The List That Launched a Dream: Behind the Scenes of Once in a Lifetime

Words can be powerful. When they’re put in the right order, at the right time, by the right people, they can become magical.

The short documentary Once in a Lifetime, produced by Exploration Place to celebrate the museum’s 25th anniversary, revolves around such a combination of words. Long before the museum opened—nearly a decade earlier, in fact—there was the “Once in a Lifetime” list. Ten guiding principles that outlined the dream for a proposed science center.

Entertain | Educate | Everyone | Everyday | Downtown | Signature Building
Park Setting | On the River | Tourist Attraction | Stimulate Development

“That’s the elevator speech. Our list of ten things describing the potential of this organization,” said Phil Frick, Exploration Place Founder, during an exclusive interview for the film. “It gives you a lens to look at something through.”

With that vision in hand, Phil and the rest of Exploration Place’s first explorers forged on with a clearly defined goal—a dream that became reality on April 1, 2000. Over time, the list faded into memory, until it resurfaced 25 years later during the making of this film.

“I was aware of the ‘Once in a Lifetime’ list thanks to the How It All Began scrapbook the Fricks put together,” said Director Nate Jones. “But I really started paying attention to the list when Phil emailed it to me while we set up his interview. I decided to have him read the list on camera—‘just in case’ we needed it for the movie.”

Frick was the first person interviewed for the project. After that, Jones continued having interviewees read the list at the end of each film session, unsure how it would all come together. After a trip to Boston to interview design architect Moshe Safdie, Jones had a project status meeting with Exploration Place President & CEO Adam Smith in mid-December 2024.

“I told Adam, ‘I’ve been having everyone read this list of ten things,’” Jones recalled. “He looked at me and said, ‘You know about the Once in a Lifetime list?’ He told me the story of how he got the list, and from that point on, I knew we had a place to start and somewhere to go, but how we were going to get there was a complete mystery.” 

All told, between interviews and archived footage, approximately 17 hours of material were collected to shape into a documentary no longer than 25 minutes. Naturally, some gems ended up on the cutting room floor—though all of the new interview footage is right at home in the museum’s now-bolstered archives. Who knows? Maybe those gems will resurface in a future project…or even a blog post.

“We should all take great pride in leaving our beloved community, our region and our state far more beautiful and far better for the next generation,” proclaimed former Wichita Mayor Bob Knight during the museum’s 1997 groundbreaking ceremony at Century II. “To me, that’s what Exploration Place is all about.”

Despite its lean runtime, Once in a Lifetime delivers a nostalgic, heartfelt look at the museum’s origins. The film explores the international architectural search that ultimately led to Moshe Safdie, chosen from a shortlist that included Frank Gehry and Norman Foster.

“Our objective has been to find a way to maximize the beauty and quality of the site,” Safdie said when the design for Exploration Place was unveiled to the public on April 23, 1996. “We felt this should be a building…where indoor and outdoor activities complement one another. It must be a building of the people, and therefore it must be a building which is inviting, which is extrovert.”

The documentary also reflects on the impact Exploration Place has made in its first 25 years—on Wichita, the surrounding communities, and across Kansas. And it offers a glimpse of what’s next, with a look at EP2, the museum’s major new expansion now under construction.

All of it began with a simple list of ten bullet points—an elevator speech turned blueprint, vision turned legacy.

“This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all of us to bring to Wichita an extraordinary community asset that will improve the quality of life for decades to come,” said Phil Fick in an interview for the 2001 Chamber of Commerce award video.