Meet the Beneficiary: KidsQuest Children’s Museum
By Patti Payne
Bellevue-based KidsQuest Children’s Museum is a whole family, educational nonprofit which is almost 20 years old. At its helm is Putter Bert, President and CEO, who has been with KidsQuest for 25 years. Long before it opened its doors, Bert was instrumental in raising $7 million to open the first iteration of KidsQuest in Factoria and ultimately the one that is now in downtown Bellevue at 1116 108th Ave NE. In addition to raising the funds, she also oversaw designing the layout and the exhibits themselves.
The 17,000 square-foot KidsQuest attracts a wide range of people, some 225,000 of them a year. The organization also has up to three vans at any one time doing outreach within a 60-mile radius, to schools, libraries, shelters, housing authorities, and a plethora of social service partners, including Boys & Girls Clubs and Hopelink. They offer programs such as science, physics and art labs. “The vans take our staff and our stuff,” says Bert, “and so we do our educational field trips where the people are.”
She loves the Museum. “For me, it’s making sure my team has all the resources they need to make the magic that they have oozing out of every pore of their bodies. It’s only financial constraints that hold them back,” Bert says. “I have the most amazing team to work with.” There are 46 people who work at KidsQuest, and they have a volunteer crew of about 20 people. It costs $16 to get in, whether you’re a child or an adult. “Children under one year old are free,” Bert says, “and there’s lots for them to do. In fact, as soon as you can scoot, we have a whole exhibit for you. It’s called ‘The Tot Orchard’ with ramps and slides and things that help you learn how to crawl, stand up and open all your senses,” she says. The first thing you see upon entering is a 28-foot climbing sculpture in the lobby. Bert says kids as young as two years old up to people in their 80s climb it. “It’s all netted. I’ve been to the top many times,” she says.
Always looking ahead, Bert is dreaming of and planning, with the help of SRM Development, a 40,000-square-foot KidsQuest Children’s Museum near Bellevue’s Mercer Slough. “It would be one big building which would house KidsQuest on the first three floors and have 46 units of workforce affordable housing above us,” she says. “I feel the responsible thing to do in Bellevue is to partner with more affordable housing for the community. This is all a big dream because I have to raise $60 million to do it. I have a lot of ‘asks’ out but just started talking about this process,” Bert says.
She wants people to know that everybody is welcome at KidsQuest. “It’s a place where magic and discovery happen,” Putter says. “We really want to be the community’s museum, not just a museum in the community.” That is the philosophy that keeps Bert going and keeps KidsQuest relevant. “That’s what has kept me here for so long. We are one of Bellevue’s biggest assets. We want to stay in this community and we are going to need the community to help us stay here,” Bert says.
KidsQuest Children’s Museum is the beneficiary of 100% of the ticket sales from the 2024 Collective Runway Show. Tickets can be purchased here.