Beaker Street Festival announces the return of its annual celebration of science and culture in August 2023 in lutruwita/Tasmania, featuring its signature Festival Hub at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and culminating in a weekend Dark Sky retreat at Spring Bay Mill on Tasmania’s East Coast.
Beaker Street Festival will take place 4-13 August 2023, with events throughout southern lutruwita/Tasmania.
A meeting place for science, ideas, art and curious minds, the annual Festival has been steadily growing a loyal fan base since founder and evolutionary biologist Dr. Margo Adler launched the event in 2017.
This year, Beaker Street Festival centers on the theme “Unseen,” giving participants a behind-the-scenes look at the science in everyday life. What’s typically out of sight will be prominently on display in the Festival’s innovative and thought-provoking program, which includes talks and presentations by world-leading scientists, live music and performances, scientist-led tours and intimate dinners, and Tasmanian food and beverages.
Beaker Street Founder and Creative Director Margo Adler says this year’s Festival will delve into some of today’s most pressing topics, while also giving people up-close access to some of the most prominent scientists in Australia.
“Beaker Street Festival is all about lifting the lid on the taboo, the risqué and the unknown,” she says. “By highlighting the unseen, it’s an opportunity to invite people into the world of science, and to discover that it’s anything but boring.”
In partnership with the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG), Beaker Street Festival prides itself on facilitating innovative artist-scientist collaborations, and introducing today’s most exciting minds and ideas to new communities.
The Festival Hub at TMAG will expand to include an entirely free, unticketed program, with the Central Gallery being transformed into an oversized Roving Scientist Bar, complete with science and art installations, interactive live music, microscopes, delicious local beverages, and more than 150 scientists to chat with.
“As a Foundation partner since 2017, TMAG is pleased to be the Beaker Street Festival Hub again in 2023,” says TMAG Director Mary Mulcahy. “TMAG, led by our science staff, is looking forward to welcoming visitors to our city site, including some unique ‘back-of-house’ experiences.”
Hobart’s Theatre Royal’s Studio Theatre at The Hedberg will host the headline programming with some presentations and events held in other locations around the southern region and into Launceston.
This year’s program will welcome back Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, popular science communicator, celebrating his long-standing participation in Beaker Street Festival for a third year, and will also include:
Environmentalist and former Australian of the Year Professor Tim Flannery FAA, who will join science journalist and broadcaster Professor Robyn Williams AO FAA in a conversation about combating denialism, disinformation, and deep fakes Wendy Zukerman from the internationally acclaimed Science Vs podcast Acclaimed author Heather Rose will interview Head of Clinical Psychedelic Research at Monash University, Dr Paul Liknaitzky, about the growing potential of psychedelics in modern medicine including in treating mental illness and trauma.
Beaker Street Festival will culminate in NOCTURNA, a weekend-long retreat 11th- 13th August, at Spring Bay Mill on Tasmania’s east coast, curated in partnership with Dark Sky Tasmania. Celebrating Tasmania’s pristine dark skies, guests will be invited to turn off their devices, turn down the lights and tune into the rhythms of nature in one of the darkest inhabited spots on the planet.
