virginia Today

In 2017, the Science Museum of Virginia is no longer confined to one wing of Broad Street Station. Nor is it an expansive network of science centers across Virginia, offering science education within easy driving distance of every resident in the Commonwealth. Instead, the SMV inspires visitors to learn more about science after seeing a live cooking demonstration, gazing up at a dynamic Cold-War era spy plane, or exploring a world-renowned travelling exhibit in the new Dewey Gottwald Center. Guests can still interact with SMV staff in Danville, but the Virginia Aviation Museum is no longer open to the public. The Museum may not be exactly what Roscoe Hughes or others in its history intended, but it is the culmination of years of hard work, dedication, and sometimes even mistakes. This chapter brings the story up to the present day. Like Knappenberger and Witschey, the SMV’s new director, Richard Conti, has transformed, and continues to transform, the Museum in the twenty first century.

Search for a New Director

When Walter Witschey announced his retirement in November 2006, the Museum’s staff adjusted their plans and began searching for another director. The Long-Range Planning Committee (LRPC) changed its purpose entirely, “from development of a detailed strategic plan to a product intended to offer a position statement of strategic direction for the Science Museum and its new director.”¹ The Committee conducted a study based on “two key questions”: “What is the outlook for the next 6 years for significant increases in State funding support to SMV?” and “What is the best way to accomplish the Science Museum’s mandate of providing science education to every citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia?”² After speaking with other members of the staff and answering the questions among themselves, “an urgent theme emerged” from the LRPC: “the need to set priorities of focus for boards and staff.”³ The Committee concluded that “the financial environment” required the next director to “make critical decisions about [the] strategic direction” of the Museum, including how “best [to] utilize and leverage current resources.”⁴ On December 8, 2006, the Committee put together a list of priorities for the incoming director; an important document that informed the actions of the soon-to-be-appointed selection committee.⁵

Above all else, the Museum needed to “focus on existing SMV owned and operated facilities and locations rather than building/leasing new facilities around the State.”⁶ If expansion was authorized, the director should prioritize “the move…of the Virginia Aviation Museum to the Broad Street Station campus.”⁷ The Committee’s recommendation did not preclude the possibility of developing satellite centers. Indeed, the document explained that “the Science Museum of Virginia will support effective community based efforts to create science centers where local interest and support exist.”⁸ However, if a community did not petition the Museum for a local center, the SMV would continue to “develop cost effective strategies to expand statewide delivery of science education programs and interactive experiences” from Broad Street.⁹ In addition, the LRPC highlighted the importance of “develop[ing] a clear, high profile and recognizable brand identity” to permeate “our products, services, profile, and key messages to our public.”¹⁰ The SMV needed to increase its visibility in Virginia and the creation of a unique brand would catch the eyes—and open the pocketbooks—of potential visitors.

With these operational priorities in mind, the Board of Trustees created the SMV Director Selection Committee to organize the job search.¹¹ Bobby Thalhimer and Tony Troy headed the Committee which also included five former-Trustees, three of whom had served as Chair of the Board.¹² Beginning December 2006, the Committee debated how to go about the search and ultimately what qualities they hoped for in an ideal candidate.¹³ At first, its members decided not to hire a search firm, but eventually they changed their minds and enlisted the services of Judy Lankford, president of Lankford and Associates, LLC.¹⁴ After conducting confidential interviews with business leaders in the Richmond community, Lankford reinforced the conclusions of the LRPC and “cautioned [the SMV] against further physical expansion until Broad Street, ‘the mother ship’ as several called it, has been fully transformed and until institutional capacity and infrastructure c[ould] bear the weight of growth.”¹⁵ Her interviewees agreed that “work remain[ed] to complete the central campus, develop partnerships, and build audiences.”¹⁶ In sum, the next director had to possess a commanding knowledge of business.

Lankford’s conclusion was not an easy pill to swallow for the Committee, especially since roughly half of its members agreed that a doctorate in a scientific or engineering field was an essential qualification for the job. In a January 2007 meeting with the Foundation Board, Bobby Thalhimer explained the Committee’s split.¹⁷ “Some believe we need someone who is a scientist who’s respected in the field,” he told the Directors.¹⁸ “The other way of thinking is that [the] SMV needs someone who understands business and has a sense of how to attract people to the museum.”¹⁹ Lou Dean agreed that both roles were essential and listed several attributes for the ideal candidate: “administrator, scientist, fundraiser, politician, can work with governmental system, love for science, and understands ‘the Virginia way of doing things.’”²⁰ Thalhimer cautioned the Directors, “We may not find everything in one person, but [we] need someone who understands and appreciates all of this and will work with others to carry it out.”²¹ The matter was inadvertently settled after a series of interviews at the Jefferson Hotel.²² As each candidate filed in and out of the room, Thalhimer turned to Troy and concluded, “you know, it’s not a PhD. We need someone who knows how to run the museum.”²³ As a result, the SMV narrowed its list of potential directors down to three names.²⁴

While the search continued, the Museum was run by an interim director, Jack Parry. Howell John Parry, Jr. had served in several different capacities at Broad Street Station since his employment in 1988.²⁵ He came to the Museum to oversee “operations and planning responsibilities for [SMV] divisions and affiliate sites.”²⁶ From 2001-2002, he “performed the duties of interim Executive Director” for the Foundation and was “assigned to develop the Belmont Bay Science Center and its supporting foundation” in 2003.²⁷ Before coming to the Museum, Parry was the Senior Project Engineer at Media General, Inc. in Fairfax County, Virginia; his third career after serving as an officer and aviator in the United States Navy.²⁸

Parry took the helm of the SMV in a particularly precarious economic environment. In June 2007, he was forced to eliminate four positions “from [the SMV’s] payroll” to “save the state museum about $80,000 for the fiscal year.”²⁹ He explained to a local reporter, “We didn’t want to get rid of any of these positions, but it’s a matter of making the numbers work.”³⁰ Despite the cuts, Parry was able to lead the Museum through the interim period and continue educational programming. In November 2007, the SMV opened New Energy Virginia, an exhibit with “hands-on” activities “explor[ing] alternative sources of renewable energy.”³¹ The exhibit was housed inside a building “located behind the museum,” powered by “solar panels, a wind turbine and geothermal energy.”³² A new base was installed under the Foucault Pendulum depicting “a beautiful image of the Earth inscribed in terrazzo—a mixture of crushed marble, colored glass and mirror in an epoxy resin.”³³ The Dome theater also showed a number of IMAX films including Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.³⁴ The former featured a “sand re-creation of the temple Abu Simbel” in the theater’s exhibit area.³⁵ Several travelling exhibitions also passed through Broad Street, such as Savage Ancient Seas and Zap! Surgery Beyond the Cutting Edge.³⁶ Visitors to the latter could challenge their surgical skills with a “giant Operation game.”³⁷ The lack of a permanent director did not prevent the SMV from offering new programs, exhibits, and events. However, the staff did not have to wait long before Richard Conti arrived in Richmond to lead the Museum.

Richard Conti Arrives as New Director of the SMV

After rounds of interviews, the Selection Committee settled on the executive director of Nauticus, a science center in Norfolk, Virginia, to head the SMV. Richard Conti had spent a decade transforming Nauticus “from an urban theme park [in]to a maritime-themed science center with interactive exhibits.”³⁸ Most notably, he “played a key role in bringing the battleship [U.S.S.] Wisconsin to downtown Norfolk and helped attract major cruise ships to the area.”³⁹ The changes “doubled” the center’s attendance “from 191,000 [annual visitors] to 350,000.”⁴⁰ His career did not begin in museums, however. Before accepting the position at Nauticus, Conti served as assistant to Norfolk’s city manager.⁴¹ In 1991, he “commanded seven [naval flight] missions over Northern Iraq” after graduating from the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, popularly known by its moniker Top Gun.⁴² The SMV chose Conti as its next director because of his success with “market driven decision making.”⁴³ He was an ideal candidate for “doing less better” in “the middle of [a] recession.”⁴⁴

Once Conti arrived at the Museum in November 2007, he oversaw two important events while looking for ways to run the SMV more efficiently. In March 2008, “notable designers and architects” met “in a day-long charrette to help shape the future of” the Rice House.⁴⁵ At the time, the Museum agreed to continue renting the home for special events at a rate of $5,000.⁴⁶ In May 2008, the SMV experienced an accreditation review by the American Association of Museums (AAM).⁴⁷ AAM agreed to renew the institution’s accreditation, once again recognizing the SMV’s “commitment to accountability and public service, professional standards and excellence in education.”⁴⁸ Around the same time, Conti decided that the Museum needed to begin reducing the number of full-time staff positions to offset the negative budgetary effects of the Great Recession.⁴⁹ His decision was not a popular one, especially since he cut the SMV’s “82 employees” down to a total of “58 workers” by 2013.⁵⁰

The reduction in staff became part of the Museum’s new strategic plan. In October 2009, the SMV released details of an extensive overhaul of the institution’s mission, brand, and educational programming.⁵¹ “New advancements in science and technology now surface with increasing rapidity,” the 2009-2010 Annual Report explained. “It is time again to step forward and meet the challenge; to transform our Museum into a platform for current and relevant science that fosters the development of 21^st century learning skills.”⁵² The SMV charted its new course after conducting a “two-year study of what the museum is and what it should be, beginning with questions for stakeholders.”⁵³ Conti found “some of the responses…surprising.”⁵⁴ For example, “educators…said the museum’s biggest contribution wasn’t teaching science but rather getting students excited about learning.”⁵⁵ As a result, the director concluded, “It is not our job to teach them, but to inspire them in the subject matter, to show them that they can do it.”⁵⁶ The strategic plan embraced this observation, debuting the Museum’s new mission statement: “Inspiring Virginians to enrich their lives through science.”⁵⁷

In accordance with the plan, the Museum also hired a firm to redesign the institution’s logo in May 2010.⁵⁸ In place of the generic and vague symbol from the nineties, the designers created the WonderMark, “a colorful burst of energy” with “a star [that] represent[ed] space,” “a cogwheel…emblematic of technology and curiosity,” and “an atom symboliz[ing] pure science and the sense of discovery.”⁵⁹ The SMV also initiated a new “$60 million fundraising campaign.”⁶⁰ The money would be used to rebrand “the state institution as [a] ‘marketing agency for science.’”⁶¹ Inspiring the public to seek out information about scientific fields required the Museum to develop new exhibits and programs. The trick was convincing Virginians to walk into Broad Street Station to fulfill their scientific curiosities as opposed to plugging keywords into an internet search engine.⁶²

In January 2011, the SMV debuted a few of its new exhibits designed to promote science education. The first was Science on a Sphere, “a 6-foot-wide suspended ball [that] show[ed] images of the Earth as seen from space, storms as they cross the planet or deadly ocean waves rippling out from a tsunami.”⁶³ The mechanism gathered its “data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which sponsored the exhibit.”⁶⁴ Second, the Museum unveiled the Watt Wall, a screen displaying “energy consumption and global sustainability [as] an evolving landscape.”⁶⁵ Guests could “see a breakdown of global usage, alternative energy sources and new developments” on the Wall; information that could “potentially be used to power homes and businesses in the future.”⁶⁶ Finally, a space filled with “giant foam blocks, mats, wagons, fabric and crates” made up the new Imagination Playground.⁶⁷ The odds and ends allowed “children to play, dream, build and explore [the] endless possibilities” of their own “creative potential.”⁶⁸

The SMV also designed several new events to engage residents in the local community. For example, the 2011 InnoBlitz locked “14 college students…in the Science Museum of Virginia for 24 hours with nothing but their wits, plenty of coffee and [the possibility of winning] $500.”⁶⁹ The students “from the VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation” were “divided into two teams and each given a challenge” related to exhibit design or educational programming.⁷⁰ In February, the Museum hosted its first meeting of the Teacher Advisory Group, a collection of “science specialists and teachers from Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico.”⁷¹ The educators participated in “demonstrations and informative discussions full of creative and intriguing ideas for improving Museum programming.”⁷²

Richmonders came out to Broad Street Station for two events in Spring 2011. The first was a Family Energy Festival that showcased “fascinating demonstrations, activities and [the Museum’s] newest exhibits.”⁷³ The SMV partnered with EnergyForward, a “community outreach initiative” to bring guests “activities featuring energy challenges and the latest green technologies for [the] home.”⁷⁴ The second was a collaborative effort between “Museum Staff and students from VCU’s School of Engineering” called NanoDays.⁷⁵ The team “led…guests through the world of nanotechnology with exciting exhibits and demonstrations including activities from the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net).”⁷⁶

By the beginning of summer, the SMV installed an Electric Vehicle Charging Station in front of Broad Street Station.⁷⁷ The addition was constructed in “the spirit of continuously reducing our carbon footprint” and included “two charging units available to Museum guests.”⁷⁸ The Station attracted the attention of Ford Motor Company which identified the SMV as “one of the top twenty coolest places to charge your car.”⁷⁹ The good news came on the heels of a private donation that, at the time, was the largest corporate gift in Museum history.⁸⁰ In December 2011, the SMV “announced the receipt of a $2.2 million gift from Health Diagnostic Laboratory.”⁸¹ In addition to funding “new exhibit galler[ies],” the money would “be used to create an interactive display to come up with a wellness and self-improvement curriculum for students.”⁸² Conti, who now identified as the “chief wonder officer of the Science Museum,” believed that the donation created “a way for us to take a subject like fitness or health or childhood obesity and make it fun and relevant.”⁸³

In 2012, the Museum welcomed three popular travelling exhibits to Richmond. The first, RACE: Are We So Different?, opened in January and “explored the science, history, and influences of the concept of race on culture and modern society.”⁸⁴ RACE “was the centerpiece of a series of exhibitions and programs that drove community discussion on the legacy of the Civil War and Race in our region.”⁸⁵ In the blistering summer months, BODY WORLDS & the Brain broke an attendance record when “over 100,000” visitors came to see real human bodies on display in the name of science.⁸⁶ The blockbuster exhibit “also bolstered retail sales and membership growth,” helping to “fund [the Museum’s] education mission.”⁸⁷ The final travelling exhibit of the 2012 season was Guitar: The Instrument that Rocked the World.⁸⁸ The scheduled program included “live performing acts both in the gallery and in the [Eureka!] theater.”⁸⁹ Guests had plenty of activities to explore on Broad Street while the SMV continued to roll out changes with its new strategic plan.

SMV in a Technological Age

A major goal of Conti’s strategic plan was to “transform [the] Museum into a platform for current and relevant science.”⁹⁰ In order to do so, the SMV installed major permanent exhibits that made use of new technologies. The first opened in June 2013 and “focused on health and wellness.”⁹¹ Boost! offered “25 exhibit experiences,” challenging guests to execute different activities like “hold a yoga pose,” “remember a pattern of squares,” and “sing on key.”⁹² Visitors used “individual QR code[s] to activate each” station, storing “their results in different areas and, if they return[ed] several times, how much they change[d].”⁹³ The codes encouraged them to “compete with [their] family and friends,” all the while “learn[ing] how science can literally improve…quality of life.”⁹⁴

Boost! was only the beginning of the Museum’s health initiatives. In Spring 2014, the SMV launched an Employee Wellness Program, resulting in an “Active RVA” certification from Sportsbackers.⁹⁵ The Museum also planned a Food Revolution Day for May 16, 2014.⁹⁶ The staff coordinated the celebration with “Jamie Oliver’s Food Foundation” and included “food trucks and live music” on the Station’s front lawn.⁹⁷ The opening of the Bons Secours Washington Redskins Training Camp in July 2013 even brought sports-related memorabilia to the Station.⁹⁸ The SMV “host[ed] the three Lombardi Trophies from the Washington Redskins’ three Super Bowl victories” while locals watched football players drill on the new field.⁹⁹ Boost! inspired over a year of physical activity programming at the Museum and continues to entertain guests today.

The SMV designed its second major exhibit around a futuristic aircraft from the Cold War. Scheduled to debut in 2016, Speed included the suspension of “an SR-71 Blackbird supersonic jet…from the ceiling of the main concourse.”¹⁰⁰ The jet would be one of many displays in the exhibit intended to showcase some of the fastest and slowest objects and organisms on Earth. In 1999, VAM received a record-breaking SR-71 as a donation.¹⁰¹ Fifteen years later, the SMV lifted the 43,000-pound aircraft out from in front of the Museum’s hanger and moved it in pieces to Broad Street Station.¹⁰² The construction began in earnest in 2015 when the SMV moved the Aluminaut out from behind the Museum “to make way” for the installation of the SR-71.¹⁰³ Engineers had cut a large hole in the concourse to transfer each piece of the jet into the Station.¹⁰⁴ They reassembled the Blackbird “at an angle” because the aircraft had a wingspan of 55 feet while “the walls inside the museum were only 49 feet wide.”¹⁰⁵ Installing the SR-71 was only the first step in completing Speed; the SMV hoped to infuse the exhibit with technologically advanced displays to wow visitors.

When the development of Speed began, the Museum received “the largest private gift in its history.”¹⁰⁶ In December 2013, the “Herndon Foundation, a Gottwald family charitable organization,” pledged “$4 million to support [a] new 17,000-square-foot community event and exhibition center.”¹⁰⁷ The family intended the center to be named after Floyd D. Gottwald Sr., the “patriarch of Richmond’s Gottwald family and former chairman of Ethyl Corp.”¹⁰⁸ The Museum hoped to use the new facility to “host special events and changing exhibitions of [a] national caliber.”¹⁰⁹ Conti believed that the “Dewey Gottwald Center [would] strengthen the museum’s position as a world-class destination for STEM learning and community engagement.”¹¹⁰ Construction on the $9 million-dollar building began in fall 2015, the remainder of its price tag paid for by “state capital projects funds.”¹¹¹

As two of the Museum’s most anticipated projects neared completion, the SMV continued to host events, open travelling exhibits, and enmesh itself within the Richmond community. In May 2015, the Emerging Leaders Council, the “Museum’s young professionals group,” sponsored its “first annual Science on Tap craft beer festival to benefit the Science Museum of Virginia.”¹¹² The event attracted “over 1,200 guests” with “live music, interactive craft brewing demonstrations and craft beers from across the Commonwealth.”¹¹³ Also in May, the Museum opened Bikes: Science on Two Wheels, an exhibit that coincided with the 2015 UCI Road World Championships in Richmond.¹¹⁴ The displays “traced the evolution of the bicycle and showcased a diverse collection of historic, rare and peculiar bikes.”¹¹⁵ In October 2015, the SMV offered a “Back to the Future theme[d]” event called Science After Dark: GLOW.¹¹⁶ Roughly 1,000 guests came to Broad Street to explore “two blacklight rooms” and see an original “DeLorean in the Rotunda.”¹¹⁷ As guests awaited the reopening of the concourse, peering through the walls of the glass elevator to catch a glimpse of the suspended SR-71, the Museum’s staff was hard-at-work offering educational programming and events that sparked the curiosity of Virginia residents.

Conclusion: The Science Museum of Virginia Today

Over the past year, the SMV has debuted several new exhibits and spaces to achieve its goals from the 2009 strategic plan. In April 2016, the staff unveiled LightPlace, “a permanent gallery designed to promote skill development in infants to five-years-old.”¹¹⁸ The “hands-on learning gallery” serves as a “safe place” for young children to “begin building scientific foundations” by facilitating “cognitive growth.”¹¹⁹ LightPlace seeks to equip youngsters with the tools they need to explore STEM fields in their adult lives. Also in April, the SMV renamed the second floor of Broad Street Station the Inger Rice Learning Center.¹²⁰ The space, “designed to spark the curiosity of guests and to inspire an interest in science beyond the classroom,” is dedicated to Inger Rice in recognition of a $3.5 million-dollar endowment created by the profitable sale of her home.¹²¹ In the Spring prior to the dedication, the Museum convinced Rice to put the house on the market because it “needed a lot of upkeep.”¹²² In the form of an endowment, Rice’s gift will serve generations of museumgoers without the drain of the house’s regular maintenance.

On May 21, 2016, the SMV reopened its concourse and welcomed guests to explore Speed. In addition to gazing upon “the most ambitious undertaking in the Museum’s 40 year history”—the suspended SR-71—visitors can interact with “50 exhibits grouped in[to] five categories”: “Speed of Sound and Light”; “Sports Speed Matters”; “Too Fast to See”; “Too Slow to See”; and “Machines Fast and Slow.”¹²³ According to the director, “Using speed as the theme for the main concourse offers a new way to explore and organize scientific content ranging from biology to physics.”¹²⁴ As opposed to delineating one exhibit from another according to specific fields, Conti hopes to continue opening a series of permanent displays that integrate several themes together and challenge guests to “think about the world differently.”¹²⁵

For some visitors to Speed, seeing the SR-71 in Broad Street Station was a sad reminder of its previous home. On June 30, 2016, the Virginia Aviation Museum closed its doors, ending 24 years of operation.¹²⁶ After “several years” of “attempts to find a new location” for VAM’s collections, the SMV decided to close the facility which suffered from “problems with climate control” and structural integrity.¹²⁷ Conti explained to local reporters that the Museum “tried to raise private and public funding” to repair the hanger, but “didn’t have much success.”¹²⁸ Troy Bell, “a spokesman for Richmond International Airport,” agreed with the SMV’s evaluations and explained to the press that the hanger “would require a lot of repairs going forward.”¹²⁹ However, Tim McSwain, chairman of the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society, “characterized the concerns over the building condition as overblown,” illustrating tension between the Society and the Museum over the closing.¹³⁰ When interviewed by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Neil November, the driving force behind the initial merger between VAM and the SMV, did not hold back any criticisms of the decision and explained that he was “very disappointed” by the closure.¹³¹ In the midst of mixed feelings between local “aircraft enthusiasts” and SMV officials, the Museum is currently facilitating the transfer of the historic airplanes to new locations.¹³²

This past summer, the SMV debuted the new Dewey Gottwald Center by bringing “a unique state-of-the-art SENSORY4™ multimedia gallery” to North America.¹³³ Da Vinci Alive—The Experience opened on May 13, 2017 and offered guests a chance to view recreations of the Florentine’s inventions, original codices written in his characteristic backwards-script, and a multimedia collage of Da Vinci’s work punctuated by dramatic music and visual commentary taken from his Renaissance writings.¹³⁴ The travelling exhibition from Australia is only the first to come to the new Center; the Museum plans on using the 21,000 square-foot space to display special exhibits every summer. When not in use for Museum programming, the Dewey Gottwald Center “will…be rented out for special events, such as weddings and proms,” freeing up space in the Station for the development of more learning areas.¹³⁵ The first, called The Forge, is currently under construction.¹³⁶ Described as “part maker space, part interactive exploration, part community innovation sandbox,” The Forge emphasizes “connections” between guests by transforming “visitors into participants, and participants into collaborators.”¹³⁷ The Museum intends the new lab to “showcase how STEM skills matter in” a variety of different environments from the home to the workplace.¹³⁸

Today, the Science Museum of Virginia embraces the ever-changing role of technology in Virginians’ lives and tries to design informal science education to fit their needs and desires. In some ways, the institution looks quite different from the system of science centers outlined in the 1970 legislative act that created it. In others, the twenty-first century staff is striving to emulate the same mission that motivated the architects of the 1977 Discovery Room: offer fun and informative hands-on activities that reveal the science behind everyday life. Regardless of the continuities and disjunctions the SMV shares with its past, one conclusion is certain: that education, institutions of learning, and even science will continue to evolve as history marches on. The ultimate test will be whether the Science Museum of Virginia can adapt to meet those changes head on.