What Mindport Exhibits does

Mindport Exhibits was a privately-owned interactive museum located at 210 W. Holly Street in Bellingham, Washington, founded in 1995 by Kevin Jones, Robin Burnett, and Joe Edwards as an experimental project at the intersection of art and science. The company operated as a single-site cultural attraction for 29 years, serving local families, school groups, and tourists through hands-on, custom-built exhibits. At the time of closure it employed two full-time and six part-time staff, with Tallie Jones (daughter of the founder) serving as executive director.

The core product consisted of approximately 30 unique interactive installations hand-built by staff and exhibiting artists, spanning optics (Standing Kaleidoscope, Praxinoscope), mechanics (AeroTrack, Electromatic), acoustics (Echo Chamber, Sonic Sandbox), and biology/ecology (Living Machine, Winogradsky Columns). Supporting offerings included a low-to-no-cost tutoring program and a traveling exhibits program that brought curated art installations to venues throughout Whatcom County. The technology was entirely physical/mechanical, with no software, data, or digital platform components.

Mindport's revenue model was built on museum admission fees, supplemented by tutoring services, art installation curation fees, and traveling exhibit fees. The company was substantially financially supported by a single dedicated donor for decades, a concentration that proved fatal when that funding ended in 2024. After exploring nonprofit conversion and rejecting it due to the saturated landscape of 120+ local arts nonprofits, the museum announced closure in June 2024, permanently closed on November 3, 2024, gifted the building to Children of the Setting Sun Productions (an Indigenous-led nonprofit developing Setting Sun Labs), and distributed its exhibit library to museums, schools, and community organizations across Whatcom County.

Name

Mindport Exhibits

Legal name

Mindport Exhibits

Website

https://mindport.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Mindport Exhibits was a privately-owned interactive museum in Bellingham, WA, operating from 1995 to November 2024. It served local families, schools, and tourists with roughly 30 hand-built, custom exhibits blending art and science, funded primarily by a single long-term donor.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Interactive Museum Services

NAICS

Museums (712110)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Science & Technology Museums (THAJADAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Specialty Museums (e.g., Maritime, Aviation, Sports, Music, Film) (THAJADAF)

Keywords

• Interactive museum exhibits
• Hands-on science exhibits
• Art science installations
• Museum admission services
• Traveling exhibits program

Headquarters

HQ city

Bellingham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Museum Admission: Revenue generated from visitor admission fees to the interactive museum.
2. Tutoring Services: Low-to-no-cost tutoring program operated by Mindport staff.
3. Art Installation Curation: Curated art installations featuring local and regional artists, generating revenue through exhibition fees.
4. Traveling Exhibits: Brought traveling exhibits to venues around Whatcom County.
5. Donor Funding: Substantial financial support from a dedicated donor who supported operations and programs for decades. This funding ended in 2024, contributing to the closure decision.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Mindport Exhibits operated a single physical interactive museum at 210 W. Holly Street in downtown Bellingham's Arts District, featuring approximately 30 custom-built, hand-made interactive installations blending art and science (including optics, mechanics, acoustics, and visual arts). The core offering was complemented by a low-to-no-cost tutoring program run by staff and a traveling exhibits program that brought curated art installations to venues around Whatcom County. The museum permanently closed on November 3, 2024, after 29 years of operation.

Product overview

Mindport Exhibits operated as a single unified interactive museum offering featuring custom-built, hands-on exhibits blending art and science. The core product consisted of approximately 30+ unique interactive installations (Interactive Museum Exhibits) hand-built by staff, spanning optics, mechanics, acoustics, and visual arts. Supporting offerings included a low-to-no-cost Tutoring Program and Traveling Exhibits that brought curated art installations featuring local and regional artists to venues around Whatcom County. The museum permanently closed on November 3, 2024.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Interactive Museum Exhibits
• Tutoring Program
• Traveling Exhibits Program

Quantifiable outcome

• 370 visitors attended the record-breaking closure day on November 3, 2024

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor, flagship and core.

• RMC ArchitectsminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2025Bellingham-based architecture firm hired to renovate the three-story building at 210 W. Holly Street for its new use as Setting Sun Labs.
• Dawson ConstructionminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2025Construction firm hired to renovate the three-story building at 210 W. Holly Street for its new use as Setting Sun Labs, with construction planned to begin spring 2025.
• Children of the Setting Sun ProductionsflagshipOthers · 3 October 2024Building at 210 W. Holly Street gifted to this Indigenous-led nonprofit organization. CSSP is developing Setting Sun Labs to share films, podcasts, events, digital heritage library, immersive media and contemporary art. Mindport Exhibits closed permanently on Nov. 3, 2024, and the building was transferred to continue the cultural space legacy in Bellingham's Arts District.
• Whatcom Community FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2024Facilitated the transfer of the historic Arts District building from Mindport Exhibits to Children of the Setting Sun Productions. The foundation helped coordinate the anonymous benefactor's gift.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Pacific Science Center: Seattle-based interactive science center with hands-on exhibits blending science and learning; broader-scale regional peer operating in the same Pacific Northwest interactive-museum category.
• Connecticut Science Center: Mid-sized interactive science center with hands-on exhibits and family programming; analogous operating model to Mindport but at larger regional scale.
• Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago): One of the largest interactive science museums in the world; shares Mindport's hands-on learning ethos at a national-institution scale.
• The Children's Museum of Indianapolis: Largest children's museum in the U.S. with hands-on, immersive exhibits blending art, science, and discovery — a scaled analogue of Mindport's family-discovery model.
• Exploratorium: San Francisco's iconic interactive science-and-art museum — the closest direct analogue to Mindport's hands-on, curiosity-driven model, but at vastly greater scale and reach.
• Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI): Portland-based hands-on science museum; comparable in mission (interactive science/art exploration) and audience (families, schools) at a larger institutional scale.

Emerging players

• Makerspaces / Make: Community: Network of community maker spaces focused on hands-on building, art, and STEM exploration; shares Mindport's interactive, learner-built ethos but operates as distributed workshops rather than a museum destination.

Direct peers

• Whatcom Museum: Bellingham's regional museum whose Family Interactive Gallery (FIG) received 11 of Mindport's exhibits; serves overlapping audiences and program areas in the same Arts District footprint.
• SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention: Bellingham, WA-based museum of electrical invention and interactive science exhibits; received 27 of Mindport's exhibits upon closure, making it the most direct successor/peer in the same geography and category.

Others

• Children of the Setting Sun Productions: Indigenous-led nonprofit that received Mindport's building and is developing Setting Sun Labs; not a direct competitor but the institutional successor occupying Mindport's former footprint and continuing the cultural-space mission.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/1396980077221976
• Instagraminstagram.com/mindportexhibits
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mindport-exhibits

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mindport Exhibits