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 About the Network

The Arkansas Discovery Network was funded by The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation in 2006 with a grant of more than $7 million. It is an innovative network of seven museums and educational centers in Arkansas that focuses on making hands-on, interactive museum experiences more accessible to the state's 498,000 schoolchildren and their families.

Fred W. Smith, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, said, "We know that many children in Arkansas seldom, if ever, have the opportunity to engage in the exciting experiential learning that comes from visiting our nation's first-rate discovery museums. The Discovery Network will allow children even in the most remote parts of the state to share in the hands-on learning and the sheer fun that comes from experiencing wonderful museum exhibits."

Strategically Located

The Network's seven member organizations are located strategically throughout Arkansas to extend outreach to all areas. The museums support each other by sharing operational strategies, collaborating with teachers and expanding educational programs. Network members include the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, Mid America Science Museum in Hot Springs, Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff, Texarkana Museums System in Texarkana, Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources in Smackover, Arkansas State University Museum in Jonesboro, and The University of Arkansas Center for Mathematics and Science Education in Fayetteville.

The Network partners can continue to foster relationships with schools, communities and organizations while providing innovative, challenging and exciting educational opportunities to all the regions of the state, especially the underserved rural areas. This will be accomplished, in part, through our mobile museum vehicle, The Race for Planet ‘X’, engaging interactive custom and rental exhibits, ongoing contact with community and educational advisory groups, teacher workshops, and networking with other museums, libraries and community centers in the state and throughout the country. All these efforts will contribute to a unique synergy of systems that cannot fail to improve the quality educational experiences in Arkansas.