On Sunday, Naper Settlement hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Innovation Gateway. The 5,150 square foot building will serve as both a welcome center to the museum and a digital exhibition space.
“The gateway will have two major areas. One is an educational center and the other one will be the processing of people coming to the museum. And the educational center will have a variety of multi-use space. That will house everything from teacher conferences and museum expert learning,” said Rena Tamayo-Calabrese, President at Naper Settlement.
The gateway will also include a special digital exhibition space that will allow visitors to add their own stories, files, and photos.
“It’s a way for us to be able to digitize that history and to allow for self-curation, which really is important because then we hear the story about our community from our community. It’s a wonderful way to democratize our collection and our story,” said Tamayo-Calabrese.
Years In The Making
Plans for the gateway have been years in the making, so the museum is excited to see work get started.
“It should be done definitely by next summer; we are hoping that it’ll be done in the springtime. We will begin after our high season ends. So we hope to start sometime in October to November and we will then do the construction through the winter until sometime in the summer,” said Tamayo-Calabrese.
Naperville News 17’s Anthony Yench reports.
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