Next Vistas Campaign

Prairie Playscape groupThe Next Vistas campaign was a multi-year campaign to raise $5 million dollars to support the Flint Hills Discovery Center launched on April 6, 2019. The campaign closed in 2022 with the opening of the $1.3 million Prairie Playscape children's exhibit renovation, the signature project of the Next Vistas campaign.

The Flint Hills Discovery Center, a gemstone almost as magnificent as the land it pays homage to, captures and shares the stories of the place, the people and the promise that is the Flint Hills. In doing so, the Discovery Center celebrates the Flint Hills prairie and works toward its preservation and sustainability.

The New Vistas Campaign, led by the Flint Hills Discovery Center Foundation, a 501(c)3 charitable organization, served to develop private support for the Flint Hills Discovery Center. Capital, equipment, endowment and educational programming - exhibits, outreach, classes, tours, special events and more - were the focus of the campaign. This campaign, to reach new vistas in the Discovery Center's history, served to enrich, enhance and expand the Discovery Center's unique educational opportunities as it engaged Kansans, Americans and people from around the world.

Thank you to all our Prairie Playscape exhibit donors:

  • Prairie Playscape Carl and Mary Ice
  • Dan and Beth Bird
  • BNSF Foundation
  • Deihl Foundation - Greater Manhattan Community Foundation
  • Phil Howe
  • Roger and Kathleen Lanksbury
  • John and Karen McCulloh
  • Sunderland Foundation
  • Wallace Family Foundation
  • Weary Foundation
  • Flint Hills Leadership Children's Endowment Fund
  • January and Frank Lyons
  • Richard and Mary Jo Myers Family Foundation
  • Bank of the Flint Hills
  • Central National Bank
  • Downs Farms LLC
  • Kent Glasscock and Janna Williams
  • Richard Porter
  • Roberta "Bo" and Robert Swanson
  • Mitch and Susan Adams
  • Beach Family Foundation
  • Paul and Christine Benne
  • Nelson and Marilyn Galle
  • James and Debra Gordon Family
  • Dennis Hemmendinger and Sue Maes
  • Karen and Gordon Hibbard Family
  • Tom and Vera Hintz Family
  • KanEquip Inc
  • Lowell and Stacy Kohlmeier
  • Caroln S Kruse Foundation
  • Jack and Lindy Lindquist
  • M.R. Metzger Family Foundation
  • Charles and Sharon Reagan
  • John and Mary Beth Reese
  • Chuck and Sue Rice
  • Bill and Erma Riley
  • RK Cattle Company
  • Derrick and MaryKris Roberson Family
  • Brad and Susie Shaw
  • Warren and Carol Weibert