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Auckland gets science festival day

Auckland gets science festival day

A festival to let Aucklanders engage with the science that shapes our lives, the science that will shape our future, and the science that explains how the world works, launches on Saturday 14 March.

The festival began as a chance meeting between the chair of the successful Auckland Arts Festival, Victoria Carter, and Professor Richard Easther, Head of the Department of the Physics at the University of Auckland.

“When I returned to Auckland from the United States, I saw that there were few opportunities for New Zealanders to encounter science, despite the way it affects our lives today and shapes our future,” Richard Easther says.

“New Zealand has some exceptional science going on and our scientists are involved in exciting international collaborations. Internationally, festivals such as the annual Arts and Ideas festival in New Haven, or the New York-based World Festival of Science, do a great job of providing opportunities for the public to find out more about how science works, the new frontiers of exploration.”

“The festival should nurture the growing public interest in science, from the discovery of the Higgs boson or landing a Rover on Mars to world-wide scientific collaborations on climate change or cancer treatment. It's a level of interest that sees huge audiences for a television series like Cosmos, and prominent science communicators Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye achieve an extraordinary level of popular recognition.”

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Victoria Carter said Richard triggered her interest in what was happening at science festivals around the world.

“There are some amazing events being staged, and in some cases there is considerable overlap with what’s happening in the arts. I could immediately see the potential for Auckland to create a new festival that would appeal to both the traditional arts festival audiences, but also have wider appeal.

“I know from my experience with getting the Arts Festival off the ground that getting a festival up and running is a big task, but I think the benefits to the city would be substantial.

“Science is a critical part of our cultural life. It has an impact on so many of our national conversations and informs much of our cultural practices in the arts, profession, industry, and agriculture ends Victoria.”

Easther and Carter have pulled a small working group together to develop the concept around the brand thinkScience. The Festival is keen to run events that have virtual participation from multiple sites around the world, and collaborate with major international festivals to bring programming to Auckland.

“Our aim is to bring the excitement of contemporary science into the centre of our national conversation,” Richard Easther says. “We want to give New Zealanders an insight into the science that sits behind the everyday miracles of our personal lives, the science that drives our major industries, and the exploration of new frontiers from astrophysics to genetics to nanotechnology.”

A trust for the festival has been established, and a reference group of scientists is being put together.

“We’re now into the complex task of identifying potential patrons and sponsors for a bigger presence in 2016,” Victoria Carter says. “We are hoping that enough money can be raised to bring a keynote speaker and create some science activations around the City.”

Ends

Background

Businesswoman and company director, Victoria Carter has been involved in re-starting the Auckland Arts Festival since 1999. She has been Chair for the past six years and a Trustee since inception.

Richard Easther grew up in New Zealand, and after graduating with his PhD in 1994, held post-doctoral fellowships in Japan and at Brown and the United States. He was a professor at Yale University from 2004 until the end of 2011, when he returned to New Zealand. He is now a professor and Head of the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland. His work focuses on the physics of the very early universe.

So what’s on the thinkScience day?

thinkScience will debut at the Auckland Arts Festival on March 14 2015 as part of the Auckland Arts Festival’s White Night and family weekend.

‘Nanogirl’ Michelle Dickinson is on a quest to find her super powers, and will blow things up, blow things over, and blow your mind in a spectacular and NZ premier show as she explores the wonders of cloud power, wind power, magnet power and fire power. This is an early evening show in the Town Hall. Says Michelle, “there will be an extravaganza of explosions.”

Two ‘Science in the City’ panel discussions will happen in the Spiegeltent with top thinkers exploring “How does science shape our city?” The first panel will look at what makes the city work – the natural, technological, human s, and the interactions between them. If the city is machine how does it work.

You might find yourself listening to -- and asking -- questions about the future of transport, the impact of a “smart grid” where every home is a solar power station, and what this would be mean for our city and our society.

The second session focuses on ideas and innovation – how can ideas change our world. How can we live on knowledge rather than nature. (ie could our ideas industry generate more wealth than the dairy industry) How will technology developed in the city change life on the farm?

Panelists include: Tim Hazeldine, (University of Auckland, Economics), Victoria Crone (Xero, Managing Director), Steve Pointing (AUT – Ecology), Ella Henry (AUT, Te Ara Poutama), Lillian Grace (Wiki NZ), Shaun Hendy (University of Auckland, Physics), Vaughan Rowsell (Vend, CEO)
Cather Simpson (Uni of Auckland, Physics and Chemistry)


Microbiologist and glow worm enthusiast Siouxsie Wiles is running three glowing activities. In Q Theatre Siouxsie and selected artists will be displaying art works made using glowing bacteria. Meanwhile, in Aotea Square will be a photo booth with a difference, where people can step into the dark and be photographed by the light of glowing bacteria! People can also try their hand at creating glowing art, drawing their very own masterpiece using nothing more than a solution of harmless glowing bacteria and a petri-dish.

Thanks to the following supporters: The University of Auckland, MBIE, Te Punaha Matatini, MacDiarmid Institute, Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, ASB Community Trust, Buddle Findlay, and event partner Auckland Arts Festival.


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