EdVenture Merges with Children’s Museum of South Carolina

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) – EdVenture has officially merged with the Children’s Museum of South Carolina.

The combined museum will maintain the current two locations while pursuing plans to develop a new museum in Myrtle Beach, uniquely designed to better accommodate families with special needs. For the past 18 months, EdVenture has managed the day to day operations of the Myrtle Beach museum through a management agreement with CMSC’s Board of Directors.

CMSC was started by community volunteers in 1993. Since opening in 1994, the 7,000 square foot museum has been visited by more than 800,000 people. EdVenture, the largest children’s museum in the Southeast, is perennially listed among the nation’s top children’s museums since opening in 2003, seeing more than 220,000 annual museum visitors while providing community programs across the Midlands and state.

Karen Coltrane, EdVenture’s president and CEO, will lead the combined museum.

“When you have two organizations truly committed to the same mission of service, it makes partnership very easy, and CMSC’s leadership has been great to work with,” said Coltrane. “There are economies of scale in what we do, and this merger will let us take full advantage of those.”

Coltrane said the two museums have already combined administrative functions.

“For example, instead of putting temporary exhibits in storage when not in use, we can now rotate between the museums so visitors can enjoy different experiences,” she said.

Members of the two museums already enjoy free reciprocal admission to both facilities, and Coltrane anticipates more benefits in the future, including a potential new, bigger location in Myrtle Beach.