8 Waves<\/a> which is a nonprfit, said the goal is for the museum to serve not only as a tourist attraction, but also as a resource for local children and families.<\/p>\n\u201cWhether it\u2019s in after school, summer schools, day camps, I think accessibility really matters,\u201d Meyer said.<\/p>\n
Meyer said 8 Waves is also working on a program called \u201cPrescription to Play,\u201d which could allow families to be referred to the museum through local hospitals.<\/p>\n
County staff have now been instructed to work with recommended Tourist Development Tax applicants and the Office of Management and Budget on potential next steps. The recommendations identify project costs, but county officials still have to determine how the projects could ultimately be funded and implemented.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, another museum project is moving through the city of Winter Garden\u2019s approval process.<\/p>\n
In 2021, the City of Winter Garden entered into a rental and operating agreement with the Winter Garden Art Association for its facility at 127 South Boyd Street.<\/p>\n
A first amendment to that agreement in June 2024 extended the lease from 2031 to 2051, helping strengthen the Art Association\u2019s pursuit of an Orange County Tourist Development Tax grant for a planned building expansion.<\/p>\n
On Oct. 29, 2024, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners approved a $4 million grant for the Winter Garden Art Association to help fund the expansion and construction of an art museum.<\/p>\n
But city officials say the existing lease does not specifically identify \u201cmuseum\u201d as an allowable use of the property.<\/p>\n
The City Commission is now considering a second amendment to the rental and operating agreement that would add museum use to the lease language during Thursday nights meeting.<\/p>\n
The recommended action is to authorize the city manager to execute the second amendment with the Winter Garden Art Association.<\/p>\n
For Snell, the potential development of both museums represents more than an investment in tourism.<\/p>\n
He said they could provide children in the community with a safe place to spend time after school while exposing them to new ideas and experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of kids in this area, many times nowhere to go after school,\u201d Snell said. \u201cIt would be great for them to have a place to go and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
If both projects move forward, Winter Garden could see new cultural attractions designed not only to draw visitors, but to provide educational opportunities for the families who already call the community home.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINTER GARDEN, Fla. \u2013 A new art museum expansion and a proposed children\u2019s museum could bring more educational…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[153842,153839,153837,153840,153836,153841,139,141,140,153838,153843],"class_list":["post-383829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-art-museum-expansion","tag-cultural-attractions-winter-garden","tag-east-winter-garden-revitalization","tag-educational-opportunities-winter-garden","tag-family-activities-winter-garden","tag-i-am-childrens-museum","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-tourist-development-tax-grant","tag-winter-garden-art-association"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}