Submitted By: John Spencer
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Presentation By: John Spencer
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Department: Recreation and Parks
STAFF RECOMMENDATION (Motion Ready):
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Approve Exhibition Rental Agreement with the St. Louis Children's Museum for a professional educational traveling exhibit at the Discovery Center in the amount of $55,000
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OCALA’S RELEVANT STRATEGIC GOALS:
Fiscally Sustainable .
PROOF OF PUBLICATION:
N/A
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BACKGROUND:
Historically, most educational exhibits for the Discovery Center have been created in-house by Discovery Center staff. In 2024, the Discovery Center transitioned to renting professional educational traveling exhibits. Professional traveling exhibits provide unique interpretive displays and content that in-house staff is unable to create themselves. The overall intent of transitioning to professional traveling exhibits was to provide a better educational experience for patrons of the Center. Traveling exhibits are typically contracted one to two years in advance so the licensor has time to schedule transportation and installation with various educational organizations.
The Discovery Center has scheduled to rent an educational traveling exhibit from the St. Louis Children's Museum for an exhibit in the fall of 2026.
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum is scheduled for fall 2026 and early winter 2027 (October through early January). The Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum traveling exhibit rental cost is $55,000.
Discovery Center staff will install, facilitate, and maintain the traveling exhibit for the duration of the rental agreement.
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS:
Approximately 18,000 people visit the Discovery Center each year. Since the transition to traveling exhibits, daily attendance has increased approximately 25% and is on target to reach over 21,000 entries this year.
This traveling exhibit agreement provides a cost-effective approach to meeting the Discovery Center strategic plan goals of (1) Quality of Place: Customer Satisfaction Discovery Center and (2) Operational Excellence: Admissions to Discovery Center.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The total rental cost for the Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum traveling exhibit rental (Contract REC 241002) from the St. Louis Children's Museum is $55,000. The rental cost does not include in-bound shipping (based upon actual travel distances) for the exhibit.
There are no significant operational expense changes since the general ledger funding previously used for in-house exhibit construction were transferred to renting of traveling exhibits. Future budget submissions are based on renting traveling exhibits.
All rental and shipping costs will be budgeted in the Recreation and Parks Department’s budget in accounts 001-021-151-575-57-42010 and 001-021-151-575-57-44010.
PROCUREMENT REVIEW:
Artistic services, including works of art for public places, are exempt from competition under Procurement Policy PRO-070. The underlying Agreement has been reviewed in compliance with City policy.
LEGAL REVIEW:
This Agreement will be reviewed and approved for form and legality by City Attorney, William E. Sexton.
ALTERNATIVE:
• Approve with Changes
• Table
• Deny