Museums of Western Colorado - Executive Director Shenna Hayden - Full Circle Podcast with The Christi Reece Group

Looking for something fun to do with the family? Check out this interview with Shenna Hayden, the Executive Director of the Museums of Western Colorado, for this month's Full Circle Podcast. She tells REALTOR® Reece Stanley all about the three great museums that showcase our local history -  Museum of the West, Dinosaur Journey, and Cross Orchards Historic Site.

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Learn more about the Museums of the West, including their hours, at their website.

Transcript

Speaker: 0:05

The Full Circle Podcast. Compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christi Reece and her team hear from the movers, shakers, and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western Slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the Full Circle.

Reece Stanley: 0:24

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Full Circle Podcast. I'm filling in this week for Christi Reece, and uh my name's Reece Stanley, and we are joined by our special guest, Shenna Hayden with uh Museums of Western Colorado. She is the executive director. Uh welcome, Sheena.

Shenna Hayden: 0:41

Thank you for having me. Excited to be here.

Reece Stanley: 0:43

Absolutely. We're excited to hear more about, you know, everything that's going on with the museums, your mission and kind of your goals for this upcoming year and how our community community can help you guys.

Shenna Hayden: 0:55

That's amazing.

Reece Stanley: 0:56

Yeah. So before we dive into what's going on right here in the valley, we'd love to learn more about you and um what brought you into the Grand Junction area and a little bit about your background.

Shenna Hayden: 1:07

Absolutely. Um, well, I've I've been with the museums of Western Colorado for a little over a year and a half now. And I've been in museums my entire career, um, which has been really exciting and has taken me on lots of fun adventures. I am originally from South Texas and uh ranch kid, grew up in the middle of nowhere on the back of a horse. So um going into museum work was was really exciting and led me to explore many things and uh started my career at the Whitty Museum in San Antonio. Um I ended my time there as uh director of public programs. Um took took a break. My husband is a singer and songwriter, so we went on tour with him, it was a lot of fun. We traveled around about 60,000 miles in an RV on tour with him with our uh at the time he was four. Um it was very exciting. We had a blast.

Reece Stanley: 2:14

Yeah.

Shenna Hayden: 2:15

Uh, but then really wanted to get back into the museum world. So we moved to Washington State, where I was an assistant director at the hands-on children's museum in Olympia, Washington. And that's where we were when COVID happened. So learned a lot about pivoting.

Reece Stanley: 2:33

Yeah.

Shenna Hayden: 2:34

How to rethink what you're already doing. Um, but we our our museum did really well through COVID, which was um a blessing. Many museums did not do as well. There were lots of children's museums who ended up closing their doors permanently, uh, which was really sad and really hard to watch. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we we had a great leader uh there, and so you know, we learned a lot and was excited to, you know, look for an opportunity uh to advance my career, but also in Colorado specifically, because my parents retired here in not in Grand Junction, but they're they're in Westcliff. And uh they just love Colorado and we love coming down here all the time, and we've spent so much time visiting and vacationing in Colorado. So it was a really easy place to move to. Yeah. So here I am. That's wonderful. That's wonderful.

Reece Stanley: 3:36

Well, that that is uh a lot of experience packed in and in kind of short time frame, really. Like getting to get to see how things operate in Washington and and Texas. That's um pretty special that you bring that experience and expertise here to the Grand Valley.

Shenna Hayden: 3:54

So yeah, thanks. Yeah, we I was really excited to be chosen for this opportunity. And I think one of the things that the board was really excited about was that, you know, expertise that I have in informal education, you know, with public programs, as well as um hands-on museum exhibits and getting kids more involved and getting our families uh more excited about learning together. Um and you know, that's what we're trying to bring to the museums, yeah.

Reece Stanley: 4:27

Well, that's great. And and so when we talk about museums of western Colorado, it's made up of three different museums, correct?

Shenna Hayden: 4:35

Yes, that's correct.

Reece Stanley: 4:36

Could you tell us a little bit about each of those?

Shenna Hayden: 4:38

Yes, absolutely. So uh we are Museum of the West, which is located in downtown Grand Junction on 4th and Ute. Uh, and we have Dinosaur Journey, which is in Fruta, and Cross Orchards, which is in like the Fruit Vale area. Um, and all three are amazing places to be. They're very exciting, but have very specialized um content, I guess. So uh Museum of the West is really focused around our history in the Grand Valley and the Colorado Plateau. So we're looking at, you know, history uh with the Ute and the Mountain Men and transportation and trains, and we're looking into mining, and um we're really wanting to explore uh further the agricultural story because that's a huge part of where we live. Like this is a we have tons of agritourism here, which is really exciting and wonderful. Um, but in the museum, we don't really go into too much depth about that. And that's something that we're looking forward to to adding to our story. Um, dinosaur journey is obviously all dinosaurs about that, you know, Colorado deep time, like how far back do we go? And you know, what was it like here millions of years ago? What dinosaurs were found? We're really lucky in that we have our own dig program. So all summer long, people can come and go on dinosaur digs with us, dig up real dinosaur fossils. Uh, they go into the museum, they're studied, so you unfortunately don't get to take anything home, but we do have a few trips where you can come with us and and find stuff to take home. But um, those dinosaurs are used for research, and they get put into papers, and other universities and other paleontologists come out and study them. Um, so we are a real working research laboratory out there, which is really fun as well.

Reece Stanley: 6:42

Yeah, that's amazing. So, how far do you guys have to travel to go to these different dig sites?

Shenna Hayden: 6:47

Oh, not far at all. This super close. Yeah, we go um to Rabbit Valley, okay. Um, which is just it's not too far west of Fruta. Um, really easy to get to. It's not a crazy hike or anything. It's it's really accessible for most people. So yeah.

Reece Stanley: 7:07

Yeah. We've we've gone out there a couple of times and ended the little loop that you get to see the fossils and different things. Yeah, was that fun? Yeah, yeah, it's pretty cool. That's great. So, okay, and um looking at cross orchards, tell us tell us more about that facility.

Shenna Hayden: 7:23

Yeah, so cross orchards is is really special and it's one of my favorite sites um because we do explore that agriculture story uh in depth because um it is on the historical register, so it is a protected property. We um have the orchard there, so it used to be um a couple hundred acres of apple trees, if you can imagine that now, like driving down Patterson and it's just houses, you know, everywhere. Um, but that used to be an orchard. Okay. And the gentleman who um ran that originally in the early 1900s was and was not from here. He was like, Oh, we're gonna make money in the apple business. And he was from like the Northeast, yeah. Yeah, and you know, they did great for a long time until um I it was um Matt Darling, who's our curator out there, is gonna hear this and get on to me, I'm sure. Um, but I think it was the coddling moth that kind of ended up uh decimating a lot of the crops. And I'm sorry, Matt, if I got that wrong, but um so a lot of the tree they lost a lot of the original trees, and so when it was replanted, it was much smaller. So when you go out there now, and then you know, the orchard changed hands and shrunk and shrunk and shrunk, and right, you know, now it's we've got 14 acres. Um, it's still an absolutely beautiful place, thanks to our volunteers. So just to go out there for a walk is it's very restful. Like it's you can reconnect with nature, you're you're in the middle of town, but it's easy to let all of that melt away and you know, enjoy the trees and the barn. There, the barn is gorgeous, it's huge. And it is the old packing shed, so it's where they would come out, all the apples would get loaded into the barn, and then the women would be packing these crates. And if you go out to Palisade, actually, and um check out their uh his the his Palisade Historical Society has a small little museum. Okay, they have videos um and some stuff that shows the women packing peaches. I mean, they did it the same way for the apples, so it it goes either way. But the speed at which they pack these crates was so impressive, like just going 90 to nothing. Yeah, and it was it's so amazing. And then you get to try it, see if you can pack as fast. And you can't, no, nobody can. No, that was it's a learned skill. That is a skill that we do not currently have anymore. But funny, yeah. Yeah, it's just it's a lot of fun to go out there. We've been doing a lot of uh programs out there over the summer. We have a farmers market um that's on Saturday mornings. It's very well attended. This was the greatest year we've had, you know, in and that's open to the public. Open to the public.

Reece Stanley: 10:20

Not no admission required, you can just go to the market.

Shenna Hayden: 10:24

Yeah, you can just come to the market for free. We try to encourage everyone to also buy admission and go in and check out the rest of the property. Um, just because I mean, you're out there, it's it's a great opportunity to to check it all out.

Reece Stanley: 10:37

Awesome. Well, my uh my son just did his field trip to Cross Orchards last week. And so I I don't know what kind of moth, but he did tell me that a moth killed all the trees. So he was he was very impressed by the moth.

Shenna Hayden: 10:52

He was very, yeah, a moth. How does a moth do that? It starts off as the little green worm. Right.

Reece Stanley: 10:59

Yeah, exactly.

Shenna Hayden: 11:00

I love that.

Reece Stanley: 11:01

Yeah, he he had a great time. He it was very educational. He liked all the different uh things you could explore, and yeah, they it was great. The kids enjoyed it.

Shenna Hayden: 11:11

Did he get to to see the washing, like how to wash clothes and stuff? Yeah. That's always it's it's funny to me, it you know, funny, not funny, um, how fascinated some of the kids get with the washing of the clothes. Right. And they'll want to stay at that station and be like, no, no, no, I want to wash clothes. I want to wash the clothes.

Reece Stanley: 11:32

We might have to rethink how we do things at home and get some extra help.

Shenna Hayden: 11:36

Get some washboards and a bucket, you know. Yeah, exactly. Entertainment for hours.

Reece Stanley: 11:41

Uh-huh. Exactly. Well, that's wonderful. I I'm curious with each of the locations, what are what are some of the challenges that you guys are facing right now? Um, what are some of the goals that you guys have set for each of the different facilities? And kind of what is what does 2026 look like for you guys?

Shenna Hayden: 11:59

That's a great, very big question. Lots of, yeah, multi-layered. So yeah. Um well, you know, our our biggest challenge that we are facing and currently working with, you know, the sit city officials to figure out what how we can solve some of these challenges is, you know, we have three sites. We're spread out. That's it's difficult for staffing, it's difficult on our budget. You know, we have the budget of one museum and we're really running three, um, is what that you know really comes down to. And underscoring that, it's um everything they're all aging buildings. And there's lots of grants out there, and we work towards you know getting some of those. And you know, this year was a really weird year for grants just across the board for all museums across the country. You know, everybody was hit really hard with things um shutting down and being discontinued, and then um a lot of funding streams dried up, and it also impacted philanthropy across the board. And, you know, we've we've seen a drop in in giving and a change in the giving pattern. Uh, so that was something that, you know, none of us had a crystal ball. We couldn't see that coming this year. Um, and we've been able to pivot and figure out like, okay, well, what else can we do? How can we make this work? And so next year um we will be hosting a community roundtable in January. We want to get some people uh around the table and talk about what is it that we really want to do well? Like, what are we doing well? And what is the story we want to tell? Because really that's that's at the heart of what our mission is. Like, we want to inspire learning and we want to focus that on the Colorado Plateau. So we've kind of started taking steps to figure out like, what is if we can figure out what that story is and what is at the heart of what we're telling? Like, are we starting with that Colorado deep time and just taking that on a journey all the way through, you know, current day? Um, are we do we really want to do traveling exhibits? And I think the answer is probably yes on that one. But, you know, are we what type of programming are we wanting to offer? Like we next year we're gonna do camps again, which we used to do a long time ago. Um, and then you know, we just haven't had the staffing for it and you know, all kinds of things. But um, we're gonna start bringing these things back so that we can reconnect with the community in a meaningful way that means something to them. Um, most of our visitation is tourists, which is fantastic because you know that brings in a whole other level of you know into the economy that you know we wouldn't be doing otherwise. So that's great, but we're here, we're a resource for our community first and foremost. And like, how do we how do we reconnect in a way that is meaningful? So I think we're gonna we're gonna start there in January. Yeah, that's great. And figure out like, okay, what is what is really resonating with with our locals and what do they want to see when they take an out-of-towner to the museum? Like what makes you walk in the doors and be like, oh, I'm so proud to be from the Grand Valley and in Western Colorado. Um so after you know, we figure that out, then I think that's gonna help us inform some next steps and um we're ready to start a big revitalization project. It's it's time to start thinking about those aging buildings and you know, how can we uh make the museum more sustainable? Next year's our 60th anniversary. Oh, wow, okay, which we're really excited about. Um so it's it's a great time to be thinking about the next 60 years. Like, how do we ensure that we're still here in the next 60 years for those kids?

Reece Stanley: 16:15

Absolutely. So, with it being your 60th year, are all locations year 60, or did it start at a certain location and grow from there?

Shenna Hayden: 16:25

It started at a certain location and grew. So um originally it was well, we had a couple of different names, and it goes back even further than 60 years. So in the 1940s, uh they the group that wanted to start a museum originally bought some Adobe bricks, and they were like, We're gonna build a museum with these bricks, and so they got started, and it didn't come together completely, and the building ended up being a church. Oh, wow. Which the this is a fun tidbit that hopefully someone will find really fun, but yeah, the uh preacher of that church um had a son whose name was Steve Scrockins, and he is on our board.

Reece Stanley: 17:09

Oh, really?

Shenna Hayden: 17:10

Which is really like such a cool tie-in, I think, for us. Um, so he is we we laugh and joke, and we're like, You're so old, you've like been here since the very beginning. You've been you've been a part of the museum since the start. But um, he's just the sweetest, and you know, we and we enjoy having his input on there. But yeah, so we started we started with those Adobe Bricks, and then you know, things kind of broke up for a while and then it came back together. Um, so 60 years ago, they restarted the museum, and um it was it was really just a hit history based. Okay, you know, and then dinosaurs were added a little while later, and I think you know, everyone might remember, I think the the dinosaur part was on Main Street, and there used to be the dinosaur footprints, oops, sorry, down the uh there used to be dinosaur footprints down the sidewalk that took you there. And um then later on uh they were fortunate enough to get the building out in Fruta, which used to be Dynamation, which was a company that made animatronic dinosaurs. So that company um kind of went out of business and the museum kind of absorbed it. And so we had lots of animatronic dinosaurs, and then we started, you know, collecting on top of that. Um, and now, current day, you know, we have all three sites in the it was 1989 or 90, I believe, um, when we got cross orchards. Okay. Um, and that was, you know, thanks to, you know, a lot of community members who came together to make that happen. Uh because it was gonna be developed, and you know, we were like, we don't want to lose this piece of history. It's a really big part of who we are. Um, so a way to go, everybody. And that's the job is we're gonna come together. Yeah, come together and make it happen. Um and we still have a volunteer with us um out at Cross Orchards, and you know, she was there from the very beginning, and you know, she's in her late 80s, and it's just amazing. And she'll come out every time we do an event and she bakes cookies in the old bunkhouse. And yeah, anyway, yeah. So yeah, current date. We also um we are a repository for stuff that comes off of BLM land. So we work with the federal government, and um, so anytime anyone's doing an excavation, uh, all of that stuff has to come to us, whether it's archaeology or paleontology. Um we you know do our part to make sure that that stuff is cared for and it's available for research and stuff like that.

Reece Stanley: 19:50

Amazing. Yeah, that's awesome. It's a lot of fun. Well, touching on volunteers, tell tell us more about you know, how many volunteers do you guys have? Is that um the main source of your your staffing? And and I guess just expand on that for us.

Shenna Hayden: 20:09

Yeah, absolutely. Um, we could not do much of anything without our volunteers. They're really the heart and soul of our organization. We have about a hundred of them right now, um, which is amazing. We back in the day, we used to have like 300 volunteers. It was a massive um volunteer organization, but um, over the years, you know, that dwindled. COVID took out a lot of people and uh not not permanently, like they just stopped volunteering. Let me clarify what just came out of my mouth. Whoa. Um good clarification just to clarify, they're all okay. Um no, they so when I came on board, it had dwindled down to about you know between 40 and 50 people. Oh wow, and so it was it was a very small group, and that was one of the things that I wanted to make sure um we were able to focus on. And so I hired a volunteer coordinator who her name is Janae Moon, and a lot of people know that name around here because it's Moon Farms, it's that family. And uh Janae is just the loveliest person you'll ever meet, and she has been instrumental in making sure that those volunteers are cared for and that we're putting people in the right positions and growing that. So, I mean, we have like a hundred volunteers now, so that's a that's huge growth in in less than a year and very impressive. And so I mean, we have people will be like, oh, well, I want to come volunteer, what could I do? And it's literally like almost anything. Like, what are you interested in? Right. We probably have a job for that. It's like the I've been joking, I don't know if you've seen the home goods commercials or whatever, where they're like, Oh, do you have a disco unicorn on a globe? It's like, yeah, we have that here. Yeah, we have that here.

Reece Stanley: 22:07

Anything you want, anything you want.

Shenna Hayden: 22:08

What do you want to do? Um, everyone loves dinosaurs, and um, that's always a fun place to volunteer. But you know, out at cross orchards, that's our our biggest need right now. So if you know anybody wants to drive a train for funsies, um, come out and volunteer with us.

Reece Stanley: 22:26

Yeah, it sounds like there's harder stuff to do. Driving a train would be pretty fun.

Shenna Hayden: 22:30

Driving the train is really fun. You can also garden. We have you know all kinds of things, lots of manual labor, but you know, driving that train would be a lot of fun. Yeah. Um, we also have uh an early 1920s um fire truck that we give rides on. So you can learn how to drive that and take people on rides. It's a lot of fun. So um, and then at Museum of the West, that's where our library and archive um exists. And so we try to um get people who are interested in things like research and maybe they want to help digitize our collection. I mean, that is an ongoing process that will take, you know, I don't know, 20 more years. Right. We've so many things um in our collection. So just digitizing just photographs, which is the easiest thing to do, um, takes an enormous amount of time, not to mention like actual small artifacts or large artifacts. It's you know, you have to take pictures and then upload them and do a description. It's it's a lot of work and it's tedious, but there's a lot of people out there who love to help do stuff like that.

Reece Stanley: 23:45

Oh, absolutely. All the scrapbookers and oh yeah, yeah.

Shenna Hayden: 23:49

Genealogy. If you love genealogy, boy, do we have a deal for you. Right.

Reece Stanley: 23:55

Right. That you know, that makes me wonder is there with the advancement of like technology and everything in your space, museum and everything, are you seeing a use for like AI and different things to implement in what you guys do?

Shenna Hayden: 24:10

Yeah, that's a great question. So museum people, I think, love to talk about technology in museums because there's a misconception that we're just an old dusty place where old things are, and you go in and you need to be quiet and you don't touch anything. And um, it's just not true. And we try to stay up with recent technology just as much as everyone else. I mean, the difficulty and the challenge that we hit is, you know, if you're if you're putting a new technology into an exhibit, chances are by the time it's open, it's already old tech. So, you know, trying to figure out like what is that balance and how do you create something that continues to be meaningful for, you know, at least five years. Um, so we have to look at that very carefully when we're putting stuff into into the exhibits. Um, as far as using AI, I mean, there there's a lot of there's a lot of things around AI right now that can be tricky, but I am a firm believer in the fact that the these are all tools and there are ways to use them. Um, we you know, we're not gonna go write our research papers, but fair enough. Definitely not that, but but there are ways to use it. And um we're actually working with um he's an engineer, a retired engineer who's helping us with some augmented reality um programs, I guess. Oh yeah. I'm like, I'm not the tech person either. So but it's very good. I'm like, I love all of it and think it's great, but um, yeah, so he's he's helping us with some augmented reality stuff that we'll be doing at Dinosaur Journey. Okay. And that's been, you know, kind of a process that we're taking a little bit slower to make sure that we we get it right and that we're not implementing something that will be because augmented reality's been around for a hot minute. So um, but it's still really exciting and fun. And there's uh, you know, ways to do it that that makes it exciting for everybody.

Reece Stanley: 26:15

Yeah, I bet. That's awesome. Well, um looking forward at 2026, what is what are some of your goals for the facilities?

Shenna Hayden: 26:24

Yeah. Um so like I mentioned, you know, really working with the community to figure out you know, how how do we hone in on our focus and and what is it that we're gonna do um moving forward for the next 60 years? And I think that's gonna that's gonna be a big part of of the first six months of next year, uh, taking a look at what what do we want to put all of our weight behind. Uh, we will be going into a capital campaign next year. Um and and that's gonna help us, you know, with with the with our building issue, you know. It might be that we need want to combined two of our museums so that we can focus ourselves in a deeper way. Um, and we're we're looking at what those, you know, what does that imply? And like how how could we make that happen? And how is it financially stable? Um, so these are all things that we're looking at next year. It feels like we've got a lot of variables up in the air. Sure. So, you know, as we're finishing up budget, it's kind of like, oh gosh, it's a little daunting, but um we we want to do things right and we want to take it slow and we want to make sure we're talking to the community um all while, you know, still moving as fast as we can, because you know, we want to make sure that we're we're sustainable and that we're here in the next 60 years. Um, so making some of those hard decisions um for the museum is it can be daunting, but it's also exciting. Like I'm so excited. Next year will be a whirlwind, I'm sure. But I think getting to dig in and and talk with the community about what is most meaningful to them. I mean, that's stuff that fills your cup up.

Reece Stanley: 28:19

So absolutely that connection. Yeah. Well, with the with the capital campaign in mind, do you guys do you already have a goal set for what you're hoping to accomplish there? Or are you still kind of finalizing that?

Shenna Hayden: 28:31

We're we're still kind of finalizing that. I know that next year when we start, our our goal for next year is gonna be a million dollars, which is a lot, but I think we can do it. Yeah. Um we plan to we're you know, and here I am talking public publicly. I mean, next year is gonna be more of a silent year. And I think in 2027, we're really gonna, you know, hit hit it big with with capital campaign. Okay. Um, and the 2027 goal will be much larger, but you know, next year we'll we're hoping to raise a million dollars just to kind of kick it off of you know where we're heading. And you know, when we have those plans set, well, I'll come back and tell you what those are. I feel like I'm being a little cryptid, but I mean it's okay.

Reece Stanley: 29:24

I'm doing that on purpose. Yeah, that's okay. That's okay. Um, so tell us the main ways that the museums generate their revenue.

Shenna Hayden: 29:32

Yeah. So museums have earned revenue and contributed revenue. And earned revenue is everything from admissions to program fees, um, contracts, um, all those sorts of things. Um, and then contributed income is donations, sponsorships, and things like that. And that's, you know it. It depends on the organization and the size of the organization as to what that percentage is of those. Um, you know, it could be a 50-50 split for some organizations. Sometimes it's, you know, 60-40. Um, just depends on on how that organization is run. Um, you know, right now we're we're kind of looking at a 60-40 split with you know, 60 being our contributed income, uh, which is fantastic. That, you know, we still have a lot of people who are, you know, supporting us with donations and sponsorships. And um, we really want to increase that because you, you know, it's we're we have a small staff of 20 people that run three organizations. Yeah. And and all of those volunteers. Um, and you know, we still get to the end of the week and we're like, gosh, there's so much more we want to do. And the bandwidth for that is is just small right now. So, you know, we we're looking forward to next year and being able to determine just just how we can grow uh so that we can do all the things we want to do. Because, you know, we we we've done a few things, we've done a lot of fun stuff this year, and you know, taking a step back with your staff and being like, okay, I know we want to do all the fun things, right? But everyone is really tired and everyone's getting sick and we're doing too much. So um just you know, taking a step back and making sure that, you know, as the organization's leader that I'm taking care of my people. Like, I don't, you know, and I'm and sometimes I'm the worst one because I'm like, yes, let's do it. I'm I'm a yes person, 100%. I'm always like, yes, and we can do this. But um, you know, we're we're just trying to be really mindful over the next couple of years so that we can build in a sustainable way, not only financially, but like as a team, yeah, making sure that we're keep everybody taking care of each other.

Reece Stanley: 32:11

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, super important. Well, switching gears just a little bit, um, I would like to talk more about the different um, the different programs that you guys have at the museums. Yeah. Um, I know on your website you have several things at Dinosaur Journey as well as Museum of the West. So tell us a little bit more about that, uh, those and how the community can get involved in those programs.

Shenna Hayden: 32:36

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm gonna start with our our K through 12 education programs because that is the easiest way um to get involved besides just volunteering. Um, we create so when I came on board, we we had self-guided and guided field trips, which is great and it's fantastic, and every museum has that. But what we wanted to add was something that was a little more directed towards our students and how do we help them out with their curriculum? So we've started make getting relationships with teachers through D51. Um, and Janae is a retired teacher as well, so she's got great connections, and um we've been working really hard on building up those programs for K through 12. So we started with the fourth grader program, which fourth grade is when you learn about Colorado history. And so it's called the Colorado Life Ways Program, and that was the first one we did. And it's the kiddos get to come in, they do a tour, and then they also get to come down into the basement and they put on the white gloves. Nice, they get to touch the artifacts, we have tables set out, and they they become the detectives, they're like history detectives. Yeah, and they have certain things set on the table and they have to take a look at those and decide what is this telling me? So, you know, they have a mountain man table, the Ute table, and then they have a table that's about some of the first settlers who came to the Grand Valley. And they need to figure out how did they live? How are they getting food, water, shelter, how were their basic needs met? What on the table is telling us that this group of people were thriving, like living a great life and a full life. Um, and that's always so fun for me to watch the light bulbs go off. Yeah. Like holding something in their hand makes it real. It's no longer looking in a book at a picture that's like teeny tiny and trying to imagine, you know, what was it like uh to do any of these things? It's so far removed. Um, so this is that's been a really meaningful program. And we created the Exploration for All fund for it. It was originally going to be just for that fourth grade program. And then we quickly realized that no, no, no, this needs to be for everything and for everyone. Um it's a basically a scholarship fund so that students and teachers can come to the museum for 100% free.

Reece Stanley: 35:17

Oh wow.

Shenna Hayden: 35:18

And so we raise the money and it covers their program fee and museum fee, but then we also mail a check to the school for the bus. Oh wow. So, as you know, with kiddos, um, there's always reasons to send five or ten dollars to school for something. And, you know, sometimes it makes it unaccessible. And we 100% believe like museums should be accessible spaces for everybody, and every student in the Grand Valley and beyond has a reason to come here and learn with us. And so this uh the Exploration for All fund, which is what we're, you know, it's part of our annual giving here at the end of the year. Um, we really focus hard on raising money for that so that we can make sure that every student has the opportunity to attend the museum, regardless of what's going on anywhere else. And paying for those buses means a lot too, because the kiddos have to pay for that too. It's like two or three bucks a kid, and um, you know, it just uh it starts adding up.

Reece Stanley: 36:26

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Do you know how many um kids have benefited from the Explore for All fund?

Shenna Hayden: 36:34

Yes. So this year is really the first year that we've started doing that, and we've been able to serve, oh my gosh, it's it's over, it's like over a thousand kids, which is amazing. And we um our goal for next year was four thousand for 2026, our goal is 4,000 kiddos. But I think we're gonna hit it this year. Wow, that's awesome. We um in summer we were like, okay, like we'll hit 3,000. Like that's you know, that was our goal for this year. But we've had such a busy fall that we're we're so close to hitting 4,000 for this year. And we're we've been, you know, just completely floored that we did that. And we're like, well, do we go for another thousand for next year? Or like do we keep the same goal? I don't know. But um, so it's really exciting just to see those kids coming into the museum. Like that's I mean, that's my jam. I'm so it makes me so happy to see them.

Reece Stanley: 37:39

Oh, absolutely. It creates a love for their community, they're proud of where they came from, learning about it. It's so beneficial.

Shenna Hayden: 37:47

Yeah, I loved going to museums as a kid, and it was so meaningful. And you know, anytime I talk to people, I like to ask them, what was your favorite field trip growing up? Because it's it always says something about that person and you know what stood out to them. And um, so often there's there is a connection to your later career and something that you saw in a field trip or some type of experience like a museum as a kid. And it's all about make getting that spark for every kiddo. So yeah, donations to the Exploration for All fund is is definitely an accessible way to go. Um, you know, any any amount is great and goes a long way.

Reece Stanley: 38:37

Yeah.

Shenna Hayden: 38:37

Yeah.

Reece Stanley: 38:38

That's wonderful. Well, congrats on meeting that goal.

Shenna Hayden: 38:41

Yeah, thanks.

Reece Stanley: 38:42

And yeah, I think you should raise it next year. That's a great great idea.

Shenna Hayden: 38:45

Yeah, yeah, we will. Let's say that's awesome. 5,000.

Reece Stanley: 38:48

There you go. I love it.

Shenna Hayden: 38:49

It's gonna scare our team. They're gonna be like, oh my god, all the kids.

Reece Stanley: 38:54

So many kids. That's incredible.

Shenna Hayden: 38:56

We do trips and tours, so you can come and go on a on a tour with us and um check it out and spend some time with the curators. Sometimes it's me and a volunteer, and we'll do fun tours just around the local area because that's where our expertise is. So that's what we're trying to focus on. Um, and then other programs like um Dino Day during the summer, which is a really fun family day. Come out to Dinosaur Journey. You get to do lots of fun hands-on activities. Um, right now we're getting ready to do Christmas at Cross Orchards. That'll be on December 13th. So that's gonna be another family day style activity. Bring your family out. We'll have lots of uh hands-on activities and hot cocoa, you'll get to meet Santa, ride the train. Um, and then uh oh, November 30th, which is um it's Museum Store Sunday. Okay. And that's something that happens across the country at all museums. We all try to celebrate. So it's like right after there's Thanksgiving, and they have Black Friday and um Small Business Saturday, and then Museum Store Sunday. So we participate both Saturday and Sunday. But Sunday we'll have Santa out at Dinosaur Journey and picking Peggy Malone, who is a local hero and star. Yeah. Um, she'll be coming out and doing some sing-alongs with the kiddos while they get to see Santa amongst the dinosaurs, which is so fun. Yeah. So um, I know Santa's very excited to come see us.

Reece Stanley: 40:34

Always.

Shenna Hayden: 40:34

Um yeah, so just fun stuff like that. I mean, check out the website and follow us on social media. Um, we're always trying to keep up to date, or sometimes we'll share what other people are doing too, if it's you know part of our mission or close to close to our hearts as well.

Reece Stanley: 40:53

Awesome.

Shenna Hayden: 40:54

Yeah, awesome.

Reece Stanley: 40:54

Well, you mentioned K through 12 involvement. Do you guys have any sort of relationship with the university that you guys do anything in their programs?

Shenna Hayden: 41:03

Um we do we do work closely with CMU on lots of things. We have tons of interns that actually come from CMU, uh, which is really exciting. And we've been working on strengthening that relationship. Uh, we just recently uh met and started working with one of the new education professors there, and we're building that relationship and what that could look like in the future. Uh we actually just did a little mini exhibit in the education department at CMU to honor their 100th anniversary. Uh so that was really exciting. We um our director of paleontology teaches at CMU. Okay. We've been exploring how to expand those offerings. And, you know, maybe there's more ways to get some of our staff involved in teaching. Um we yeah, I mean, it's it's a never-ending list of ways we want to partner with CMU, and they're such good stewards, and they are always like, Yeah, let's figure it out. Yeah, let's go. Which is great.

Reece Stanley: 42:11

Awesome. Well, I want to make sure to honor your time. I really appreciate you coming and speaking with us and telling us all about uh the museums and how to get involved. Um, so if somebody does want to volunteer or donate, how how can they reach out and do that?

Shenna Hayden: 42:28

Yeah, I definitely start with a website, um, museumsofwesternco.org or mowc.co um will get you there. Um and there's a link to volunteer. So just click on that, and there's a short little form, and that'll get you in touch with uh Janae, and then we find the right place for you to donate. There's a link on our website right now for donations. Um, we're also a part of Grand Valley Gives and Colorado Gives and Giving Tuesdays, so there's going to be a lot of opportunities coming up on social media to give. Um coming in just to a museum, you can give any one of the locations. Um, and you know, if if something that I I've said sounds exciting to anybody, like and you want to hear more, or you want to do a behind-the-scenes tour, I am more than happy to do that and and have those conversations with people. Um, one of my favorite things to do is to do behind the scenes tours at Museum of the West, because I get to show off some of my favorite things. And it's really fun. Um, and it it really gives you a different view of the museums because you know, we've got like 5% of everything on display. There's so much more to see. Yes, okay. There's a lot back there.

Reece Stanley: 43:54

Yeah, no kidding.

Shenna Hayden: 43:55

And people are like, oh, I had no idea.

Reece Stanley: 43:58

So that I guess makes me wonder how do you decide what you do display and um how often do you guys swap out exhibits and everything?

Shenna Hayden: 44:06

Yeah, that's a that's a great question. So in most museums, you're gonna be switching out um permanent exhibits less often, like every five years, but you still want to rotate things because it's protecting the actual collection. Um, so having stuff out for really long periods of time is not great on those objects. So we do want to get into the habit of rotating things a little more often. Um, and right now it's been really slow going because one, you know, what we don't want to do is just start doing stuff willy-nilly just to just to change it. Um, we want to be mindful in what we're doing. So those, you know, meetings next year with the community to talk about what is the story we're trying to tell and what do we really want to do is really important and it's gonna inform you know what gets to come out next. But but next year with our 60th anniversary, we're gonna do an exhibit that will have all kinds of fun stuff that hasn't been out for people to see in a long time. Oh, cool. So yeah, cool. And will that be at all locations or it will just be at Museum of the West in our we have a the Grand Junction Lions Club traveling exhibit gallery, which we're very proud to have. Um, it's about 2,000 square feet, and so that will be full of our 60th anniversary exhibit.

Reece Stanley: 45:27

Awesome. Yeah, well, thank you so much, Shenna. And is it is there anything else that you want to touch on before we go?

Shenna Hayden: 45:34

I think we did a good job.

Reece Stanley: 45:36

All right. Awesome. Thank you for joining us.

Speaker: 45:39

Thank you for having me. Thanks for listening. This is Christi Reece signing out from the Full Circle Podcast.