ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions. ***************************************************************************** Hello all, Our planetarium staff is looking to present a session at ASTC in 2006. Some of us have been to ASTC, but none of our department have presented before. The session would be about specific programs that bring new audiences to your museums - people who don't normally visit. It could be an underserved audience - economically or culturally or a group who doesn't often come to tour exhibits - senior citizens, young couples - whoever it might be in your area. I think it would be a panel presentation, unless someone thinks another format would work better. The program we want to talk about has been called Starry Nights and Little Eyes on the Skies. The idea is that in the last five years our regular planetarium audience has been getting younger and younger so that most daily programs we run are for kids under 10 or 12. There are still people in the community, adults and families with multiple children of different ages, who want more advanced planetarium content. They want to know about NASA programs and hear and see more detail than is included in our typical matinee shows. For this reason, we started our evening astronomy series. Some family members might attend our "regular" programs while others have outgrown those offerings. Other adults without children only come to the museum for these evening astronomy programs. We try to do an evening program once a month for this audience. Each night has a theme such as Mars, the Moon, or the Winter Solstice. The programs combine a planetarium show, live planetarium presentation, craft activity (for the younger children who come), light snack, and telescope observation. We don't have a permanent observatory building, so we drag out our telescopes to the courtyard and set them up for the night. Each night lasts from 7 or 8PM to 10 or 11PM. Special events like meteor showers or eclipses have to be timed with the events - 2AM, 4AM, whenever. For some events we've had speakers or special displays. I think we've come up with a successful formula for these events and want to share it. If you also have an unusual program that meets the needs of a group you don't always see, we want to present with you. Reply to me off-list and we'll work it out. Kristie M. Mazzoni Assistant Planetarium Director Science Center of Connecticut *********************************************************************** 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]