Beakerhead blasts off all over Calgary

Beakerhead, a new festival that runs Sept. 11-15 in Calgary, focuses on the melding of art and science.

According to a June news release, the co-founder, Jay Ingram – who co-hosted the Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet – said, “Beakerhead is an invitation to everyone to imagine and build. Think of it as turning the whole city into the most entertaining laboratory for five days.”

The other co-founder, Mary Ann Moser, who is also the president of Beakerhead, said in an Aug. 19 media release, “We so often separate the creative from the mathematical or the scientific. Beakerhead believes that the most original and inspiring ideas are often a combination of both.”

To begin the festival, make an early start to the Suncor Energy Plaza before 9 a.m. on Wednesday and get a free breakfast to kick off your experience at Beakerhead.

Left to Right: Minister Heather Klimchuk, Jay Ingram one of the hosts of the Discovery Channel and Richard Stark Minister of the Beakerhead Festival. Photo courtesy: Beakerhead / Faby Martin

Other highlights include Engineered Eats — which combines bartending and cooking with science and The Beakerhead Launch site — which holds the Raygun Gothic Rocketship. Both of these events last all day and run every day of the festival. The Engineered Eats event takes place in several venues.

The launch site is the Beakerhead information booth. Not only do visitors get to see the rocket, they may actually get the chance to climb inside!

Additionally, there is an event called Speakerhead, which runs for an hour every day excluding Sunday. This event allows visitors to hear from guest speakers who are involved in art, engineering and other academic areas. One of the speakers is John B. Herrington, who will be coming to Mount Royal on Sept. 12.

John B. Herrington was the first Aboriginal Astronaut. He visited the International Space station in 2002, and retired in 2005 after an impressive career, according to the biography on Beakerhead’s website. He will be coming to Mount Royal University and will be speaking at the Iniskim Centre about what it is like to live in space.

There are plenty of other activities in this five-day festival, ranging in topics from architecture to music, and ranging in activities from going on rides to watching movies. If you can’t make it to this festival during the week, try out Beakernight — a large party that will take place on Saturday.

“Beakerhead is a first – no one has ever done this before. I think we [the co-founders of Beakerhead] felt that science and engineering can be presented in a much more creative way.” Jay Ingram said of the event.

Although Beakerhead covers several venues, the events are generally close to downtown — so you can simply walk to the different events throughout the day. Some of the events are not open for everyone. For example, some events take place in schools, which are not able to accept visitors.

Visit www.beakerhead.org for information on exact times and locations, or go to the Beakerhead Launch site any day from Wednesday to Sunday to ask any questions in person.