McLaughlin Planetarium, Royal Ontario Museum

[This note was excerpted from an item appearing in "Canandian Council of Science Centres, Issue No 3" -- Ed.]

The news from Toronto is not encouraging. On Friday March 5, 1998 Dr. Lindsay Sharp, Director and President of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) announced that the ROM had "finalized an agreement to bring the Children's Own Museum to the ROM' s Planetarium building. The Children's Own Museum (COM) will occupy the two middle floors of the McLaughlin Planetarium building under a three-year lease agreement."

In his announcement to museum staff, the Director went on to say: "This arrangement is a win-win situation: the COM needed a home, and we had the great asset of the Planetarium building for which we have yet to secure a long-term redevelopment proposal. As you all know, the ROM undertook a two-year search for a private sector partner to develop this site. Although we were close to a deal with a large-format cinema developer last summer, it did not come together, and we were recently sent back to the drawing board. The ROM can no longer afford the option of being the sole operator of a planetarium facility. We hope to contribute to astronomy programming in this city in some form, perhaps through a new form of partnership, and we will continue to offer astronomy programming through our education department, as we have since the Planetarium was closed in 1995. Over the coming months Senior Management and the Board of Trustees will be reviewing the long-term options for the planetarium."

     Thomas Clarke
     Royal Ontario Museum
     100 Queens Park
     Toronto, Ontario
     M5S 2C6
     Email: <tomc@rom.on.ca>