With this exhibit, not only is the Academy championing diverse stories and lived experiences in STEMM, but the innovative multi-platform exhibit design ensures accessibility for all, no matter their geographical location or financial capacity.
To increase the reach of the exhibit, all New Science assets were designed to be easily downloaded and recreated by any museum, community center, or public space in the world. In addition, the Academy is hosting an immersive and interactive free virtual version of the New Science exhibit on Google Arts & Culture’s new Pride content hub, featuring 19 first-person profiles plus additional content, helping to ensure these powerful stories extend beyond museum walls. Further, all 23 profiles created as part of this exhibit are featured on the Academy’s website, and 11 of the profiles are on display at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.
On June 24, the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco debuted New Science, a new multidisciplinary exhibit that tells first-person stories of LGBTQ+ women and gender minorities of color working in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine) professions. The exhibit aims to recognize and amplify the significant contributions of groups historically underrepresented in the sciences, and in the process, diversify the faces and lived experiences of modern science.
New Science is widely and uniquely accessible to the public from multiple avenues. At the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the in-person exhibit features nearly a dozen profiles of individuals who reflect a vital sea change in queer representation in STEMM. Beyond the Academy’s doors, this customizable exhibit is available for other institutions to easily and inexpensively recreate and display, allowing them to showcase the stories that resonate most with their audiences. Starting in mid-August, New Science became available in a project library hosted by ASTC, where institutions can view and request downloadable assets to replicate in their own spaces.
In addition, the Academy is hosting an immersive and interactive free virtual version of the New Science exhibit on Google Arts & Culture’s new Pride content hub, featuring 19 first-person profiles plus additional content, helping to ensure these powerful stories extend beyond museum walls. In addition, all 23 profiles created as part of this exhibit are featured on the Academy’s website.
Through the New Science exhibit, the Academy seeks to create space for the LGBTQ+ community to see themselves in STEMM, and to help all audiences better recognize the true diversity of STEMM practitioners in their communities.
Partners
This project was made possible in part by an IF/THEN® Gender Equity Grant Moonshot Award (funded by Lyda Hill Philanthropies) to increase the visual representation of women and gender minorities in STEMM across museum content.