PEABODY — North Shore Children’s Museum Executive Director Jen Kowal relayed a series of updates to the City Council, discussing the numbers, challenges, and what’s on the horizon.
Kowal began by highlighting the importance of the museum.
“You might ask, ‘Why play?’ Play is so much more than fun. It’s actually critical to a child’s development,” Kowal said. “It supports cognitive skills, physical health, social interactions, emotional well-being, and creativity.”
Kowal addressed staffing, stating that there are currently two full-time employees, herself included, and seven part-time visitor experience associates. She said the museum is looking to add someone to the team who has a marketing background to “bring us to the next level,” and she noted that she will be speaking to Human Resources regarding additional staffing to fill some of their current gaps.
Pertaining to the 2025 calendar year, the NSCM welcomed more than 27,000 visitors, hosted 51 field trips and 116 birthday parties, updated exhibits, and created new membership benefits. Kowal emphasized that, “in 2025, we had the most programs, parties, and field trips out of any other year.”
She shared that one of her main goals since joining the NSCM team in September of 2024 “is to replace more interactives and anything plastic with sustainable exhibit elements.”
“Children play hard, especially when they’re swept up with their imagination, and it was imperative to bring in elements that could withstand that level of play… It raises the overall worth of our organization, and families see that we’re investing in the museum, and this reinforces the value they receive when they purchase admission and membership,” Kowal said.
She showed examples of a new magnetic ball wall in the construction room and a new LED constellation wall in the museum’s space room, among many.
On the horizon for the NSCM, Kowal mentioned that there will be a car racetrack added to the STEM room, which is a “really cool element” that allows visitors to build cars out of DUPLO blocks and then test how the car drives on the track. She also said there will soon be a sound machine that plays animal noises and a fiber optic light cloud that will bring a sensory-friendly experience for visitors with sensory processing differences.
From 2022-2025, the NSCM had people from more than 875 zip codes make purchases there, and more than half of those visitors were non-Peabody residents. The top five cities where visitors come from are Peabody, Salem, Beverly, Danvers, and Marblehead, in that order.
Admissions hit their peak in 2023 and have slowly dropped since, but Kowal pointed out that the decrease from 2024-2025 is less than the decrease from 2023-2024, which suggests that the NSCM is on the right track.
“(This) aligns with early excitement after opening and then settling into more predictable, annual patterns,” Kowal said.
She added, “Access programs continue to expand year over year. WIC and EBT, and our library pass usage increased steadily, reflecting progress toward our goal of making the museum accessible for all.”
Kowal highlighted that the museum has had a positive impact on Main Street, noting additional patrons and revenue for local businesses, which proves that the NSCM is “part of a larger ecosystem.”
She touched on parking, as her data shows that 86% of attendees are using street parking or municipal lots. Kowal will receive data from the Peabody Police Department on how much money has been accrued because of the increased utilization of City lots before she returns to Council for another update.
Moving onto the reduced admission program, 10,962 people accessed that program, totaling $98,658 in savings for those families. There were also 2,072 days that Peabody residents could visit the museum for free and 335 other free days for visitors, all of which were funded through grants, individual donations, and community partnerships.
Addressing the museum’s challenges, Kowal mentioned additional staffing needs, visitor and membership growth and retention, rising operational costs, and the building’s limited footprint.
“We’re being proactive by reviewing vendors and contracts that we’re currently using, particularly in cleaning and ticketing,” Kowal said regarding the rising operational costs. “This approach will allow us to identify cost savings without compromising visitor experience or safety.”
Kowal’s vision for 2026 “is rooted in access, creativity, and connection, and in growing alongside the community we serve.”
Ward 2 Councilor Wendy Lattof, who is the co-owner of Create & Escape, a business on Main Street, mentioned how she loves the “halo effect of how sales resonate to the restaurants” before asking some questions.
Lattof asked if there was a date in mind to achieve the goal of being financially independent from the City, a question Mayor Ted Bettencourt took for Kowal.
“Every time I come to the Council… my hope and intention… is that, every year, the City obligation is a little less,” he said. “We’re working on those numbers now. I don’t have them yet, but that’s the intention.”
Lattof also asked how the mobile truck could be utilized more effectively to increase sales. Kowal said that her ideal scenario would be to hire an educator who can drive the mobile truck to schools who have difficulty affording the buses needed to transport them to the museum. Kowal added that the truck is currently being used for outreach.
Lattof lastly asked if the decline in Peabody visitors concerned Kowal, to which Kowal said no.
“I don’t think I’m concerned because we are getting the word out, and there’s other people that are coming, and I think it would be unwise to solely rely on the Peabody population to keep the museum going,” Kowal said.
Ward 3 Councilor Stephanie Peach asked who funded the field trips offered to all Peabody Public Schools first grade classrooms, as it was her understanding that the PTOs were paying for those events.
“Every first grade class is invited and encouraged to come,” Bettencourt said, “I don’t know if individual families, the PTOs are paying. We could certainly do a survey with the schools. There have been some instances in the past where a couple of schools needed assistance, and we’ve worked with them. We always just focus on access and inclusion and bringing in all the students.”
Peach was happy to hear that the museum does help schools in need but asked if the NSCM’s Friends organization could potentially offer grants to the schools.
“As you know, not every PTO can raise money equitably, so I just want to keep that in mind as we move forward and the museum grows,” Peach said.
Councilor-at-Large Jaclyn Corriveau raised concerns over the decreased grant funding; Ward 1 Councilor Craig Welton agreed and suggested that the museum should consider hiring a grant writer or someone “dedicated to fund development.”
Councilor-at-Large Jarrod Hochman asked if Kowal tracked the zip codes of those using the reduced admission program.
“It’s important that all kids have access to your museum, and if we can identify perhaps some low income areas, maybe perhaps not in Peabody, but in the North Shore, that have a significant group of people that are attending the museum, I wouldn’t be opposed to marketing in those areas and trying to provide access to more people who are unable to pay $12 a person,” Hochman said.
Kowal said she did not have that data available, but there may be a way to see if the system can track that moving forward.
Council will next hear from the NSCM in May or June to receive budget updates.
