In December 2025, The Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS) unveiled plans to begin construction of a new campus on its 60-acre campus, hidden away in Daytona’s Tuscawilla Preserve just west of the Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway (US A1A) on Nova Road. The combination of the beautifully serene park with the artistic, historical, and scientific contents of the buildings is a profound intersection of the inside and outside world. The launch of a new name, brand, and philosophy are indicative of both the thought and institutional awareness the team has put into the strategic shift. The Brown, as MOAS is now known, has announced a transformation from “hidden gem” to “crown jewel” that will see its doors closing later this month until construction is complete in Fall 2028.
Luckily, there are several ways the Smithsonian-affiliated museum will remain accessible to the community during construction.
Planetarium Remains Open
The planetarium will remain open throughout the two-year construction phase, but without walk-in access. The planetarium is already known for creative combinations music and visuals but the new ticketed events on the horizon - including “Howl at the Moon” where visitors can bring their dogs to the planetarium – indicate an ever-expanding creative approach the museum is developing to delight the Daytona area long into the future.
While the planetarium will remain open during construction, it will be expanded to include a new 60-foot dome that will double seating capacity and offer immersive shows anchored by a redesigned Science Gallery.
Programming in the Community Continues
The Brown will remain active in the community through several existing programs.
- Museum in Motion brings hands-on learning to schools, libraries, and events via its mobile outreach van.
- Lohman Field Studies delivers standards-based curricula directly to the classroom ensuring local students continue to benefit from the museum’s educational resources.
- Summer Learning Institute (SLI) will partner with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) to continue offering the week-long hands-on STEAM summer camp for children and teens.
Expansion & Transformation
The esteemed architectural firm selected to redesign The Brown is the same firm behind much of the ERAU campus. Joe Tattoni, Design Principal of ikon.5 architects explains the scope and vision behind the new design.
“Museums are becoming more interactive with visitors in how collections are displayed and how technology is utilized to further satisfy curiosity,” said Mr. Tattoni. The architecture and the exhibitions will be designed to work together to fulfill the Museum’s mission to ignite curiosity and connections to art, science and history.
Permanent galleries will be immersive and technology-forward with interactive storytelling and interpretive experiences across art, science, and history. Extending the museum’s interactivity will be a multi-sensory performance hall, a first-of-its-kind experience for Central Florida.
Non-traditional multi-purpose collection galleries such as a black box events hall will be able to host cultural, art, music, and performance gatherings; a temporary traveling collection gallery will showcase artwork and exhibits from around the country to enrich the museum’s offerings; and a planetarium and science gallery will provide a hands-on sense of discovery and innovation.
The existing MOAS will be removed and replaced with a new structure connecting to The Brown’s Museum of Art and an expanded welcome center with streamlined ticketing and a new café. New outdoor activation areas will include a redesigned environmental education trail through the Tuscawilla Preserve.
The transformation will bring the museum into the 21st century and beyond.
Membership Options
The museum has created new ways to keep members engaged and to encourage new members to sign up through a Buy Two Years – Get One Year Free family membership offer that includes:
- priority registration for SLI
- invitations to member-only events and programs
- behind-the-scenes experiences
- pop-up programs
- special preview days before the reopening
- Framing the Future newsletter with insider updates, sneak peeks, and exclusive behind-the-scenes stories
The New Nova Society
The museum's new invitation-only philanthropic circle, the Nova Society, is helping to shape the future of The Brown and has already announced upcoming one-of-a-kind experiences for Nova Society members.
Bourbon and Blueprints is an immersive evening event on March 20 to toast the museum’s new vision, explore the architectural plans, and experience firsthand how philanthropy and creativity intersect at The Brown.
Inside the Frame – The Art that Shaped Me features The Brown’s CEO, Tabitha Schmidt, who enjoyed a childhood raised in an immersive creative environment, eventually pursuing degrees in art as well as a master’s in art history. “My arts education included real-life experiences as a museum docent - eventually building program and facility expansions at both the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and as CEO of Powell Gardens in Kansas City,” said Tabitha. She relates that she enjoys being a change agent and sees now how her pathway to Daytona has prepared her well to lead The Brown through its transformation. With a play on The Brown’s new logo, she will share an inside-the-frame look at the art she fell in love with on her journey.
Moving a Museum – An Inside Look at the Collection is a behind-the-scenes look at the process of inventorying, digitizing, and storing the extensive collection donated to the museum by Cici and Hyatt Brown. Cici relates how she started as a docent through the junior service league in 1971, one year after the museum opened. She and Hyatt were inspired to begin collecting paintings of Florida artists after viewing the collection of Florida art built by the Vickers of Jacksonville. “As is often the case with serious collectors,” Cici says with a smile, “We needed to build extra space to house our growing collection and so, eventually, an art museum was born.”
The Browns
The extraordinary couple powering this once-in-a-lifetime transformation are cultural, scientific, and history-minded people who are fast-tracking their goal to leave a lasting legacy to the Daytona area. Their contributions to the community are well known and recognized, but behind the scenes they have built a philanthropy of wise stewards whose mantra is to be business-minded, mission-driven, as well as thoughtful and careful in the museum’s growth. The pressure to get it right only fuels the team to design and fund a successful, long-term, and sustainable legacy that continues to reflect Cici and Hyatt Brown’s dedication to the region’s educational advancement, cultural enrichment, and the community’s exposure to an expanding world view.
Once-in-a-Lifetime Naming Opportunities and Matching Gift Program
As Cici and Hyatt Brown make an enduring $203M commitment to support the museum, the community will also have several significant once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to signal its own appreciation to the museum and its founders. While the Browns have designed an endowment to fund operational expenses of the museum moving forward, funding operations during construction is tight given the loss of museum revenue. In addition, the support of the community is imperative to the full completion of the museum redesign.
In order to galvanize the fundraising effort, the Browns have laid out plans to maximize their investment. Their financial gift to the museum in 2024 was already the largest cultural donation in Florida’s history and since the new announcement in early December, they have further increased their donation by an additional $53M for a total gift of $203M.
The $75M matching program within their gift is based on a community fundraising goal of raising an additional $25M which the Browns will match on a 3 to 1 basis. With the advent of a new campus, however, comes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to place family names on buildings and halls in perpetuity.
“We have a finite number of naming opportunities,” announced Hyatt Brown during the unveiling of construction plans. The naming opportunities are a tangible way for community-minded philanthropists to join the Browns and the museum team as wise stewards of what is planned to be Florida’s largest museum.
Farewell Event
The Brown will host a farewell event this month to temporarily close out the museum’s public on-site programming, honor the past, and look forward to the future. More information is available at moas.org.
The museum's new invitation-only philanthropic circle, the Nova Society, is helping to shape the future of The Brown and has already announced upcoming one-of-a-kind experiences for Nova Society members.