Leap Announces $1 Million Sponsorship

Mayor Jerry Sanders, Council President Scott Peters, Councilmember Kevin Faulconer, members of the Arts Commission and various downtown associations gathered on the site for the New Children’s Museum/Museo de los Ninos San Diego recently to celebrate the start of vertical construction on the Muse.

The crowd cheered when executives of Leap Wireless in San Diego announced a surprise gift. The $1 million Leap sponsorship puts the Capital Campaign that much closer to its goal.

Leap’s sponsorship will be funding the construction of the new museum and 45,000 free admissions to deserving children.

“Leap is pleased to contribute to the Children’s Museum/Museo de los Ninos San Diego, a stunning new landmark and the only facility in the downtown area offering a place focused entirely
on children and their pursuit of artistic endeavors,” said Doug Hutcheson, president and CEO of Leap.

“Leap believes that the arts play a vital role in children’s cognitive development, and we want to help to remove both physical and economic barriers to our children’s exposure to, and participation in, the gift of artistic exploration.”

In a speech to the crowd, the mayor recalled his visits to the museum, not as a dignitary, but rather in his other role as a father.

“The Children’s Museum has always been an important place for my family. In fact, I still have the clay sculptures my daughters made there years ago,” said Sanders. From the new location, the museum will continue enriching the young minds of San Diego and will become just as important to future generations as it was to my children.”

At the SKYBreaking ceremony, a trumpet fanfare signaled the release of 40 doves, which circled above for a few minutes before returning to their home base. Decorative clouds, with handwritten messages of hope and praise from the community, adorned the construction site for the morning and allowed those in attendance to use their imagination to envision the future glass-enclosed, atrium-style museum structure.

Designed by renowned architect and downtown San Diego resident Rob Wellington Quigley as the first “green” building in downtown San Diego, the Muse will include a dramatic entrance bridge that spans from Island Avenue into the see- through museum to a point 17 feet above the lower level, a glass-enclosed elevator tower that rises above the building and functions as a solar cooling tower, and an angled saw- tooth roof structure with space for future solar panels. Recycled building materials, water-saving devices, natural day lighting and convection cooling will be additional environmentally friendly elements.

The Muse will include art galleries, the Museum Charter School, the Toddler Space, Clay, Paint and Design Studios, the Tech Space, birthday party rooms, a revolving artist-in-residence space and a sit-down cafe. The adjacent Museum Park will include outdoor works by artists and space for children to create art.