Museum on the move

The Children’s Museum of the Arts will move to 345 Hudson St. in Hudson Square sometime next summer. The nonprofit museum is currently located at 182 Lafayette St. C.M.A. signed a lease with Trinity Real Estate last month. Lucy Ofiesh, the museum’s capital campaign manager, said designing the new space will be “a long process.” She happily noted that the “beautiful 11,000-square-foot space” is far larger than C.M.A.’s current 4,200 square feet. Founded in 1988, the museum’s goal is to “extend the benefits of the arts to all children and their communities and to secure the future of the arts by inspiring and championing the next generation of artists and art lovers.” Kids and babies are introduced to “playdough, paints, glue, and a variety of drawing tools” in the “Wee-Arts” program (ages 10 months to 3 ½ years old). C.M.A. also offers an after-school program for children ages 6 to 12 and “Film & Fashion @ 5,” in which teenagers are guided by professional artists and prepare portfolios for high school and college. Children can celebrate birthday parties at the museum with cake, Two Boots pizza and arts-and-crafts lessons. “We plan to be very involved in the community,” said Ofiesh. “It’s great to have them in the neighborhood,” said Tobi Bergman, a Community Board 2 member and president of P3, a youth-sports advocacy organization. David Reck, president of Friends of Hudson Square and a C.B. 2 member, said of the museum’s move, “This neighborhood needs more stuff — it’s great.”