THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 23, 1995 TAG: 9511230542
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
The Family Channel added its name and a million bucks Wednesday to the Virginia Marine Science Museum's efforts to triple the facility and its collection of sea creatures.
The $1 million donation is the largest single gift ever made to the nine-year-old museum. The donation, presented by M.G. Pat and Timothy B. Robertson on behalf of the cable television network they operate, is designated for the museum's new IMAX 3-D theater. The theater will be called ``The Family Channel IMAX 3-D Theater.''
``The museum personifies everything that The Family Channel is about,'' said Timothy B. Robertson, president of International Family Entertainment, the parent company of The Family Channel. ``(To use) the power of communications to enrich people's lives and make the world a better place for our children.''
The six-story, 300-seat theater will be one of only five such theaters in the country, said C. Mac Rawls, the museum's director.
The IMAX 3-D concept, with surrounding screens and acoustics, makes the viewer feel a part of the action. The technology is a film frame that is 10 times larger than the conventional 35mm movie. The 3-D adds another effect for viewers, who must wear special glasses to watch the films.
The Air and Space Museum in Hampton houses an IMAX theater, but it is not in 3-D. The only 3-D IMAX theaters already in operation are in New York and New Orleans. Three more, including the museum here, are under construction.
The marine science theater is expected to open in early summer as part of the museum's $35 million expansion, tripling its size from nine to 45 acres. It is located at 717 General Booth Blvd., a mile south of the resort area.
Other museum improvements include a 300,000-gallon open-ocean aquarium and a 70,000-gallon turtle aquarium in the Atlantic Ocean Pavilion, a sea turtle hatching laboratory, a salt marsh preserve, a harbor seal pool, the Owls Creek Marsh Pavilion and an outdoor shorebird aviary.
The expansion will be completed in two stages.
The Owls Creek Marsh Pavilion is scheduled to open in January, said Gil McMillan, the museum's development coordinator.
The new pavilion is a 20,000-square-foot building at the southern end of the site and connected to the Atlantic Ocean Pavilion. It will feature a river otter habitat with underwater viewing, a shorebird aviary, an interactive exhibit on marsh insects and marsh animals, and a boardwalk and trail system.
The marsh pavilion also will feature an 88-seat interactive theater.
The expansion is being funded primarily by $30 million from the the Tourism Growth Investment Fund, which is fed by designated hotel and restaurant taxes.
The museum has been left to raise the additional $5 million and Wednesday's donation by The Family Channel leaves the museum only $800,000 short of its goal.
``We were looking for a gift but we didn't know if it would come,'' said museum director Rawls. ``This is certainly a time for thanks.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
``The museum personifies everything that The Family Channel is
about,'' said Timothy B. Robertson, president of International
Family Entertainment.
by CNB