Community Corner
Da Vinci Science Center Sets Several New Participation, Visitation Records
The Da Vinci Science Center (DSC) set several new records for participation and visitation during its 2013 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, 2013, and topped 100,000 total participants in a year for the first time.
The Da Vinci Science Center brought science to life for 125,209 people of all ages during the year, surpassing the previous year’s record of 93,503 participants by 33.9 percent. Total participation includes visitors to the Center’s exhibit floor, participants in Center programs and events, and attendees of birthday parties and private events held at the Center.
The Center also achieved new records in total in-building attendance with 99,193 people, in memberships sold with 1,170 households, and in single-day paid attendance with 1,091 people on Feb. 17, 2013. The Center’s single-day paid participation record prior to the 2013 fiscal year – 931 people on Dec. 29, 2005 – was surpassed six times.The Da Vinci Science Center attributes this success to three primary factors – momentum coming into the year generated through its workforce development initiatives, increased visibility generated by the appearance of the world-famous exhibition Bodies Revealed at the Center from Oct. 2012-Feb. 2013, and the quality of all of its experiences. The Center had increased its total participation by 27.0 percent over three years prior to FY2013 and continued experiencing increases in participation and visitation over the previous year after the appearance of Bodies Revealed. The Center’s current presentation of the blockbuster exhibition GROSSOLOGY: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body drove an exhibit floor visitation increase of 43.2 percent in June 2013.
“The Da Vinci Science Center entered its 2013 fiscal year poised to transition from a moderately-sized family attraction to a powerful cultural and educational force in our region,” said Lin Erickson, the Center’s Executive Director and CEO. “We were able to be both worthy of the opportunity to present once-in-a-lifetime exhibit experiences, impressive enough for consumers to sustain their engagement with us, and vibrant enough to raise our community recognition substantially.”
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The Bodies Revealed and GROSSOLOGY exhibitions have appeared as part of the Da Vinci Science Center’s Year of the Human Body project, which is presented by St. Luke’s University Network and continues through Sept. 15, 2013. Along with the major exhibit experiences, the medical workforce development project has featured a sold-out mini-medical school program for high school students and adults; two sold-out mini-medical school Summer Camp sessions that will take place in Aug. 2013, for students entering grades 5-8; visitor activities at the Center’s Inquiry Island; Science On the Move Programs in the community; this summer’s Gross Games visitor activities; a season’s episodes of the Center’s Up and Atom Science series of WFMZ 69 News at Sunrise; and several additional public appearances. The Year of the Human Body also has been supported by Capital BlueCross, Daiichi Sankyo, the Fleming Foundation, the Arangio Family Orthopedic Fund, the County of Lehigh, The Rider-Pool Foundation, and Discover Lehigh Valley.
The Da Vinci Science Center will follow its Year of the Human Body with a Year of Innovation project that promises to feature exciting new permanent and traveling exhibits and programs for people of all ages. Details of the Year of Innovation will be announced in the following weeks.