Telus Spark is a science museum with interactive exhibits, multimedia presentations and educational demonstrations in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There are more than 430,000 visitors annually, including over 82,000 students. The science museum was established in 1967 as the CalgaryScience Centre. The science centre was later re-branded Telus World of Science – Calgary in 2005. In 2011, the science centre moved locations from the former Centennial Planetarium to the Nose Creek Valley. The science centre was re-branded as Telus Spark during the move.
History
The science centre originally opened as the Calgary Centennial Planetarium on July 1, 1967. In 1983 the Calgary Science Centre Society began a bid to bring a science centre to Calgary and in 1987 they received an operating agreement that would transform the planetarium into the Calgary Science Centre. The Calgary Science Centre was renamed Telus World of Science – Calgary after a $9 Million donation from Telus Corporation on April 27, 2005. The original site, located on 11 Street SW in Calgary's Downtown West End, closed on June 27, 2011, and was replaced by a new science centre called Telus Spark. The new science centre is located on a site at 220 St. Georges Drive NE in Nose Creek Valley, north of the Calgary Zoo. Telus Spark opened on October 29, 2011.
Galleries
Telus Spark offers a range of digital media and maker workshops, school programs, youth programs, sleepovers, birthday parties, and various spring and summer science and art camps.
Designed for children under the age of nine, the Creative Kids Museum has a water play area, a climbing structure, a maker space, a miniature theatre, a reading nook, and a stimulating crawling track designed for toddlers.
Energy & Innovation explores the various forms of energy and the effects they have on society. This exhibit houses three rolling ball machines built by George Rhoads.
Feature Gallery
The Feature Gallery hosts temporary touring exhibitions, and can be rented for tradeshows and other private functions.
HD Digital Dome Theatre
The HD Digital Dome Theatre can show films or live planetarium shows, using an Evans & Sutherland Digistar 5 computer graphics system with 17.7 million pixels of resolution, 4 SRX projectors, and a 19,500 wattsound system. There is also a digital media studio where visitors can learn computer graphics techniques, from computer programming and coding to intensive animation workshops.
Open Studio
The Open Studio shows youths how to use technology in art.
