Opened in 1995, the Betty Brinn Museum is a leading children’s museum, providing educational experiences that foster the academic and social skills that young children need to be ready for school, and that help caregivers understand the critical impact of early learning on academic – and lifelong – success. The Museum serves more than 200,000 visitors each year, including more than 80,000 children and adults who benefit from outreach programs – free family memberships, parenting education programs, free and subsidized admission funds and community partnerships – that ensure that all children and families in our community have access to educational resources.
The Museum is a recognized national leader in maker education, a growing trend that is transforming how children at all levels learn, how educators teach, and how schools and communities prepare young people for the future. Making, or project-based learning, is a powerful platform for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts and math) education, incorporating tools and technology that are rapidly changing how we live, work and learn.
The growing Museum Maker Initiatives include the Be A Maker space in the Betty Brinn Museum, and Brinn Labs, the Museum’s new makerspace in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood. Brinn Labs is home to field trip programs for middle school and high school students, maker workshops and classes for teens and adults, and serves as headquarters for Maker Faire Milwaukee, celebrating its 6th year in 2019.
Hurtado Zimmerman SC has been a supporter of the Museum’s Maker Initiatives and Maker Faire Milwaukee, providing funding for the purchase of 3D printers and other equipment that gives children and their families access to cutting edge materials, equipment and technology, and allowing students of all ages to participate in hands-on projects that help develop design-thinking, problem-solving and other creative skills. Kim Hurtado has been honored to be a presenter at Maker Faire Milwaukee’s Making in Education Conference, a professional development workshop for K-12 teachers and schools. Kimberly also serves on Brinn Labs advisory group, and Hurtado Zimmerman SC employees and their families volunteer as workers at the Faire.