Cincinnati Observatory Center
3489 Observatory Place
VCincinnati, OH 45208
Visitor Experience Coordinator Staff Position
When no grant application was received by June 2023, the Foundation made a "renewal grant" for the program for which funding had been provided in the previous year. For more information about the program, see the Grants Section of the 2020-21 Dater Foundation Annual Report on this web site and/or go to the grantee organization's web site.
Program Results
No Grant Evaluation Report was submitted with results for the program. This "Success Narrative" was submitted in January 2024.
This grant is pivotal to our organization as it helps fund the salary of our Docent, Kelsey Stryffe. As the first public Observatory in the country, we host visitors from all over the country who want to learn about our history and view our incredible instruments, and they cannot always do so during the evenings due to their schedule while in town or some other hindrance. Having a docent in place to host daytime tours (including solar viewing) is so key to ensure that we are reaching as many people as possible who are interested in our work. This grant has also increased our capacity for daytime programming with students in that Kelsey is also available when we are not hosting tours to be a support to our Education team as they inspire and engage schoolchildren of all ages with the wonders of the universe.
The Observatory is also in the middle of a three year project to catalog and display our collection, which will ultimately mean more daytime visitors as we open a new section of our building - our basement - to visitors who want a more in-depth look at our collection. Kelsey has done professional development not only in ensuring the optimal visitor experience, but specifically in interpretation of our collection so that she can expand these offerings to our guests once the basement work is complete, which we are anticipating will be December 2025. This is exciting as we can tell not only more of our story but explore previously untold stories of the Observatory's history. The role of Docent is so critical and we've not only appreciated the Dater Foundation's investment, we feel we're leveraging this grant to support our youth outreach initiatives but also create even more memorable experiences for our daytime tour participants.
Website:
http://www.cincinnatiobservatory.org Amount: $20,000
Date: July 2023
