Kentucky Science Center

Purpose: Supporting Lifelong Learning The Louisville Science Center (LSC) exhibit "The World Around Us" (WAU) is a 6,000-square-foot, informal, hands-on science exhibition with an accompanying 2,000-square-foot lifelong learning center known as the Collections Discovery Galley. Almost 1,000 specimens and artifacts from LSC's natural science collections are integrated into the project design. WAU is the third and final exhibit called for in the museum's 1992 strategic plan. The other two exhibits are "The World We Create" (physical science and engineering) and "The World Within Us" (life sciences and health issues). With an overall exhibition budget of $4.3 million, research and design for WAU have been under way since 2001. As the major focus of a current capital campaign for $6.7 million, the WAU exhibit has attracted numerous private donors and a great deal of public support. The exhibit and the gallery are scheduled to open in June 2005. This grant will allow the museum to complete the learning center so it can open at the same time as the ecology exhibits, providing greater public access to the rocks, minerals, and animal specimens that form the majority of the collections held in public trust by the museum.