DoSeum opened in June of 2015 to a huge $47 million building. Within the first five weeks it had drawn 100,000 visitors. And in the last 10 years, more than 4 million people have attended the children’s museum.
“That success was no accident,” said DoSeum CEO Dan Menelly.
The DoSeum is a spinoff of the San Antonio’s Children Museum, which was founded downtown in 1995 by a group of volunteers. The nonprofit eventually rebranded into the DoSeum and moved to its prime location on Broadway and Mulberry Avenue.
The museum is also home to a small private school centered on dual language immersion and employs more than 80 full-time staff members. The DoSeum offers 68,000 square feet of interactive space with outdoor and indoor play areas, a Little Town installation with a pretend H-E-B store and features yearly rotations of traveling exhibitions.
DoSeum’s name centers on the idea that children learn by doing, which is why it focuses on hands-on learning in science, technology, engineering, math, arts and literacy for children up to age 11. All of its 250 exhibits are interactive.
Last year, DoSeum featured limited-time exhibitions like “Uniquely Us,” which combined play-based learning with conversations about race, equity and empathy, and “Emotions at Play,” an exhibit based on the Pixar film “Inside Out” where guests could explore emotions like joy, anger, fear and sadness.
The DoSeum’s 2025 artist-in-residence, a program founded in 2017, was Liza Fishbone, an Austin-based large-scale painting and 3D printing artist.
The DoSeum relies on private, public and corporate financial contributions. Last year, the children’s museum raised $1.44 million dollars and earned $5.17 million in revenue — it spent $5.16 million on educational programming and exhibits.
Tickets for museum visitors over 1-year-old cost $18, but the DoSeum offers up to a 70% off for families on food assistance programs through its Museum for All program. About 23% of guests in 2025 utilized this discount.
Reach beyond Broadway
Part of the DoSeum’s mission is to fill gaps in STEM education for students and educators across San Antonio. The museum often works with Title I campuses, schools with large groups of low-income students, to provide courses and professional development with a focus on STEM and state education standards.
In October of 2023, the DoSeum partnered with Harlandale Independent School District to repurpose a closed special education school into a “makerspace” for students to get some of the hands-on learning and creative instruction Doseum is known for.
The makerspace is outfitted with 3-D printers, laser cutters, an esports center, a garden, a kitchen, an audio-visual studio, a drone obstacle course and several other features to fit student interests.
According to the DoSeum’s 10-year impact report, the nonprofit served 23,538 people through its outreach programs in 2025.
DoSeum’s footprint reaches far beyond San Antonio too. Through its design studio, DoSeum collaborates with other organizations inside and outside Texas to create unique exhibits and educational programs.
Projects include a 26-foot climbing playground in the pavilion of the Brownsville Children’s Museum, concept and design work for the children’s floor of the Museum of the Future in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and a library space for Child Advocates of San Antonio (CASA) using trauma-informed schemes.
Planning for growth
The DoSeum plans to expand its physical presence on Broadway soon.
In October, the nonprofit took over the lease on Good Time Charlie’s, a decades-old comfort food diner on Broadway, and purchased the surrounding property.
The transactions gave DoSeum another 1.4 acres next to its current building.
At the time, Menelly said the additional space opened the door to several possibilities: more outdoor space, parking or a reimagined front of the museum, which is currently tucked behind trees, parking and a long driveway.
On Wednesday, DoSeum spokesperson Lisa Martin-Bomnskie said the museum doesn’t have specific development plans to share but is excited about the next decade.
“The DoSeum is stronger than ever and poised for its next decade, with plans for greater impact on early learning in San Antonio and beyond,” said Menelly.
This year, visitors can expect to see a returning “Bug Squad!” exhibit featuring animatronic bug superheroes in the spring and a brand-new “Dinosaurs in Motion” exhibit opening this summer, featuring 16 life-sized and interactive dinosaur sculptures made from recycled metal.
