Science in Culture: Audiences’ Perspective on Engaging With Science at a Summer Festival

Sardo, Ana Margarida; Grand, Ann

Abstract

© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. In this commentary, we explore the factors that contributed to festival goers’ choice to attend science-based events at a summer cultural festival. We evaluated the impact of such events on the audiences: their levels of engagement, reasons for participation, and their views on and reactions to the events. Presented with a variety of cultural events, attendances at science-based events were strong, with high levels of enjoyment and engagement with scientists and other speakers. Moreover, audiences saw science not as something distinct from “cultural” events but as just another option: Science was culture.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 17, 2016
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Feb 24, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 21, 2016
• Journal: Science Communication
• Print ISSN: 1075-5470
• Electronic ISSN: 1552-8545
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 38
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 251-260
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547016632537
• Keywords: informal venues, science communication, public engagement, generic venues, audience, festivals
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/923012
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1075547016632537
• Contract Date: Feb 24, 2016