Julia Bland’s office at the Louisiana Children’s Museum has all the hallmarks of a school principal’s office. The big wooden desk and accordion folders full of paperwork are offset by children’s artwork, exposed pipes painted bright green and orange, and the thump, thump, thump of toddlers tromping on the floor above.

Bland herself seems perfectly suited to the schoolhouselike setting. As she describes it, her mission as head of this particular museum is less that of curator and more that of educator. She lays stress on the work her 17-member staff does at schools around the city as part of grant-funded initiatives aimed at improving literacy and fighting childhood obesity, among other causes.

“We have a belief that all children are born full of potential,” Bland said. “And this is a way to help that potential be realized for some children who may not be able to make it here to this building.”

These days, though, another mission is taking up a lot of Bland’s time, and it has everything to do with the museum’s physical space, currently a three-story building in the Warehouse District but soon — if all the necessary funding comes through — a more expansive, open-air setting along the bayou in City Park.