PEORIA MAGAZINE August 2023

Everley Davis directs a class of students taking part in the Art and Music Camp at the Peoria Riverfront Museum

THE CHALLENGE As a finalist for the museum position, Morris recalled that during an inter view, Sally Snyder, a founding museum board member and former president of the Peoria Public Schools Board of Education, spoke of her vision. ‘THEY GET TO ASK QUESTIONS THAT THEY — Everley Davis “Sally said, ‘I want every Peoria Public Schools student to come to the museum every year and it must be connected to the curriculum,’” Morris said. Snyder, now an emeritus museum board member and one of its most ardent volunteers, recalled the challenge: “I thought it would be one of the greatest gifts we could give back to Peoria. We built a museum Downtown for a reason. If we were going to be a community museum, it needed to be Downtown.” Morris took the challenge to heart. Even at the April 2017 news conference to announce his appointment, he was late for the TV cameras and crowd, as DON’T NECESSARILY GET ANSWERS TO IN THEIR TEXTBOOKS’

he had stepped away to hold open the door and greet members of a school group coming in for a field trip to see the Titanic exhibit. THE EVERY STUDENT INITIATIVE The museum’s Every Student Initiative (ESI) was launched within a year of Morris becoming CEO. Philanthropist Polly Barton committed the $50,000 startup funding. Peoria Public Schools Superintendent Sharon Desmoulin Kherat then agreed to send every kindergarten through eighth-grade student to the museum each year. ESI aims to provide curriculum-based visits to the facility for central Illinois students. Now in its sixth year, ESI serves schoolchildren from 46 schools in nine public and private school districts. ESI has sponsored more than 60,000 stu dents in total, with 16,000 visits this past school year, said Everley Davis, educator and student engagement coordinator. “We have a program bigger and better than anything I could dream,” Snyder said. Desmoulin-Kherat calls the initiative “a forward-thinking idea.” “Hopefully, we are nurturing future going museum enthusiasts, thanks to

the vision of Sally Snyder, John Morris and the Barton family,” she said. COLLABORATIONS Part of what Davis does is partner with curriculum directors to understand what is being taught in classrooms. “We can feed into what they’re learn ing and fill in the gaps,” Davis said. There’s always something on display there that can enhance a student’s classroom experience. Davis tells about how the Peoria Jewish Federation assisted in bringing in the children of Holocaust survivors to speak to eighth-grade students. “They get to ask questions that they don’t necessarily get answers to in their textbooks,” she said. “I know for a few teachers, it made their classroom discussion more fruitful.” In addition, the museum connects educators to outside resources for distance-learning opportunities to supplement classroom work. CURATING TO MEET THE NEEDS The educational and curatorial compo nents of the museum work well together, said Bill Conger, curator of collections and exhibits.

JULY 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 27