This CRPA project seeks to use the arts (theater) to explain and interest audiences about three large NSF sponsored science centers in the state of South Dakota, Washington and Louisiana. Content of the programs include the physical sciences: Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Materials and famous scientists such as Richard Feynman. The audiences include a broad spectrum of the public including underserved groups such as Native Americans and other underrepresented minorities, people with disabilities, and particularly citizens in rural environments. In addition to the PI, Dr. Brian Schwartz, the project will be a cooperative endeavor with the Dusel Homestake facility in South Dakota, and the two LIGO facilities in Louisiana and the state of Washington.
In cooperation with the two NSF sponsored LIGO sites in Louisiana and Washington as well as the NSF sponsored Solar Neutrino capture site in South Dakota, the PI and his team will help the local arts groups design appropriate plays that will bring science to the rural audiences near these sites. By so doing, it is hoped that the local public will be more understanding of and have greater interest in the many aspects of the scientific endeavors in their community. Thus, the developed expertise in the arts personnel should enable them to derive more productions on the science of these sites and to work with the scientists on site.
It is important to note that these productions will strive to inculcate the local culture(s) which include rural residents, Native Americans, people with disabilities, and other underserved and underrepresented audiences. Through this medium it is anticipated that science education will derived in a relaxed and entertaining atmosphere. Past experience has been centered in urban environments where the Arts are more common. This project is an experiment in rural environments where there are many fewer science centers and art productions dealing with science.
The primary objective of this grant was to work with NSF and government supported science facilities in different parts of the country to help them to better interact and communicate with the communities in which they are located and to better explain the science of the facilities. The three NSF-funded facilities selected for this project were: the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) at Hanford, WA; the LIGO facility in Livingston, LA; and, the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory ( DUSEL) facility in Lead, SD. The locations were of particular interest and opportunity because each one has a significant minority population: Hispanic (LIGO Hanford), Native American (DUSEL) and African American (LIGO Livingston). The methodology used to achieve community interactions with the NSF facilities makes use of the interface of science and the arts (particularly the performing arts) with the concomitant ability to attract new audiences not normally interested in science per se. A major result of the NSF grant has been its significant impact in expanding and improving science communication in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields to include an A for the Arts giving rise to the new acronym STEAM. The dissemination of the Science & the Arts techniques and accomplishments has been intellectually recognized through peer reviewed publications and invited talks at conferences. As examples, see the article Communicating Science through the Performing Arts (INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE REVIEWS, Vol. 39 No. 3, September 2014, 275–89) and the invited talk The Use of Theater and the Performing Arts in Science Education and the Teaching of History (http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2015.MAR.B19.1). In science and theatre we have demonstrated that there are no limits to the amount of creativity and diversity of subject matter especially in areas of biography, major science events, scientific and technical innovation, the benefits and dangers of modern science, and science as metaphor. In addition to the NSF grant, a science outreach series under the title Science & the Performing Arts has been in operation at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The performances at the Graduate Center have provided examples and material for Science & the Arts presentations. The broad impact has been to bring science to students and the public in ways that are engaging, instructive, and artistic and always, content-driven: the medium is the arts; the message is the joy of science. This has resulted in over 120 science and performing arts programs which have been documented on the website http://sciart.commons.gc.cuny.edu/ In addition to NSF support, the use of the Arts to communicate STEAM has been recognized with additional support by professional societies such as the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics.
