BRC Imagination Arts is undertaking the renovation of a museum dedicated to the life of circus showman PT Barnum.

Based in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the original 1893 museum suffered damages after being hit by a series of fires, tornadoes and hurricanes over the years. The new-look attraction will use state-of-the-art technology and special effects, original artefacts, cinema and visitor immersion in exhibits and installations that inspire guests and educate them about Barnum’s inventor’s creativity, ability to innovate and entrepreneurial attitude.

PT Barnum was born in the early 1800s and is famed across the world for being a pioneer of the entertainment industry and developing his big-top circus business. The colourful and controversial character was played by Hugh Jackman in the recent hit musical The Greatest Showman.

He opened the American Museum in New York, New York, in 1842 and went on to create the Greatest Show on Earth in his later years. That business was carried on by James Bailey followed by the Ringling Bros.

"PT Barnum basically invented American show business," BRC chair Bob Rogers told Parade magazine. "He created the modern museum and the ‘travelling-circus-as-spectacle’. And to promote these, he invented the modern art of advertising and promotion. And he was an impresario, a writer, a politician, civic leader, an urban planner, a beloved temperance lecturer, and, well, you get the idea.

"Our goal from the beginning was to tell Barnum’s story the way Barnum would have done it had he had our wondrous toolkit of 21st century special effects and wizardry."

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