ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************
Over the past few years, we've noticed a lot of young couples coming to the Friday evening show. The idea emerged to do a program directed at them. We don't have the resources to do programs like the Fernbank or the Rose Center and their Jazz nights, but perhaps a more intimate event will work.
This is from an e-mail I sent in February to the Dome-L planetarium listserve:
"Like many museums, we have many older visitors and many families with young
children. It's also common that people in the area have no idea this
facility exists, so reaching out to new audiences is crucial. Valentine's
day is a good excuse to bring in professional-age adults.
"This year we are doing a "Valentine Evening Under the Stars" for the first
time. If it's clear, our old orange-tube Celestron will be set up to look at
the crescent moon. There will be a brief planetarium show; I'll be telling
the story of the Celestial Princess and the Shepherd, Orpheus and Eurydice,
and the like, and take people on a tour of Eros. We'll also have a live
musical performance, sweet snacks, and an activity where people will make a
keepsake personalized constellation. (The last is my little dig at the
deceptive practices of star-naming companies, shields up against flames)
This is the first time we're doing this, so we'll have to see how it goes."
in retrospect:
It went well, but next time we will take reservations. We will also build up the atmosphere, with more live music, and using the smaller, more atmospheric planetarium science gallery rather than the echo-y, clinically-lit, main gallery. The keepsake constellation and the telescope were the highlights of the night.
Also: one couple came up all the way from Manhattan, a 35-minute train ride.
Marc Taylor
Coordinator, Andrus Planetarium
Hudson River Museum
511 Warburton Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10701
914 963 4550 x223
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Regan Forrest [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 1:55 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: increasing programs for young (and not so young) adults
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************
****************
We're all pretty good at reaching families, school groups, and teens,
but how about people like me? A young thirty-something, no kids, not
married, looking for something hip to do for the evening?
****************
And by all reports this is a growing demographic! As well as an aging
population, around a quarter of those who are in their thirties now will
never be parents (at least by UK estimates, I know the US has a higher
birth rate but the trend probably still holds). So if all our marketing
is family focused, there will be a huge chunk of people we will be
missing in the coming decades.
I reserve the right to want something 'hip' to do in the evening into my
forties and beyond :-)
Agree that art museums are ahead of science museums in this game, so far
at least.
***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]
***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]
|
