The World Science Festival and Con Edison will stop next in Queens, on Sunday, September 25, 10am-4pm. The event continues a new series of free daylong programs, one in each of the five boroughs, aimed at engaging New Yorkers of all ages in the exploration of science, technology, engineering, and math. With City of Science, the internationally acclaimed Festival’s hometown presence grows beyond its signature, weeklong annual festival to include events throughout the year and across New York City. York College hosts the Queens City of Science in its Health & Physical Education Complex (160-02 Liberty Ave., Jamaica).
Each year in New York City, the World Science Festival engages a broad general audience in the thrill of scientific discovery, with 50+ original programs presented over five days in a variety of indoor and outdoor locations. The Festival culminates in a street fair that transforms Washington Square Park into an outdoor lab for a day, highlighting the fascinating ways that science shapes our lives. City of Science, produced by the Festival and presented by Con Edison, has turned the street fair into a touring interactive exhibition that launched May 7 at Lehman College in the Bronx and continued in Washington Square on June 5, the final day of the 2016 Festival. Dates and locations for Brooklyn and Staten Island are forthcoming.
Among the City of Science offerings are a giant pendulum wave that barely fits in a gymnasium; a seismic accelerator that uses gravity and elasticity to launch small objects; non-Newtonian fluids that let you walk on water; a giant, toppling seven-foot domino; a spacetime simulator that uses marbles to explore general relativity; and mind-bending competitions, challenges, and puzzles.
Tracy Day, Co-Founder and CEO of the World Science Festival, said, “We are thrilled to take City of Science to Queens, and to give kids in the borough a day to experience science through hands-on play. We’re grateful to Con Edison for making City of Science possible, and to York College for hosting us.”
“We’re excited to be the founding partner of City of Science. We hope many New Yorkers will enjoy engaging in the creative and interactive projects that the event offers,” said Frances A. Resheske, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Con Edison.
The World Science Festival, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2017, gathers great minds in science and the arts to produce live and digital content that allows a broad general audience to engage with scientific discoveries. Through discussions, debates, theatrical works, interactive explorations, musical performances, intimate salons, and major outdoor experiences, the Festival takes science out of the laboratory and into the streets, parks, museums, galleries, and premier performing arts venues of New York City and beyond.
The annual live, weeklong New York Festivals, which launched in 2008, have collectively drawn more than a million and a half visitors, with millions more viewing the programs online. The World Science Festival’s original musical and theatrical works tour nationally and internationally, and March 2016 marked the launch of World Science Festival Brisbane. World Science U is the World Science Foundation’s online education arm where students and lifelong learners can dive more deeply through carefully crafted digital education content presented by world-renowned scientists.