Work with us to keep Hilton Head the magical place it was intended to be | Opinion
We need enriching experiences in the arts, culture, and recreation. Our adopted Town of Hilton Head Island vision directs us to develop more mixed-use community nodes, provide high-quality educational options, and build diversity in recreational, arts, and quality of life options. Admirable goals that are reaffirmed in the Arts and Cultural Committee report, the Venue Committee report, and the ill-fated Webb report.
My child, now looking forward to his fourth birthday, didn’t exist when I volunteered to be on the Venue Committee. When he’s old enough to understand that paradise can indeed be lost, I want to be able to show him what happened when everyone here came together to shape a better island.
If we want to protect our environment and build a Hilton Head we are proud of — with a vibrant arts and culture community, a world-class museum, and great parks, there is not another year to spare. It is time to take decisive action.
Businesses are implementing plans for dense housing, new hotels, and the widely pilloried outdoor go-kart track. Not still planning, they are acting now to reap the benefits this development will provide for them.
Hilton Head has always cherished art, culture, and outdoor recreation, and our nonprofits have looked at how we can make these offerings better for you. More quality-of-life offerings are definitely needed on our island, not just for visitors, but also for the retirees and young families who choose to live in this special place.
If you want to see what happens when you leave all the implementation to for-profits, get in your car. You can drive up there in under four hours.
The museum completed strategic planning in December 2016. The results are published on our website (coastaldiscovery.org).
In alignment with this and the Venue Committee report recommendations, the Coastal Discovery Museum would like to build a state-of-the-art museum nestled into the woods on our 68-acre property.
This building will allow us to offer Smithsonian traveling exhibitions, properly house its collections, and grow educational programming that inspires appreciation and care for the Lowcountry.
The new building will provide much-needed space for the museum and other organizations on the island focused on the environment, history, and visual arts.
In addition to planning a permanent home for the Heritage Library, we will have a 125-seat auditorium for the use of allied organizations, such as the Audubon Society, and classrooms that will deliver hands-on educational programs on visual arts and the environment.
The Coastal Discovery Museum is committed to protecting and preserving Honey Horn, its magnificent live oaks and ancient cedars, its beautiful wide-open fields that hearken back to the days before the bridge. This singular place is our primary exhibit, and we connect 10,000 school kids and over 120,000 other visitors to it every year.
In the future, we will serve many more guests in a world-class museum.
A Community Foundation of the Lowcountry grant in 2019 supports architectural planning, and in a few months we will share preliminary sketches of the museum. These will bring elements like our trail through the live oak canopy to life so that the public can envision how this building enriches our lives.
In the meantime, I would ask residents to think deeply about how arts, culture, and recreation contribute not just to our quality of life, but also to our shared vision of the island.
Our town leaders and nonprofit directors are working hard to better serve our community and to build the future we dream of sharing with our families. Please consider backing a referendum that can shape a better future for all islanders, and thank you all for supporting of the museum.
Rex Garniewicz is president and CEO of the Coastal Discovery Museum.
This story was originally published February 2, 2020 at 8:18 AM.