Del Mar cuts the ribbon for new Art + Play Space

The New Children’s Museum cut the ribbon to commemorate the opening of its first stand-alone satellite location — a 2,000- square-foot Art + Play Space on the third level of Del Mar Plaza.

The museum’s vice board chair Chris Russo said during a brief ceremony, with bubbles floating in the background, that the new location is “all about providing access” to families who can’t make it to the museum’s downtown location as easily.

“We’re about providing new experiences for families and children,” he said. “This is providing that extra facility, extra location, extra ability for us to be able to do that.”

The new satellite location will feature contemporary art, including a smaller version of the popular installation “Wobbleland” by San Diego artist Marisol Rendón, and a giant kitchen sink with large, soft fruit and vegetable sculptures. It will also offer classes and workshops later this fall for children to create their own art, as well as artist talks, birthday parties and camps.

Del Mar Mayor Terry Gaasterland said that the Art + Play Space brings a more constructive form of entertainment to local children, who are accustomed to spending hours every day staring at screens.

“That’s the kind of experience that this museum is bringing not only to Del Mar, but to North County,” she said. “We’re looking at this as the start of what we hope to be a longstanding partnership with the museum to create what I think is a pretty special amenity for the community.

“It’s one that will support the education of and inspire creativity in the future generations of Del Mar and throughout all of North County.”

In 1983, the museum first opened in a La Jolla shopping mall, according to a news release. Since then, it’s had a sponsorship of the family lounge at Westfield UTC from 2013-14, pop-up activations at One Paseo Del Mar and Westfield Plaza Bonita, and an artist studio called Studio by the Bay in Seaport Village that has been open for the last two years.

The Art + Play Space is located at 1555 Camino Del Mar, Suite 310, on the third floor of the Del Mar Plaza. It will be open Thursdays through Mondays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Admission for adults and children 2 and older is $10. Children younger than 2 can enter for free.

For more information, visit thinkplaycreate.org.