Forthcoming changes in Muzeiko and Deactivating the current fundraising project “Every Kid Deserves Science”
Dear supporters and friends,
Almost five and a half years have passed since we started the campaign and fundraising for the project of Muzeiko Children’s Science Centre “Every Kid Deserves Science”. Since then, we have raised USD 17,000 thanks to all of you and your generous support! Together with you, we have given the opportunity to almost 5,000 kids to explore the wonders of science in Muzeiko or with our “Muzeiko in School”, “Muzeiko in a box”, or online science workshops and programs.
For each of these kids, meeting with Muzeiko brings the world of science and inventions a bit closer. Some of them will become the future explorers, engineers and scientists.
Despite the success of the project, we have to deactivate it. The reason is that there will be a change of the ownership of Muzeiko – America for Bulgaria Children’s Science Centre at the end of 2022. Muzeiko Foundation, which supports the operation of the science center, will continue to operate for some more months and will continue to fulfill its mission. All funds that have been raised until now will be allocated and used to provide access to Muzeiko and its programs to kids from unprivileged areas of Bulgaria as per our mission and commitment.
Muzeiko will continue to operate as the leading science center for kids in Bulgaria and the region under a new legal form, and will continue to spark the children’s curiosity and desire to learn and explore. You can follow the news about Muzeiko programs and activities on our website and social media: www.muzeiko.bg and https://www.facebook.com/muzeikobulgaria/
Should we start a new fundraising campaign we will be happy to inform you and to ask for your support in the future.
Thank you for your trust and generosity throughout the years!
Muzeiko’s team
Links:
Dear supporters and friends,
Almost three months have passed from our previous progress report and we wish to provide an update on the latest developments in our endeavors to invite traditionally deprived communities to participate in scientific enquiries and knowledge.
After the release of anti-covid measures in Bulgaria, starting in April until now, we had many school visits in Muzeiko. Including kids from unprivileged groups from various towns of Bulgaria. We continue to look for possibilities to bring into the museum more kids from socially disadvantaged families, children with intellectual and physical disabilities, children without parents and isolated groups or those in difficulty (refugees, single mothers, etc.). We continue working with NGOs that support and provide social services to target groups and who work with children at risk and their families in Sofia and the country.
In the last months, Muzeiko team has been focused on:
In these turbulent times, our mission is stronger than ever – to fight ignorance and inspire desire for learning and science. We hope to be able to sparkle the passion for science in many more children. And it is you who can help us in these pursuits!
Thank you for your trust and generosity!
Muzeiko’s team
Dear friends and supporters,
The spring is here again, and we are optimistic that more and more kids will be visiting Muzeiko. All students are back in schools, and we hope that there will be no further lockdowns.
April and May are typically the months when we have most school groups visits in Muzeiko. We have contacted again schools from unprivileged towns and areas in Bulgaria, and some groups are planning a visit to Muzeiko with the secured funding from your donations. We had a few school groups in the last month, but due to cold weather and lots of snow many teachers avoided travelling.
We continue to look for possibilities to bring into the museum more kids from socially disadvantaged families, children with intellectual and physical disabilities, children without parents and isolated groups or those in difficulty (refugees, single mothers, etc.). last year, our focus was on Sofia. This year, we decided to expand our contacts and reach to other towns and cities.
We continue working with NGOs that support and provide social services to target groups. We disseminated information and invitations to Muzeiko to 25 Social Services Centres who work with children at risk and their families in Sofia and the country.
Additionally, partner organizations realized visits of more than 50 children from the target groups, for whom we conducted art activities and experiments, as well as research missions on the floors of Muzeiko, in accordance with their interests and attitudes.
In addition to our main goals and projects, we have faced new challenges with the war in Ukraine. Bulgaria is one of the countries where a lot of mothers with kids from Ukraine are coming running from the war. Since March 14th we have opened Muzeiko to all people from Ukraine by providing free access to the museum. For just 2 weeks, close to 400 kids and mother came and enjoyed Muzeiko for free. We have also organized and opened a free day care centre for Ukrainian kids. Every day from Monday to Friday mothers can bring their kids for a full day of play and learning in Muzeiko. We work with many volunteers, including some of the Ukrainian mothers, as well as with other NGOs that provide additional support. We have about 60-80 kids every day in the day care centre. Although this is not part of our project which you are funding in GlobalGiving, we see this as a priority at the moment and a very important social role for us.
With your support, in the continuing situation of global turbulence, you help us deliver joy, science, technology and art to kids and students nationwide! We hope that you will remain our allies in these pursuits.
Thank you for being part of this incredible journey!
With gratitude and warmth,
Muzeiko’s team
Dear friends,
As we turn the calendar to a new year, hoping that 2022 will bring more predictability in our plans, we would like to thank you for supporting us throughout these turbulent times.
To Muzeiko, 2021 was another year of uncertainties, challenging us to seek resourceful and fun ways to remain in touch with our audiences.
During this year, Muzeiko Foundation identified as a main goal to bring into the museum more kids from socially disadvantaged families, children with intellectual and physical disabilities, children without parents and isolated groups or those in difficulty (refugees, single mothers, etc.). To achieve this goal, we worked in several directions:
- Raising the awareness of the designated target groups about the opportunities for free visits to Muzeiko, provided by partners and donors of the Muzeiko Foundation. We worked to establish contacts with NGOs that support and provide social services to target groups. We disseminated information to nearly 30 organizations in Sofia and the country; we established contacts with the Directorate of Social Services for Children and Adults at Sofia Municipality. The information was further distributed to 17 centres for school-age children, which the Directorate of Social Services manages and connected us with the coordinator for 50 foster parents for the city of Sofia, who received information about the opportunities in Muzeiko.
- Development of program activities and formats suitable for children and families with different language skills (e.g. those who do not speak Bulgarian), different physical and intellectual skills (e.g. children with different degrees of autism and different physical disabilities). We have developed a format for a tour of the exhibitions and art activities that are suitable for children with different skills and are satisfying for them.
- Improving the skills of the team in Muzeiko for working with children and families from the above target groups and increasing tolerance and understanding of different children. We worked with trainers from TSA (Trust for Social Achievement), who organized and conducted a training "Together in a colorful world", aimed at to knowing and overcoming personal stereotypes and prejudices.
As a result, partner organizations realized visits of 44 children from the target groups, for whom we conducted art activities and experiments, as well as research missions on the floors of Muzeiko, in accordance with their interests and attitudes.
In addition to this main goal, we continued to work on the development of online formats for different target groups. In the context of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, conducting scientific experiments and workshops remotely was for a long time the only opportunity to diversify children's daily lives and maintain the Muzeiko Foundation's mission to support students and teachers with providing modern teaching methods.
With your support, in the continuing situation of global pandemic, you helped us deliver joy, science, technology and art to kids and students nationwide. We have achieved so much together!
Thank you for being part of this incredible journey!
On the eve of Christmas and the New Year, we are wishing you a healthy and fulfilling 2022. We are looking forward for more opportunities to meet with kids from the whole country and help them discover the world of science.
With gratitude and warmth,
Muzeiko’s team
Dear friends,
The summer is the period of vacations and everyone is embracing the opportunity to enjoy it; nevertheless, we all are aware of the perspective of the fourth Covid-19 wave. Hence, Muzeiko is working on the development of lesson plans for real or virtual classroom, so even during a new lockdown, kids will have a chance to enjoy science with our programs and activities.
So far, we have developed 10 lesson plans on various scientific topics plus complementary materials and ideas for classroom decoration, which teachers may freely download. We have also provided 4 lesson plans specially designed for on-line class activities. We strongly believe that these teaching resources will be a valued asset for every teacher, and kids will fully benefit from them.
In July 2021, Muzeiko organized a Festival of Diversity, which aimed via means of art to deepen understanding and sensibility to educational inequality and barriers for people with different abilities. The event took place on several central market locations in Sofia. Throughout the festival around 200 children, among them coming from underrepresented groups and children with disabilities, enjoyed different activities held by educators, artists and craftsmen. They were able to walk in shoes of the visually impaired, to get acquainted to Brail alphabet and to practice with their peers the sign language. It was a time of joy, equality, shared experience and above all a chance for many kids to discover new friendship.
Muzeiko fully supports the teachers of Bulgaria. We are looking for the upcoming training sessions in September 2021 where we will be able to introduce our new informal approach to communication of science to young learners. We hope to reach maximum number of teachers in the country, believing that this training will help teachers in elementary level in school to enhance their experience in teaching science and be able to additionally motivate kids to learn.
With gratitude and warmth,
Muzeiko’s team
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