Program areas at Perot Museum of Nature and Science
Opening december 1, 2012, the Perot Museum is a result of a successful $185 million capital campaign to unite three institutions (the dallas Museum of natural history, the Science place and the dallas children's Museum) into one interactive building. With the mission to "inspire minds through Nature and Science," the Museum provides a wide variety of activities including in-depth permanent exhibits, traveling exhibits, hands-on interactives, onsite school programs, school outreach programs, discovery camps, films and weekend activities for adults, children, and families. During fiscal year 2023, the Museum served over 790,000 visitors through on-site visits, including 1,319 field trips.
The Perot Museum opened a new collections facility in march 2020, allowing the Museum's collections to be consolidated into one, state-of-the-art facility. This facility provides ample lab and work spaces to support continued research of the collections. In addition, Perot Museum partners with local and regional organizations to conduct field research and fossil preservation.
The Museum is dedicated to inspiring children to pursue stem careers by providing engaging educational tools. The Museum provides hands-on, learning programs for school children that support the Texas essential knowledge and skills (teks) standards. To ensure accessibility to Perot Museum programs, particularly schools serving students on free or reduced lunch, the Museum provides financial aid with funds contributed by individuals, corporations and foundations for this purpose. The Museum's in-person educational programs served over 224,000 participants in fiscal year 2023 through onsite and offsite activities.
The hoglund foundation theater, a national geographic experience, is a 3d theater which provides visitors with an engaging educational experience. The Museum featured 5 films in fiscal year 2023 with attendance totaling over 113,000.