Why Local STEM Exhibits May Be The Future Of Science Attractions

Two exciting new projects are offering a hint at what the future of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (or STEM) exhibits could look like in the US. The Bay Area Discovery Museum recently announced two grants that are funding innovative, hands-on exhibits to help with STEM education. STEM is a critical concern for educators and museum staff that are working hard to find ways to stimulate interest in these disciplines and keep students competitive. According to one estimate, just 46% of students are ready for college-level math courses and just 36% are ready for college-level science. The US ranks 27th in math and 20th in science worldwide.

The Bay Area Discovery Museum received a grant for $380,000 from the organization 100kin10. 100kin10 is a philanthropy committed to recruiting, training and retaining 100,000 excellent science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers by 2021. The grant was part of their inaugural STEM Fellowship Program, which awards support for initiatives that address major challenges in education. This year’s theme is focused on the underrepresentation of engineering in K-12 classrooms.

The Bay Area Discovery Museum will be using their grant funds to build a new mobile engineering lab. The goal of the lab is to deliver engaging and developmentally appropriate engineering curriculum to all Bay Area K-5 classrooms. Through the mobile engineering lab the Museum will bring its engineering programming directly to children, with a focus on targeting students in underserved communities. Research and development is currently underway for what format the engineering lab will take, with plans to begin piloting the program in 2017. Students and teachers will get extra support in the form of engineering activities, without having to leave the classroom.

Another project that’s being spearheaded by the Bay Area Discovery Museum is their Fab Lab. The Fab Lab is intended as an early childhood hands-on “maker space,” providing access to computers, 3D printers, and laser cutters. Visitors will learn about the design process from concept to production, with opportunities to bring their creations to life. While there has been growing interest in these technologies in numerous settings, the Bay Area Discovery Museum is the first to put them to use for children ages 3 and up.

The educational goals are clear: “Through innovative educational programs, children will develop core STEMskills, including proficiency in emergent technology, electrical engineering and computer science. The early childhood Fab Lab will serve as a foundation for an international, scalable model that will be replicated through the Fab Foundation’s global learning networks, and will also be a central resource for Bay Area children from low-income neighborhoods to spark interest in and build critical STEM skills.”

STEM attractions have been receiving increased attention and investment in the last few years, as various institutions work to connect their missions to the greater need for STEM information and learning. However, many of these new STEM attractions have failed to achieve their goals. Large and overly general programming is giving way to very focused STEM topics. The modern, streamlined and hands-on approach to the Fab Lab and mobile engineering lab from the Discovery Museum could provide an important clue on the direction projects will take in the future. Approaching STEM at the local level may be the strategy needed to make these attractions sustainable, relevant and flexible enough to adapt to the ongoing realities of a rapidly changing field.

One of the key challenges with STEM content exhibits is that they don’t just require breaking down information at an appropriate age-level. Museums also need to find a way to make abstract concepts relatable and engaging to younger visitors. Hands-on applications, integrating technology and creating a narrative around the experience – for example, the Fab Lab “maker space” concept– helps younger audiences connect to the subject matter.

A recent study showed that students enrolled in project-based learning models outperformed students in traditional science curriculums. The Bay Area Discovery Museum is a powerful example of how a museum can take this approach and adapt it to their unique audience needs. For entertainment designers and museum staff, the trend toward applied and hands-on exhibits is opening up a range of potential design opportunities. With all the incredible leaps being made in the world of STEM, exhibits can build on many different themes and go in exciting new directions in the year ahead.

Posted by Elizabeth Alton on entertainmentdesigner.com

Images sourced courtesy of Bay Area Discovery Museum, FabLab, Flickr

The Best New Year's Eve Shows Around The Globe

Ringing in the New Year is a big affair. People strive to find activities and events that are festive and memorable, with just the right notes to help welcome the year ahead. From an entertainment design perspective, New Year’s Eve events tend to be about scale: big names, big bands, big live shows, and big city-wide affairs. The coordination, attention to detail, and sheer logistical focus that it takes to bring these together is impressive. While there are more events that deserve mention than we can chronicle, here’s a closer look at four of our favorite ways to celebrate the beginning of 2015.

New Year’s Eve in Rio – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
It’s not surprising that Rio de Janeiro is home to one of the world’s best New Year’s Eve celebrations. The city hosts the annual Carnival festival, drawing nearly five million guests with its colorful parades, music, and non-stop party atmosphere. Much like Carnival, New Year’s Eve in Rio doesn’t disappoint. The celebration, which attracts approximately two million guests, incorporates traditional elements of Brazilian culture with epic displays of music and dance, culminating with a world class fireworks show on the beautiful Copacabana Beach. The New Year’s Eve events in Rio stand out for integrating local cultural elements with the more traditional trappings of a New Year’s Eve celebration.

Hofburg Silvester Ball – Vienna, Austria
Each year, Vienna’s Hofburg Palace hosts a special celebration in honor of New Year’s Eve. The event itself has all the magic of a fairytale. It’s held in an extravagant palace in the heart of Vienna and guests step out in their best formal attire for the evening. The program features classical dance performances, including a traditional Viennese waltz, live music shows, operettas, and a stunning fireworks display that can be viewed at midnight on the roof of the palace. It’s the kind of event that captures your imagination, by leveraging the power of both setting and history to create a captivating world that draws participants into a luxurious fantasy.

Hogmanay – Edinburgh, Scotland
Hogmanay, which is the Scottish term meaning ‘last day of the year,’ has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as one of the largest outdoor New Year’s Eve parties in the world. This unique celebration is a Street Party that’s like Edinburgh’s own version of the Times Square First Night celebration. Hogmanay is an evening of live music, dancing, and fireworks set against the backdrop of the iconic Edinburgh Castle. The party continues on New Year’s Day with tours of the historic city, special events, and for those who are brave enough, a refreshing plunge into the icy waters of the River Forth.

Magic Kingdom’s New Year’s Eve Celebration – Orlando, Florida
Disney’s New Year’s Eve celebration is one of the most magical in the world (of course, we’re partial to the theme park setting). The special First Night celebration always features exclusive events, live music, unique dining experiences, and guest appearances from some of Disney’s most beloved characters. But this year, Imagineers have upped the ante by live streaming the ‘Fantasy in the Sky’ fireworks display on the Disney blog. Those who wish they were there for all of the First Night action at Magic Kingdom can experience it from their home computer screens starting at 11:40PM on New Year’s Eve. It’s a not-to-be-missed festival of lights featuring all the magic of Disney.

It doesn’t matter where you’re located in the world; First Night is a perfect time to celebrate. Whether you’re planning to attend Edinburgh Hogmanay or you’ll simply be enjoying the fireworks display at Magic Kingdom from the comfort of your own home, put your party hats on and have a Happy New Year!

Posted by Elizabeth Alton on entertainmentdesigner.com

Image sources: Hofburg.com;  New Year’s Brazil; Hogmanay; Flickr

Special Olympics Opening Out Of This World

Siteline Productions project featured in Los Angeles Times

For months, it has been little more than a curious promotional slogan, an attempt to excite the city about a Special Olympics World Games that many did not quite understand.

What exactly did “Reach Up L.A.” mean, anyway?

Then, on a deeply powerful Saturday night at the Coliseum, L.A. found out.

During the parade of athletes at the World Games' opening ceremony, those with intellectual disabilities and disorders from around the world did a most appropriate, yet nonetheless amazing, thing.

They reached up.

There was no waving of giant flags, because this isn't about competition between countries. There was no preening of recognizable stars, because this also isn't about individual competition.

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The 6,500 athletes from 165 delegations simply marched in with their arms stretched high, as if punching through stereotypes, stretching past expectations, reaching beyond dreams.

Some later waved their caps. Some pumped their fists. Some simply swayed and danced and basked in the constant cheers from 62,338 fans who were suddenly touching the sky with them.

From Greece to Austria to China to Cuba to New Zealand, from hugs to held hands to blown kisses, everybody reaching up.

When the United States was the last team to enter, the roar was enormous, but the biggest cheers seemed to come from the other athletes themselves, and chants of “U-S-A” were quickly drowned out in all the noise, because, you know, this just wasn't about that.

Photos from the opening ceremony for the Special Olympics World Games on Saturday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

“This is the most amazing place, a place we don't always find in the rest of our world, ” said Jeneka Greif, a track athlete from Canada. “This is a place we are all equal.”

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FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this column misspelled Canadian track athlete Jeneka Greif's first name as Jeneke.

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By the time the athletes had completed their long walk down a red carpet that cut through the middle of the Coliseum floor, it was clear they were far more than equals. For the next nine days, in 25 sports, representing the biggest athletic gathering in Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympics — the Special Olympians will be Hollywood's brightest stars.

Nobody the Dodgers or Angels will acquire at the trade deadline will match their courage. No USC or UCLA football player preparing for camp can match their strength.

“I'm the second Michael Jordan, you want to know why?” asked USA's 6-foot-6 basketball center Andre Markfort. “My middle name is Michael and I used to live in a town in Minnesota called Jordan. I am serious!”

Yeah, few can also match their humor, as Markfort's joke elicited howls of laughter from teammates as they prepared to walk the red carpet.

Special Olympians are cool. They just are. Their joyous presence overshadowed the sort of opening ceremony stuff that is usually the big story during traditional Olympics.

President Barack Obama spoke via video — “You represent the very best of the human spirit” — but equally impressive was David Egan, a former Special Olympics swimmer who was the first person to take the stage and immediately began leading the crowd in cheers.

First Lady Michelle Obama showed up to close the ceremonies with words of inspiration, but equally as neat were the Uganda athletes who prepared for the ceremonies next door by boogeying across the Sports Arena floor.

Stevie Wonder sang, Maria Shriver remembered her mother and Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and the reciting of the Special Olympics oath was given by Kansas City Chiefs running back and former Special Olympian Jamaal Charles, who suffers from a learning disability. But equally compelling was watching the athletes interact with each other throughout the afternoon.

Some just walked around wide-eyed and grinning. They are the only world-class athletes who actually want you to take their picture. They are the only ones who declare strongly that they want to win then quietly admit that it really doesn't matter.

“Obviously, I want to win, ” said Matthais Attard, a swimmer from Malta. “But if I can't, I'm just glad for the chance to hear the cheers. The cheers are pure awesome.”

Anna-Louise Kassulke, the leader of the Australian delegation, said “These athletes are always getting excluded from different sectors in their lives, but here, they're brought inside by sport at its purest. All the controversy in sports around the world? Not at the Special Olympics.”

Well, that's not exactly true, not this week. Organizers here deserve a bit of a wrist slap for creating isolated nightmares for athletes and spectators in recent days.

Transportation problems, including a lack of local buses, caused long delays for arriving athletes Tuesday night, resulting in delegations stranded for hours at LAX. Hundreds of athletes were even forced to sleep on the gym floor at Loyola Marymount's Gersten Pavilion while waiting to be transported to the appropriate housing. Organizers initially failed to supply the stranded ones with ample food and water, reportedly resulting in fights over food.

Can you imagine the world outcry if this were the sort of welcome given athletes in traditional Olympics? Actually, there is no need to imagine. Just think Sochi.

Late Saturday afternoon, thousands of fans felt the athletes' pain. Because many Coliseum gates were closed for the security of dignitaries that included the first lady, the incoming crowd was funneled into a few north end gates. The result was lines stretching hundreds deep, requiring more than an hour wait for fans jammed together under a blazing sun. It wasn't pretty and again, one has to wonder, what sort of worldwide humiliation would be felt by the city of Los Angeles if this were a traditional Olympics?

Of course, the fact that this is the Special Olympics will allow the organizers to avoid much criticism, because there is no humiliation here. There are no losers here. There are not even any frowns here. Once sweaty spectators navigated their way into the Coliseum, they were greeted by high-fiving athletes as they walked to their seats, and how can you still be mad after that?

The one constant throughout the ceremony was the Special Olympics oath, looming on an end zone scoreboard.

“Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

That scoreboard was directly underneath the flickering Olympic caldron. By the end of the night, after the cauldron had been lit with the final torch being held by 1984 caldron lighter Rafer Johnson and Special Olympian Destiny Sanchez, the words were almost close enough to touch the flame. Actually, they did. Reached right on up.

Written by Bill Plashcke

Honoring Veterans: Art And Other Tactics At The Museum Of Craft and Design

We are all connected to a veteran; be a family member or a story of war. During Summer 2015, I worked with the exhibitions team at the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco to create a Gallery Guide that tells more in-depth stories about each veteran/artists. The Guide augments the exhibition Art and Other Tactics: Contemporary Craft by Artist Veterans (September 26th, 2015 through March 27th 2016); this exhibition shows crafts and art objects created by more than 30 veterans who are artists spanning the past half-century.

The Museum of Craft and Design strives to present relevant and engaging programs and exhibitions about craft and design. I believe that Art and Other Tactics is a great example of an engaging exhibition that will inspire audiences to reflect inwardly as well and contemplate the veteran experience. The relevance of this exhibition is timeless; our country’s history is built on the backs of our veterans who fought both willingly and unwillingly in many international conflicts that defined their eras. The opportunity to display art that reflects the veteran’s experience is crucial to understanding ourselves as Americans.

I worked with Curatorial Assistant and Registrar Ariel Zaccheo to develop a comprehensive booklet that gives a narrative to each piece of artwork. My research involved compiling and synthesizing biographies, articles, art critiques and interviews. The stories I came upon grounded and astounded me; each veteran used art to reflect on the trials of life. The connectivity between all veterans’ experiences is fascinating, while at the same time each story is unique and reflects a new component of the human condition.

Harvey Littelton

Harvey Littleton was a glassmaker and served in an intelligence unit during the Second World War. After his service, Littleton pursued his long awaited passion of sculpture and glassmaking. Littleton fueled the United States small glass studio movement in the early 1960s; his collaborative experiments in glassmaking made the career of Dale Chihuly possible.

Artist: Michael Aschenbrenner

A Vietnam veteran and glass artists Michael Aschenbrenner jumped from a helicopter and injured his knee; for two weeks he had no access to medical aid. This injury stayed with him both physically and mentally and is reflected in much of his work. After his service Aschenbrenner attended University of Minnesota; a ceramics professor suggested exploring glass to best convey his concepts. The glass forms subtly show the form of a human bone in Aschenbrenner’s Damaged Bonesseries. Like injuries in war, the forms are splinted with wooden sticks wrapped in medical tape. The glass forms themselves are ghostly, “Life itself is fragile—like bone, like glass; and therefore all the more precious. The glass objects connect us to the limbs and bodies left behind and the limbs splinted, wired or bandaged left to heal.”

Artist: Jessica Putnam-Phillips

Jessica Putnam-Phillips was born into a military family. She was raised all over the world as a “Navy-brat”. Putnam-Phillips served in the US Air Force as a military intelligence specialist and deployed to the Middle East. During her time in the Middle East she became fascinated with gender roles. In Putnam-Phillips’ “Pretty Little Things” series, ceramic platters and plates depict female servicewomen in combat juxtaposed with traditional tableware motifs and decoration. Putnam-Phillips combines military iconography with traditional elements of classical Willow Ware china patterns.

The narratives I discovered caused me to reflect on my own life and the lives of veterans who have seen and experienced unspeakable tragedy and rebuilding.

University of San Francisco's Museum Blog

by Miriam Blumenfeld