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V O L . X X V I I I N O. V I M A R C H 2 1 , 2 0 2 2 20 also huge growth potential. e organi- zation is an important economic driver and cultural tourism and hospitality entity for the state, and for children and families. at attracted me to the job. MB: What did you bring to the table? JBP: e organization I ran in Pittsburgh was only 3 years old when I came on. I grew the budget from hundreds of thou- sands of dollars to millions of dollars. So I brought experience in catapulting an organization to a new level of manage- ment and program deployment. Even though the Museum & eatre has a 100-year history, I saw that the opportu- nity for growth was significant. MB: What was the construction project's status when you arrived? JBP: e dream for the new build- ing started when the Children's Museum and the Children's eatre merged in 2008. It was clear we would outgrow our facility. By the time I came onboard, we had raised about $7 million. We needed what ended up being $15 million to complete the project. We had purchased the land at ompson's Point, but no construc- tion had started. MB: What was involved in getting to completion? JBP: Soon after I arrived in the fall of 2019, we sold the Free Street building to the Portland Museum of Art, raising enough money to procure a construction loan from Gorham Savings Bank, which then triggered the start of construction in late 2019. Major gifts from individuals, foundations and corporations catapulted us into the public phase of the campaign in February 2020. MB: What's your leadership approach? JBP: I have a team-focused approach. We're all stronger together when we get many voices around the table. at's the organizational culture I wanted to keep building. It included everything from working with the bank and our amazing construction partners, to the funding side to our board of directors and fundrais- ing committee, which is led by Barbee Gilman, who is singlehandedly respon- sible for a good portion of the millions of dollars we raised. We came together as a team and leaned on the expertise and advice of the incredible business commu- nity in Portland and in Maine. MB: Any behind-the-scenes activities that made the facility a reality? JBP: It's hard to imagine a bigger surprise than a global pandemic. As an organization, we relied on in-person activity as a major revenue generator. e biggest behind-the-scenes chal- lenge was figuring out how to do all of this with this heavy layer of uncertainty surrounding everything. ankfully, the corporate and foundation community, along with many individuals, stepped up in a major way to help us through a very tough time operationally. MB: How did you approach that challenge? JBP: We constantly faced the possibility that construction would be shut down in the state of Maine. It never happened, but we saw it happening in other states. We were trying to raise money at a time when nobody could meet in person, and so much of that work is connected to relationships. We were closed for 15 months. I had to furlough a number of people because we lost 100% of our earned revenue stream. All of our team members, myself included, spent several months working full-time at a reduced salary. ose 14 people we were able to retain during the pandemic. My gratitude to them is endless. On top of that, we were still trying to provide programming, online learning and You- Tube videos, from people's homes. MB: Have your numbers bounced back? JBP: Before the pandemic, we had over 25 FTEs. Now we're up to 21 FT and 28 PT team members. We have a full- fledged aquarium in the new facility. We didn't have aquarium-focused staff at the old facility. We have a full theater. At the old facility, the theater was a space in the basement. So the staff we need to make the building hum is significant. We opened June 24, 2021, with certain capacity restrictions, and sold out every session through Labor Day. Demand is high, which is great for the state of Maine. It's an indication that not only are families with young children coming here and visiting, but also families with children are coming here and not leaving. We have more members than ever in the organization's history, over 4,000 families. We're focused on continuing to build out our programming and partnerships. MB: What do you love about being in this field? JBP: One of the things that has been so wonderful, and has only been bolstered by the pandemic, is the deep commitment to children's learning through play, to children's resilience, especially in this chal- lenging time, especially for parents and caregivers and anyone trying to support Ready to pivot whenever your job does. 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