Written in Granite: A children’s museum would benefit city

The city of Lowell has one.

Nashua could also have a children’s museum, someday.

That’s been the longtime dream of Gate City native Jane Marquis. Mayor Jim Donchess recently nominated Marquis to the city’s Arts Commission during a meeting with the Personnel and Administrative Affairs Committee at City Hall.

I second that appointment. Jane Marquis has an outstanding resume and would play a key role on the commission to enhance the availability of the arts for children across the community and Nashua area.

“I think Nashua’s ripe for it,” Marquis recently told the committee about eventually establishing a children’s museum. “It’s not just for children. It’s for families and the community. When you follow the right model and have the right design, Mayor Donchess could be having town hall meetings there… It becomes a real hub in so many ways.”

Marquis would like to see the museum be free to visitors or perhaps, you could “stick a dollar in a jar” upon entering the facility. She’s right. As Marquis explained, too often, many young families come up against barriers, especially financial ones, when their kids wish to participate in activities, take lessons, join sports teams, etc.

By serving on Nashua’s Arts Commission, Marquis would explore avenues to infuse more children’s programs and gain more collaboration with the nonprofit world.

“I can create, I can be a team member and hopefully, make an impact in a positive way for the arts and culture of our city and promote it as something that would be here 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 years from now.”

She has worked at the Nashua Adult Learning Center for 31 years and is presently the Childcare Coordinator. Marquis is also highly skilled in nonprofit organization management, early childhood education and family support services and is excellent at grant writing.

The Nashua Adult Learning Center opened its doors in 1972, and today serves more than 3,000 individuals yearly. There are two locations, Lake Street and Arlington Street, featuring several before- and after-school programs in Nashua and the surrounding towns.

Marquis is very involved throughout the community and has a sunny disposition. She’s someone you’d want in your corner.

For me, the big question is: Where would the children’s museum be located?

Space is hard to come by in the Gate City. I cannot stop thinking of the former, now empty Elm Street Middle School, only yards away from the Adult Learning Center. Could the museum be located there next to the “attached” Keefe Auditorium?

I’m a dreamer, but you never know where new developments can spring up from the ground.

Then, there’s the multi-millions needed to build it. Even nonprofit museums are a business, so to speak. Sotheby’s Institute of Art has an excellent article (2018) about this subject online.

In other words, American museums are nothing like the French-funded Louvre. “…Nonprofit museums in the United States came to exist through the civic-minded philanthropy and commercial acumen of bankers and financiers precisely because there was no government support.”

The article adds: “Without margin, there is no mission. Staying profitable is the only way for a museum to keep its mission alive, given high operating costs and limited liquidity. With the 501(c)3 tax status sheltering museums from taxable income, using their revenue in support of the museum’s mission is not only a guiding principle but a requirement of the business model.”

Aside from all of that, Jane Marquis’s heart is in the right place. That dream may just come true.