The River City has many attractions that draw people in. The Peoria Riverfront Museum, with a dome planetarium, giant screen theater and creative exhibitions, especially has a lot to offer.
In hopes of creating something to unite the community, Bradley President James Shadid had the idea to collaborate with the popular establishment. Shadid had wanted to create a partnership for over a year as a board member, but it was recently put into action by John Morris, the CEO of Peoria Riverfront Museum.
“It gives our students, faculty and staff an opportunity to become a part of the community and for the community to become a part of Bradley, and where is better to do this than the Peoria Riverfront Museum?” Shadid said.
The partnership would not have been possible without the anonymous donor, whose support ensured free museum access for the Bradley community. Not only do current students have access, but graduating students will also be able to use the free admission for a year after they leave Bradley.
“We were approached by an anonymous donor, who is a friend of Bradley University and the Peoria Riverfront Museum, and they said that this would be a really good collaboration, and we agreed,” Alyson Glynn, the Peoria Riverfront Museum membership manager, said. “They generously sponsored us for three years to do the membership for all of the Bradley community.”
This opportunity allows everyone who’s involved with the university to enjoy a space to continually enrich themselves and their education.
“I think some of the most important things that we do at the museum are multidisciplinary,” Melody Konrad, assistant director of marketing and communications for the Peoria Riverfront Museum, said. “Since Bradley is a multidisciplinary school, we have kids who could be interested in science, history or the arts, and the amazing thing is they can be seen in one museum.”
Some of the exhibits include the planetarium dome, the Jim Henson exhibit and, coming later this year, the new Titanic exhibition.
“I want to increase the student experience and, in addition to how to make the experience better for our students, this seemed to me and John one way we could do so by creating this [collaboration],” Shadid said.
This membership doesn’t just include the Peoria Riverfront Museum; with the museum’s reciprocal program, this allows any membership holder to access different museums around the country, as long as they are at least 90 miles away.
To learn more about the reciprocal program and what museums are offered with the Bradley membership, click here.
This partnership is one of the first initiatives of many that Shadid plans on creating throughout his presidency at Bradley.
“I just think that this [partnership] is a win for everybody and I think it is a true measure of how serious we are to elevate the experience here,” Shadid said.
Students, faculty and staff can receive their membership here with the promo code ‘BUMEM.’
