Photo courtesy of the Works
The first time Marcia Downes experienced a planetarium was at the Smithsonian Institute as an adult.
“I was wowed and I thought ‘I can’t believe I’ve never done this,’” she says.
Since her first visit, Downes has been spending a lot more time with planetariums. As executive director for the Works, Newark’s center for history, art and technology, she’s been part of a team working to bring that experience to the community in the form of the SciDome.
The SciDome will bring that planetarium experience to central Ohio, offering a range of programming on space, chemistry, life sciences and ecology to visitors and local school districts in addition to collaborations with The Ohio State University at Newark.
“What’s really important is children in this community do not have access to a planetarium,” Downes says. “We want children to have this as part of their everyday curriculum.”
The Works receives around 50,000 visitors annually, Downes estimates, reaching far beyond Licking County. Fifteen school districts were represented at the first SciDome Academy, a program instructing educators about content and programming from the planetarium that can be incorporated into a curriculum.
OSU Newark, which first reached out to the Works about building the planetarium, will make significant use of the facility as well. The university has already begun utilizing the space and will offer regular course in the planetarium this fall. The SciDome will also offer paid internships to students.
“We’ve always had a close relationship with the university,” Downes says. “Our founder (Howard LeFevre) believed that our job was to be an incubator to get kids on to higher education, so we’ve always partnered with programming.”
Photo courtesy of the Works
Downes and OSU Newark’s dean and director, William L. MacDonald, were part of a team leading the development and direction of the SciDome. They visited as many planetariums as possible to learn about programming, costs and the value one could provide. That involved travel around the country as well as considerations of similar facilities at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, COSI and OSU’s main campus.
The team ultimately settled on a 60-seat planetarium – that’s the maximum number of students admitted into an OSU Newark course. Similarly, experiences offered to schools visiting the Works do not exceed groups of 45 students.
What’s really important is children in this community do not have access to a planetarium. ... We want children to have this as part of their everyday curriculum.
Photo courtesy of the Works
The SciDome hopes to contribute to an already growing and vibrant community in Newark. Downes points out new restaurants, spaces for the arts and companies moving into the area as strengths.
“If you haven’t been out here lately, it’s pretty amazing – Newark is changing,” she says. “This is just one more feather in the cap of Newark.”
The SciDome is now open to the public with admission to the Works and unrolling programming on topics such as the stars, solar systems, seasons, and day and night. Downes says the most exciting part of the SciDome is giving the experience of a planetarium to children who wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise.
“Kids can use their imagination,” she says. “They understand the wonder and they get to understand the world beyond them by being able to be in a total dome experience.”
Cameron Carr is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
