Science comes to city venues as annual festival returns

The third annual Nottingham Festival of Science and Curiosity takes place this year between February 8-15.

It will be held at various locations across Nottingham and aims to at encourage the people to express their curiosity and engage in science, technology, maths and engineering, learning and culture.

The festival kicks off with the Explorers Fair at the Broadway Cinema, with three days of activities for schools, where pupils will have the opportunity to experiment with gadgets, technology and games workshops before the fair is opened up to the public on the Saturday.

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Then on the evening of Friday, February 10, the festival goes public with a number of events to coincide with Nottingham’s annual Light Night. Not to miss is a tribute to Bowie and Eno at THiNK in Cobden Chambers, Pelham Street, where participants will be able to create their own snowglobes and psychedelic projections.

The weekend of the festival will see a whole host of free public engagement events across the city – from a set of giant lungs and a mobile planetarium in the intu Broadmarsh Centre to an entire day of worms-themed activities at the National Videogame Arcade in Hockley as well as many exciting demonstrations about optical illusions and dinosaurs at Nottingham Central Library.

Then, from February 13-15, the Festival will be on the road, visiting community venues in neighbourhoods across the city.

This is the third year of the Festival, which is organised through the Stemcity partnership which promotes opportunities for citizen engagement in science and technology, learning and culture.

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Partners include Nottingham Trent University, the University of Nottingham, Nottingham City Council, the National Videogame Arcade, Broadway Media Centre, Central College, Futures, STEM Learning and this year’s festival organisers Ignite!.

This year’s Festival is sponsored by One Nottingham. Most activities and events are free to attend, although a small charge may apply to some activities at the Explorers Fair.

Hasmita Chavda, the festival’s curator, explained the purpose of the festival: “We want to show everybody that science is everywhere, that it can be fun, hands-on and is full of possibilities. We really want to promote the idea that asking questions is as – if not more –important than having answers. “Curiosity, asking why and being playful are at the heart of the festival.”

For a full programme of events, visit www.stemcity.co.uk/festival.html

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