Thinktank Planetarium Celebrates another Cosmic Year
Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum is celebrating another year of ‘out-of-this-world’ success, with its on-site digital Planetarium welcoming a record 90,465 visitors through its doors in 2011. This is the highest number of visitors to the Planetarium since the popular addition to the museum opened in December 2005.
Throughout 2011, the Planetarium has presented a variety of educational and inspirational shows to visitors and school groups. Audiences have been taken on journeys through the galaxy, seen the surface of alien planets, travelled through the human body, and been immersed in displays of music and light.
The Planetarium has held a number of one-off events and shows throughout 2011, including:
- In March 2011, the Planetarium hosted the second UK Fulldome Film Festival. Dozens of international delegates attended this two-day event, which showcased the artistic and experimental uses of Fulldome immersive environments.
- Throughout the year, there were numerous sell-out performances of Pink Floyd shows. This was the first time that these visually spectacular digital dome events, accompanied by the music of Pink Floyd were presented to audiences in the UK. People travelled from as far as Wales and Scotland to attend the groundbreaking shows.
- In October 2011, the Planetarium held the first Domeheads performance, highlighting artistic fulldome content by both amateur and professional artists. The next Domeheads performance will be held in February (www.thinktank.ac/domeheads)
- In October, the planetarium was booked twice for a candlelit ‘dinner under the stars’, with one occasion involving a successful marriage proposal. Private hire of the planetarium has been popular, with dinner parties, customised birthday shows and wedding anniversaries.
In addition, in June 2011 planetarium volunteer Rutu Joshi outshone 60 entrants to win the British Museum’s Regional Volunteer Award for the Midlands, after which she went on to win the UK National Volunteer Award at a ceremony in London.
Mario Di Maggio, Planetarium Manager comments, “It has been an extraordinary year for the Planetarium at Thinktank. We’ve hosted a number of exciting events and shows, and feedback from our visitors has been tremendously positive. The Planetarium is an amazing venue for Birmingham, and our digital projection system offers a truly immersive experience. We are pleased to present such a great variety of shows for our visitors, and are looking at even more great events in 2012.”
The Planetarium is free to Thinktank Tickets holders. Prices for one-off / evening events vary. Visit www.thinktank.ac/planetarium for details.
