EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — After over a decade of anticipation, the Borderland will soon be able to enjoy La Nube, the STEAM center and children’s museum that was part of the 2012 voter-approved quality of life bond.
La Nube, which is located in Downtown El Paso on Main Street and Santa Fe Street, is set to open its doors later this summer on Saturday, August 10.
Annual memberships are now on sale at their website here, for people who would like unlimited access for a whole year beginning on their opening day.
KTSM crews were taken on a sneak peak tour of the nearly finished facility.
La Nube will be a four-story state-of-the-art facility with nine different themed zones. Each zone will have 15 to 20 interactive exhibits and experiences for children of all ages and even adults.
“It’s not just a children’s museum. It’s not just a science center. It’s a STEAM center,” said La Nube’s Interim Director Stephanie Otero. “It’s this hybrid model where we’re really embracing science, technology, engineering, arts, math, in very creative and playful ways. La Nube is for all ages. Even the climber is for children and adults. We want everybody in our community to enjoy La Nube.”
The vision for La Nube, according to Otero, is for it to become a “beacon of inclusion and access,” and a fundamental piece of the borderland’s educational ecosystem.
As part of their vision to ensure accessibility, the museum will have sensory timeout areas and provide sensory backpacks and headphones for children with autism. Their signature exhibit will have wheelchair access for those children to experience. And they will also have an early-childhood area restricted to ages three and under.
Otero explained that many of the features of La Nube are unique and unprecedented, such as their signature exhibit, a four-level climber named “Anything is Possible.”
“The community has rallied around this and I am so excited that we brought this to our community. We’ve had people from outside our community come and do tours and they’re like, ‘We don’t have this in our city,’ And these are coming from big cities that you think would have things better supposedly than us, but they’re amazed.”
La Nube will be the first STEAM center in the country with its own water recycling plant, as it will house the largest water-theme exhibit of its kind in the state of Texas.
The museum will also feature a cafe, gift shop, garden and terraces.
The outside of the museum will be a visual spectacle, illuminating the streets of Downtown El Paso, and will offer glimpses of the exhibits inside.
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