The Cities | Putnam IMAX Theatre & Q.C. Home Builders Assoc. Home Show | WQPT

production funding for the cities is provided by a grant from the doris and
victor day foundation
an new era at the putnam and building the cities one home at a time
the putnam museum has been a part of quad city landscaper one hundred forty
five years but this year could be one of its most important the trust fund used
to pay for museum operations is now gone and the musuem needs to find a sustainable
source of income this comes as a museum gets ready to open its new state of the art
theater and later this spring
the museum opened to prehistory
now that is a full plate
joining me now is the putnam museum president kim findlay kim thanks a lot for
joining us
this is a big year for you
yes we continued to to try to be as exciting as we possibly can jim and a
lot of that starting this weekend as a matter of fact as your opening up the
grand theater three d
we've been without theater for what about six weeks now is two months major
changes tell us about that
well
jim we are going to a digital format
and that the so excited about that i think for the public
is that it maintains the giant screen everywhere that people have come to love
but
it allows us to get
a wider variety of content
for people to come in and joy
now why is that because it's a did did you know i mean it's it's just an
upgrade in the projection
it is because it's digital
a big part of that is it uh... when we were fifteen seventy film
films come on
a platter that has to be lifted with hydraulics weighs five
hundred pounds
it cost a lot of money to ship it
uh... and fact across a lot of money to make those films
so there are fewer producers
and fewer films available
one-year couple years ago only to
new giant screen films came out all year long
now there are dozens
getting ready to be released
because it's a lot less expensive to make an excellent giant screen film
now it is actually an anniversary for as far as this theaters concern
i can't believe it's been ten years amazing isn't it and it's been a huge
success in the quad city community has enough
in two years ago we uh... were
ticking off the numbers
and that's our one millionth visitor
to the putnams giant screen
so i would approximate all over one and a quarter million people
this is with competition to cedar rapids added one are while ago
they did that unfortunately they're theater closed a few years and i'm
and five
taking ownership now i don't know if you knew ours is sustained over is
vibrant and relevant as possible
what's the difference you guys do you guys figured this out you knew what the
quad cities wanted
well that's you just answered your question i think
it is really about paying attention to what your community
wants to come and see
what they enjoy
what will bring them
to the putnam
in theaters opening this weekend and you guys are are plunging
for this particular you've been up in space their is taking us i know
now
animated christmas train ride a lot of many years in a row but now it is
deep into the oceans we are and we've found that here in our midwest community
people
love those immersive ocean films
how many of us
have an opportunity
at all
some of this may be a once in awhile
too
the apart of that ocean environment
actually feel like we're in that warm ocean
with those wonderful creatures that
colorful environment
and learning about what the ocean meets all of us
us land critters as well one the way you sit inside the grand theater is is do
you really get a personal near livingroom in any way to perform you do
you really are
immersed in this
everything about the theaters design when you go to the giant screen
is intended for you to feel that way
every
measurement this taken from
every seat
in that theater
put to you
in the center of the picture and i mean that literally
the focal points are all very accurate
so no matter what and theatre you are in
you're not going to have that same incredible experience
even into the but
really in three d that you are a part of what's happening on the screen
now sometimes people think the putnam museum in the just think of the theater
these days you know after
after ten years. The putnam you know as well
an awful lot to offer more than just
the new three-d_ grand theater absolutely true
one of the things that we have learned
is especially from teachers actually jim when we can partner
the exhibit
with an amazing film
with etc programs for the public and for school children
everyone is going to get something exciting
and educational out of their experience at the bottom
one of the big programs you have coming up is in march we are going prehistory as i
was saying a little earlier
um... and kids love dinosaurs all kids do kids do love dinosaurs and
loving dinosaurs for a long time so
those of us who've grown up
physically
uh... i hope will still be in jaded by coming to see
animatronic dinosaurs
breeds blake
roar
move them limbs
couple of them
you're going to be able to control is the visitor
you decide when it roars
you really learn some any chance get more interactive m jump that in a
museum don't reply and then take the word museum
is a little bit problematic aidid
conjures up for people
sometimes static from
alittle of dole and just walking by vince
itworld today that's not enough
for people to have an experience
so we have made changes through out the musuem to make sure that you have
hands-on experience
also with these dinosaurs
we're excited because two of the fifteen dinosaurs our world premiering at the
putnam
they're coming straight from china write-off fabrication
and they are going to show us
all about how
scientists at now learned
that many dinosaurs had feathers
so we're gonna have feathered
giant dinosaurs
which is not something
that other museums have seen you are actually cutting edge on this
where our and i wonder if
uh... i i i look back at the titanic exhibit
which was a major exhibit for the community in as well as most of us
on and it was time almost
to the
day of the titanic says
on
and the relevance there was amazing and and with the dinosaurs your also making
a very relevant
because it's very up to date as far as
as prehistory as i mean like he said it's a new discovery did you learn a lot
from the titanic exhibit that's helping you book some of these future exhibits
jim we did
uh... i'll i think we have heard the ground of what the community would love
to see and
i stood at the final event of titanic and said to the audience
please tell me
what would bring you back
in the numbers in a nearly fifty thousand people visitors from out of
town bus tours
overnight stays in our hotels lonely brings that like this it's also an
economic development opportunity for our for our community
uh... we listened
and uh... people said that back in the eighty sometime the putnam had a
dinosaur exhibit
and they would
love to see a sample again so we pursued that were very fortunate that this
world-class company out of canada
uh... has started making
dinosaur exhibits of the six thousand square foot nature
in addition to fifteen thousand square foot exhibits they do so that a museum
like ours here the quad cities
is able to have that
great quality
let's be honest when you get this great quality and he really is dependent on
the sponsors to help bring them in not only for the titanic
but also for the
the dinosaur exhibit you have starting in march how important are these sponsors
sponsors i mean if they seem to step up to the played all the time
well the sponsors it make it doable
then make it possible
and uh... we as the museum in many other entities in town are
extremely grateful to them
and they have expressed to me
that it's important to their businesses as well
to attract employees to retain employees that happy employees who can bring the
families out to things in our community
that they can enjoy and
an experience together
that also
moves them forward
in terms of their knowledge of the world
but that brings me now to the funding question than that
putnam is now making headlines in ways i'm sure you don't necessarily want to
see them but
it became a reality yes
four hundred and forty four years as you said one hundred forty fifty years now
the putnam has been privately financed united city paid all your own
bills that are through a trust fund that has simply
evaporated
well the trust was very significant portion when the putnam
carried on its operations
and yes the trust fund after a hundred and four years of funding the museum has
exhausted
you know the upside beautiful sight of that is that our community enjoy that for a
hundred and four years of the hundred and forty-four
we need to be really serious about looking at a sustainable funding model
to keep the museum relevant dynamic in the future
all of those forty thousand school children teachers
who come to the museum
with the high expectations every year
all of the hundred who come to the museum
we need to be thinking about
my grandchildren
and the kinds of experiences they're going to continue to have
and you made a request to the city of davenport does the council has
has approved the funding this doesn't fully replace that amount of money
but is it a little
unearthing so to speak that you have to go see
that sorry looking ways to cut back
um... this is a place that you want to be dependent on money for the future of
the putnam using what one is timing
i shared with city council understand the budget was very challenging
and if we could tell them the timing we were chosen differently
the other is how much dependents do you want to have a public funding entities
let me just like the putnam around the country
receive about twenty four percent of their annual operating budget from
counties counties etcetera
our sister museums and attractions in our own community niabi
family museum figge
also receive significant portions of the budget from public funding
we are only looking for apiece
that is part of the puzzle for sustainability
we're not looking the city
to fix anything
fill any gab
we're just looking to them to do apart
and then
we will also continue appoarch the private sector which will mean
businesses individuals foundations
who have been very supportive of
those direction at the museum is taken
this is not a new on something this is an important point that you're trying to
make right now
the city is not taking over the putnam using absolutely not nor do they wish to
well we will still be
a private institution a
portion of our operating funds coming from the public sector
that said you asked me about sponsorships
private has stepped up in wonderful ways
to assist the museum in doing although we do
operating fund such as paying for your utilities
there's a little bit more difficult to get a sponsorship for
so that's what we're looking for people who
entities who
love the museum and want
though knowing that it may not be in such a way that their name is going to
be out there publicly me other big thing a sustainability i mean you want to find
a new revenue stream that could help the putnam and other
cultural events in the quad cities in the long term
there is one idea being floated around among several i'm sure that in would
involve some of the uh... dollars that are generator tourism
that's true Jim there's a model
in other places at least in our state in the end
other
states as well
where there's a pool fund
that helps to support
are cultural
educational
entities
in the community
and we will be talking with community leaders business leaders major funders
about the potential for that
here the quad cities area
one of the things that the question's been asked to me as well how's that
going to work in a bi state
community
it does make a little bit more interesting like so many things that we
do
collaborative in this community
that doesn't make it impossible
we just need to be a little bit more diligent how we approach it
now in the past few not seen much of a dip in attendance at you i mean
putnam is more relevant
it is more vibrant than ever has been a lot of schools have cut back
and getting kids into schools and the tours
sometimes was a worry that that was being cut back but even they're coming
back are they not
well this is another place where the private sector has stepped up
we about seven hundred people through the museum in the last two years on one
our
mission tours that we call field trips for grownups
and you have one coming up as a matter of fact and its people have learned
how much impact the type of education department does the hands on education
has on young people whether they are
challenged learners
or they excel in the classroom
they will do well
when they have
giant screen film immersive exhibit hands-on experiments that they can do
so as the private sector understands that and once
great graduates coming out of high school and college to become their next
employees
there supporting the museum not only with the exhibits but also we
scholarship funds
so that all of our schools that have students who are attending on the
subject lunch program
receive subsidies through the museum
from these private funders
so they don't miss out on their field trips then let's be honest but there's
certain people they hear the word museum are terrified open the door like you
said it was an old cranky
cobwebs place if you could just get the kids in there
once they're gonna come over and over again
and you guys are really doing a good job but that seems and children don't come
by themselves
right so
if i if not if the child comes to something that they have it's school
and they go home and they are talking about it but with so much excitement
to their family
then we see families comeback and bring the other children in the family and
there's a little that i love more
then coming upon at school group
or family or grandparent grandchild in the museum
and they're actually eyeball-to-eyeball
listening to each other learning from each other uh... we all are very busy
and there's only so much time you can spend
and this is overused term that you want that time to have quality from us
that the time at the putnam is quality i think you also like to deconstruct the
experience to his what i've notices that show people
some of the things behind the scenes and you do offer that a lot we do
uh... wheaton smithsonian has told us when we can affiliate
that the putnam can not only local treasures your own history but national
treasures things the smithsonian would display in their museums in d_c_ if they
had them
and so it's fun to bring people back in small groups to see pieces of the
collection that our national treasures and local treasures and i think people
are enjoying the experience very much to tell me about the rest of the year
because we talked about the dinosaurs you've got a lot coming up in the next
three sixty five well we do
uh... along with the dinosaurs in march towards the end of
march were bringing the anne frank exhibit and
ann who was a childhood friend of anne frank will be here in the
community speaking and taking questions about this whole experience of the
holocaust what an amazing opportunity that is for all different
types of people yes it is one of the museum's missions is to expose people to
culture
other cultures in our own culture
throughout time
so this is a great opportunity for that
uh... at same time we have the dinosaurs exhibit we will have a giant screen
three-d_ film called flying monsters it's a national geographic film
and it's something like avatar and that you have c_d_i_ and human beings so you
see david attenborough sir david attenborough flying the glider
and up beside him come to terror stores
that are cgi
that's not real sorry of
didn't look so you know i will get its guide and therefore there flying along together
and uh... it's it's wonderful that really is and
part of it i was talking about content there were also going to have
saturday morning programming for little ones uh... in february the thomas the
tank engine money won't just be the film at the museum ill be educational fun
entertaining uh... programming that we do around the film as well
four
parents in the little ones
we will have things like life in a day
the ridley scott documentary aware on one particular day people from all over
the world uploaded video right he edited that
i think that we will continue to see that we will have more indie films
and that type of documentary film and we are flirting with the idea
of having a saturday night putnam p_m_ it'll be a later showing
and we will have beer wine and a limited menu so it's more like dinner in a movie
now
so years your going the entire uh... spectrum of ages and you're making
experiences for people to quad cities
upon museum is existing for all of us so make sure you get a chance to visit
can take so much for joining us
next month wqpt starts its new cultural program called artists in
profile
among those will feature on the first shows erin following
here is a harp best harp instructor in august and his colleges department
erin freund from augustana college you'll get to hear more from erin next
month wqpt's new program artists in profile
as we head into february we've got a new slate of activities that will keep you
hopping in the cities
lora adams now though is that out at about
before you head out and about catch american experience presenting the
assassination of abraham lincoln
which accounts the death of america's first assassinated president and the
manhunt for john wilkes booth hi i'm lora adams
and i know you'll find something to do from all of these events the augustana
symphony orchestra presents a winter concert
of mozart's repertoire
the pieces selected were all written within six months of one another
and each share motivate material creating
community to the program
leon redbone takes over the redstone stage of the river music experience with
his students from the turn of the century flapper era radio duties
depressions climbed ragtag end of world war two folks jazz
an afternoon at london's royal geological society with a young child
charles darwin the details of his adventures and scientific evidence
storyteller and naturalist brian ellis steps and imbalances for free public
performance of my revolutionary idea
circa twenty one will be holding auditions for their children's musical
diary of a worm, spider and fly
they're seeking adult actors were strong actors singers stephen sondheim's
musical company continues at the district theater in downtown rock island
and circa twenty-one
one-night only the queen
bingo
and some lucky person in the audience will be a ten-pound turkey for
information on these and other events going on around the quad cities log on
to wqpt_ dot org
thanks lora it's proving hard for america to recover from the economic
recession that began when the bubble burst in the housing market five years
ago
since then the housing industry struggled in some areas collapse in a
few others
but maintained and albeit slower pace in yet others next weekend is the
quad cities homebuilders annual home builders show so tonight said good time
to take a look at the state of housing in the city's and joining me now is
julie executive officer of the quad cities homebuilders association
julie how are you decorator let's take a look at what it looks like right now on
the housing scene because we have seen some real terrible times across the
country
but it seems like me weathered the worst of it pretty well we haven't been very
fortunate
on the quad city area has stayed pretty strong are building permits have
gone down just a little bit but people are holding her own
remodeling is up
um... any as we are getting closer spring everyday um... you know the
building permits are rising sound and the vacancy rate i mean that you can
build that doesn't mean necessarily to fill the house
right that's one thing that has changed a little bit of last few years where i'm
seeing more presales because builders aren't able to get
that financial backing this have a house that there are so we are seeing our
pre-sold i remember in the years leading up to uh... two thousand seven how
he's made a mansions mcmahon mansion or sprouting up
everywhere you sit there like
who's living in these
huge houses for these big houses still being built then are i'm i don't think
it is as they were a lot of time and our in the last five years that we still are
seeing those
then median average for a new home is anywhere from two hundred fifty to four
hundred thousand you are still seen since seventy eight nine hundred
thousand homes being built home builders show is coming up this coming
weekend and always has fun 'cause you've got so much new technology
that's going on what are people looking at will let me go backwards because
what we've been noticing is a lot of people like to use the yes sustainable
items inside
old is new again let me start there before we get to the new
technology so the
older stuff seems to be really still very popular
on right i think or see
a mountain you know cost efficiency is at main concern for most so and that
kind of those two ways you have seen the new items like geothermal
fancy appliance says they're gonna save you money
but out maybe a little more expensive now and then you have people their age
sticking with the older versions may be pay more money for overtime
unless the electricity and things like that we're seeing more like bamboo
flooring with the belief that quick coming down so many trees bamboo grows
so much faster
people are really becoming more aware of that i think we are becoming more earth friendly
and i think you know that hasn't helped with the news media and that didn't make
it is more aware
what we should be doing to help our environment so it's also good because the new
products they're coming for two because of is becoming more cost-effective is
becoming more available even in the quad cities compared to just
on each coast to write right and we calm you know be right on interstate eighty
two we are in
and central traffic area
so we are lucky because for shipping purposes that things like that we have
easy accessibility to those things comin then you not with t_v_ and media at that
new items people are requesting us scenes from the builders
um... that sometimes i can make the price of the home go up but um...
and uh... if it's helping save the earth that is what
people are looking for his launching they are watching home time and this old house on pbs
constantly coming up
with great ideas desires are great shows because they really do get
the homeowners more activity in
not only the renovation of their house for those you said the construction of a
new home they become more creative i think and working with our builders
remolders one on one and they know the right questions to ask
i think those shows are great because they help them with that before they actually
meet with their builder and i learn
now the other part of that question that i was uh... alluding to earlier is what
the new what is on the new technologies that were seen in homes right com the
biggest one i think you're gonna see a geo thermal and then the appliance
upgrade the more green
um... there so many different kinds even with televisions i mean you just see it
everywhere i think that we
aid as community we have a hard time sometimes keeping up with all of those
things so that's where the home so it's great because those people on the end of
this will have those different technologies that people can come in
talk one-on-one with
on there so many things i can't keep up so many different variations of
some of the same products as well and now it is it for new home construction
but we're seeing so much of the revision so many people are moving even in cities
like moline
davenport that you don't think of as large cities there still
kind of this i want to come back downtown kind of a more of an urban
feel right i think of a within our downtown downtown davenport especially
rock island
um... the
renovations of these older buildings with the condo complexes and that is
great
almost our builders and not all that the majority are building all right
suburbia areas item a residential right bites uh... exists
shows us that the community is strong and incisors billing going on everywhere
that's great 'cause people will come into this aids downtown to see those
faces flourish scene and then consider possibly moving toward a and you
know that people like to drive around look inside people's windows or i do
now coming up next week will you do that just by going to q cc a expo
center rock island
there's a lot of different vendors on the u_n_ we have around three hundred
actually our show is sold out so we are very pleased about that
thanks doing anything to
you know the doors of the quad city home builders show opens at noon next friday
they stay open saturday and sunday
at the qcca expo center in rock island
you can get advanced tickets at area hy vee stores posted a those tickets are a dollar off the
seven dollar price
at the door
and we want to take all of you who came out to wqpts annual champagne on
the rocks fundraising dinner at the hotel blackhawk last friday
we got to meet many of you are loyal viewers some many supporters and
are true friends of wqpt we want to thank all of our sponsors
and we hope you had a good time cuz we sure did and we do look forward to
seeing you again
next year
plus of course were always glad to see you here
every thursday and sunday night for the cities
production funding for the cities is provided by a grant from the doris
victor day foundation