1. Science in Public 2012
Scientific Celebration:
Scotland’s science festivals and
their place in culture
Beverley Gibbs, University of Nottingham, UK
2. Introducing Scotland
• Scotland is in northern Europe, part of the United Kingdom for
400 years with a devolved Government, separate legal system
and separate church
• Population density is 1/6 that of England, GDP per capita 17%
higher than England. Economically Scotland is a net contributor
to the UK
• In the 20th century Scotland’s economy relied on heavy industry
such as shipbuilding, steel, coal mining, engineering and latterly
oil & gas
3. Rebranding Glasgow
• Significant amount of de-industrialisation in the 70s
and 80s led to economic challenges
• Cities had significant areas of derelict land and
deserted buildings with no public funds available for
redevelopment
• Glasgow responded with an overt rebranding
campaign, “Glasgow’s Miles Better” (1983)
• Glasgow’s Miles Better won many awards and is
considered to be one of the earliest and most
successful attempts at rebranding the city
• Success culminated when Glasgow was named
European Capital of Culture 1990
4. What of Edinburgh?
• Edinburgh – Scotland’s capital city - faced many of
the same challenges as Glasgow, and indeed had a
heritage of art, architecture and literature
• As Glasgow had positioned itself so strongly in
culture, Edinburgh City Council looked backwards to
find its future: as a City of Science
– Many key figures before, during and after the Scottish
Enlightenment populated Edinburgh eg Napier, Hume,
Smith, Hutton, Clerk Maxwell, Jex-Blake…
5. Using the festival format was a natural way to
portray Edinburgh as a City of Science
• Edinburgh was already established as a ‘festival city’
– Edinburgh International Festival est.1947
– Edinburgh Fringe est.1947
– Edinburgh International Film Festival est.1947
– Edinburgh Military Tattoo est.1950
– Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival est.1978
– Edinburgh International Book Festival est.1983
• This is how Edinburgh came to host the world’s first International Science
Festival in 1989
– in Spring so to extend the tourist season
• The Festival is highly regarded and the format copied widely:
– the model has spread across Scotland with recurring festivals in Orkney, Aberdeen,
Inverness, Glasgow, Fife & Edinburgh
– Occasional festivals in 10 other locations acress Scotland
• British Association for the Advancement of Science evolved their Annual
Meeting into a festival format by 1992
6. What are the distinguishing features of a science
festival?
1. They do what festivals have done since the beginning of human culture ...
bring people together in some sense of shared space to celebrate for a
limited time
2. Science festivals always engage science with the arts:
– Mixing science with authors, artists, comedians, politicians, sculptors, actors,
philosophers
– in a range of venues including the town hall, market square, art gallery,
museum, cinema, zoo, botanic gardens, public green spaces …
3. People are engaged on an impressive scale
– Maybe 150,000 people across Scotland annually?
– Richard Wiseman’s ‘Dream:ON’ app downloaded 300,000 times in the week
following its launch at Edinburgh Science Festival 2012
– This scale is not achieved without significant media attention, with a specific
skill set
7. 4. Festivals offer a range of formats, many not
readily available elsewhere
Photography competitions PUBLIC LECTURE
Dragons Den Workshops
Fitness MOT Animal handling
Ethical symposium Walking tour
Cafe Scientifique Meet the NASA astronaut
Knitting group Public Jury events
Debates Observatory shows
Lab visit Wine reception
Whiskey school Model building
Science history talks Science safari
Science cart in shopping mall Community garden visit
Stand-up comedy Guided ramble
Exhibition ceilidh
Acrobatic display Photography exhibitions
Bilingual events Contemporary dance
Things to make Participatory psychology
Science show/HALL Church service
Bike-powered outdoor screenings Public deliberation
Movie/screening followed by Q&A
8. 5. Science festivals draw on celebrity
• Celebrities have formed an important part of the science
festival landscape, with familiar faces from TV, books, radio
• For example (over the current 12 months): Jim Al-Khalili,
Derren Brown, Dr.Bunhead, Bill Bryson, Brian Cox, Jane
Goodall, Adam Hart-Davies, Raj Persaud, Iain Stewart,
Richard Wiseman
• Celebrities perform at least 3 functions:
– They act as a familiar face – we know them, we know what they
‘do’
– They attract media – in turn attracting sponsorship and impact
– Basic icon power – they’re admired, people want to see them, it’s
‘something special’, builds social capital
9. However, not all science festivals are
equal
• Science festivals have their roots in economic development, not in
science outreach
• But we can start to see a difference between these more ‘corporately’
driven science festivals and the more local events which have sprung
up around them
• These more recent festivals are often in University cities, cities with a
lot of local commercial R&D, are smaller scale, smaller budget, quite
different origins
• They often overtly seek to connect local people with local research,
with events that draw on local features/history
• We might think of this as an adaptation of the science festival from a
visitor attraction to a form of public engagement, with all the
rationales that entails
10. Local science festivals have different
sensitivities
• More sensitive to ease of access, and think differently
around ticket price, celebrity
• “I cant afford [celebrities], that’s the reality of it and again… maybe its just
a mentality we have in our organisation but if I had £5000 I would rather
spend it on running an event for free in a hard to reach deprived area of
[……] than I would in buying in a big name that then only a certain portion
of the population can afford to pay for the tickets”
FES4
• “But however, I do feel that …me and the organisation and probably the
partnership have more confidence in the festival now and I think because…
awareness has grown so much over [recent] years I don’t know if I feel so
much dependant on getting a big speaker as I might have done last year..”
FES2
11. How do festivals mediate science?
• By its very nature, the encounter is short-term
• There is often someone with the distinct role of ‘expert’
• Communication is frequently unidirectional
• Whilst this type of activity is often not sufficient to truly
engage with someone, it is often necessary
• Science festivals are expanding their repertoire of more
dialogic formats, exploring eg ethical issues where
appropriate
• The presence of celebrity distinctly alters the behaviour of
the audience, no exception in science!
12. How do different audiences participate
in science festivals?
• Ticket price can be an issue
– Most science festivals offer something for free
– Tickets range from £4-£35 (higher end is exceptional)
– Concessionary price options are usual now, although sometimes
concessions = students
– The more local festivals are priced differently to the large scale events
• Post-hoc evaluations of audience diversity could be more sophisticated
• There is a general view (should/could be explored quantitatively) that
festivals act as an accessible gateway
• “I mean most people that pay for a ticket to go to a science festival are middle
class, that’s - you know - no surprise there. That’s why we do things like …. put
events in shopping centres so we – yeah – you can choose the demographic by your
location and by your ticket price.”
FES1
13. Do science festivals deliver something
unique?
• Festivals position science into the broader cultural
landscape that few, if any, other modes of engagement do
– This reaches completely new audiences through venue or
collaborating organisations
– Getting science accepted as part of the cultural landscape of a city
is an ongoing struggle
• Festivals are particularly good at communicating with
people on something other than a cognitive basis.
– Science doesn’t have to be about listening and learning
– It is often a more visual and more emotional engagement: joy,
delight, surprise
14. What’s in the future for science
festivals?
• Diversity of participants should be considered an ongoing
challenge
– Not just in the audience, but in science communicators too
• The effects of funding evolution will be significant
– The supply of skilled and willing science communicators is
maturing: once scarce, there is now competition to get on
programmes
– So much so that communicators can now be charged to participate
(marketisation of the impact agenda?)
– Obviously this introduces barriers to participation
– But may offset costs to decrease ticket prices for the public
– An alternative source of funding is commercial sponsorship
• Whilst all festivals are partnership projects, commercial contributions
have often been ‘in-kind’ or small-scale
• Will the generation of significant cash to displace costs bring about a
transaction of value, which will affect the types of science being
15. Further Reading
• Bultitude, K., McDonald, D. and Custead, S. (2011) The Rise and Rise of
Science Festivals: an international review of organized events to celebrate
science. International Journal of Science Education, Part B:
Communication and Public Engagement 1(2):165-188
• Nolin, J., Bragesjo, F. and Kasperowski D. (2003) Science Festivals and
Weeks as Spaces for OPUS in Felt (2003) OPUS Final Report.
• Roten, F. & Moeschler, O. (2007) Is art a “good” mediator at a science
festival? Journal of Science Communication 6(3):1-9
• Edinburgh: www.sciencefestival.co.uk
• Fife: www.fifesciencefestival.org.uk
• Glasgow: www.glasgowsciencefestival.org.uk
• Inverness: www.monsterfest.co.uk
• Orkney: www.oisf.org
