Creating Astronomy Festivals at Outdoor Concerts and Tourist Sites (US National Mall With Monuments and Museums) – 100,000 People Participated

Title: 
Creating Astronomy Festivals at Outdoor Concerts and Tourist Sites (US National Mall With Monuments and Museums) – 100,000 People Participated

Presenter:
Donald Lubowich (Hofstra University, USA)

This was a poster presented at the 5th Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education, organised by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE, http//astro4edu.org).

I describe to how to create large astronomy festivals: Music and Astronomy Under the Stars (MAUS - NASA funded, 60% families many with young children; 60% female; 20% seniors at mostly-free outdoor concerts (some organized by underserved communities) and The Astronomy Festival on the National Mall (AFNM, co-sponsored by the White House in 2010). These feature: solar, optical telescope observations; live-image projection; posters/banners/videos; demos, hands-on activities; citizen science projects; plus info on discoveries, careers, and science museums. AFNM is the largest annual astronomy outreach event in the US (30,000 people, 4-5 K/yr) with 120 educators from 30 scientific institutions, universities, and astronomy clubs (AAAS, AAS, AGU, APS, NASA, NASM, NOAA, NOAO, NRAO, NSF, The Planetary Society, STScI, Sky and Tel, USNO). Yo-Yo-Ma, the Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras, Ravi Coltrane, Phish, Blood Sweat and Tears, Deep Purple, Patti Smith, James Taylor, and Wilco performed at some MAUS events (1000 – 25,000 people/concert).

About the 5th Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education:
This year’s Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education focuses on two themes: one special practical astronomy education topic and one scientific topic. The special topic is astronomy education outside the classroom, looking at how astronomy can be taught in a diverse range of environments such as science centers, planetaria and youth clubs. The scientific topic is planetary atmospheres, both in the solar system and exoplanets as well as our own Earth. The workshop was organised by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (http://astro4edu.org). More details can be found on: https://astro4edu.org/shaw-iau/5th-shaw-iau-workshop/schedule/

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