The Texas Museum of Science & Technology, or TXMOST, in Cedar Park is seeking a permanent facility.
TXMOST, formerly Austin Planetarium, opened at its temporary location at 1220 Toro Grande Drive, Cedar Park, in March 2015. The museum’s board of directors presented the Cedar Park Community Development Corporation, also called the 4B Board, with an update on the museum Tuesday.
TXMOST board member Mitch Fuller said the museum’s vision is to launch a capital campaign to raise funds and find key financial partners to relocate to a permanent site.
“We see our current location as a great location, but it’s a temporary location,” he said.
Fuller did not mention where the museum might move or give any indication of possible financial partners.
TXMOST opened with help from a $260,000 city grant. Fuller said the museum has more than 500 paying members and has received $250,000 in private and corporate donations since it opened, he said.
Fuller thanked the board for its support and told 4B members the museum used the city grant to fund the museum’s opening and its first exhibit, “Body Worlds,” as well as the July 2016 opening of the museum’s planetarium and "Exploratorium" exhibit.
TXMOST has also featured a dinosaur exhibit and, in partnership with Austin Community College, opened the ACC Creative Technology Lab, he said.
Fuller said TXMOST is a science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM education destination in Central Texas.
“We’re drawing folks from all over the state of Texas,” he said.
Those visitors shop and eat in Cedar Park during their visit, he said. Fuller said the museum has welcomed 130,000 visitors since it opened, 40 percent of which were school groups.
With about 70,000-80,000 annual visitors, TXMOST sees about one-third of the number of visitors as the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin—a much larger facility, Board Vice President Joseph Poirier said.
Board President Liz Lathan said TXMOST has not performed any outreach efforts to school districts; instead, school groups have sought out TXMOST. She said if the museum makes connections with ISDs next year, it could greatly increase the number of annual visitors.