Interesting space to day-host 100-150 preteen astronauts in Atlanta?
November 10, 2018 7:28 AM Subscribe
Location to stage an Space STEAM Day event for middle-grade students in Atlanta in March?
This March, as part of Atlanta Science Festival in Atlanta, GA, my team and I are staging an "astronaut job fair" for student attendees of the festival. Along with a central street fair-type location, Atlanta Science Festival (ASF) takes place city-wide over the course of a couple weeks. Our event, Astronaut Job Fair, is a full-day event for STEAM-directed middle grade students with an interest in Space. (STEAM=Science Technology Engineering Arts (and) Mathematics.) And we need a space to stage this ASF event.
Astronaut Job Fair (AJF) is a full day of Space career fun, with career-skill development, team-building, "real talk", lunch and snack, displays of future inventions, and broad science and art introduction–built around future jobs in Space. Our purpose with AJF is to ready kids to live, work, and play in Space–by imparting real thinking to creating an amazing future with themselves in it. And that's the gist of the event.
My colleagues and I staging this event for Atlanta Science Festival are all Space industry professionals who together and individually have done any number of smaller events in convention center and regular school settings, typically in classrooms or for specific grades in school auditoriums and for an hour or two at a time. Middle-grade students are our typical participants, and this is the first astronaut job fair we have staged to a general audience.
We are looking for a location in Atlanta that has at least one big room for the entire group–approximately 100+ students plus team–as well as places to break into smaller groups for conversation and teams, and maybe a lobby. A college or cool office/lobby setting, or a warehouse or performance space that could home a pop-up event, or something unexpected and inspiring and fun. Modern? Sunny? Warehouse? Brick? Loft-y? YES. (Also: an adjacent outdoor space/patio would be welcome/lovely/thrilling.) These are some of the types of spaces we can possibly stage our Space STEAM event. The AJF attendees are from a wide-range of backgrounds and sensibilities, united by their passion for STEAM. Most of all we are looking to have them takeaway a positive, memorable, and inspiring impression.
Those are the specifics. Suggestions or recommendations, Hivemind Atlanta? Future astronauts of Atlanta are counting on you!
This March, as part of Atlanta Science Festival in Atlanta, GA, my team and I are staging an "astronaut job fair" for student attendees of the festival. Along with a central street fair-type location, Atlanta Science Festival (ASF) takes place city-wide over the course of a couple weeks. Our event, Astronaut Job Fair, is a full-day event for STEAM-directed middle grade students with an interest in Space. (STEAM=Science Technology Engineering Arts (and) Mathematics.) And we need a space to stage this ASF event.
Astronaut Job Fair (AJF) is a full day of Space career fun, with career-skill development, team-building, "real talk", lunch and snack, displays of future inventions, and broad science and art introduction–built around future jobs in Space. Our purpose with AJF is to ready kids to live, work, and play in Space–by imparting real thinking to creating an amazing future with themselves in it. And that's the gist of the event.
My colleagues and I staging this event for Atlanta Science Festival are all Space industry professionals who together and individually have done any number of smaller events in convention center and regular school settings, typically in classrooms or for specific grades in school auditoriums and for an hour or two at a time. Middle-grade students are our typical participants, and this is the first astronaut job fair we have staged to a general audience.
We are looking for a location in Atlanta that has at least one big room for the entire group–approximately 100+ students plus team–as well as places to break into smaller groups for conversation and teams, and maybe a lobby. A college or cool office/lobby setting, or a warehouse or performance space that could home a pop-up event, or something unexpected and inspiring and fun. Modern? Sunny? Warehouse? Brick? Loft-y? YES. (Also: an adjacent outdoor space/patio would be welcome/lovely/thrilling.) These are some of the types of spaces we can possibly stage our Space STEAM event. The AJF attendees are from a wide-range of backgrounds and sensibilities, united by their passion for STEAM. Most of all we are looking to have them takeaway a positive, memorable, and inspiring impression.
Those are the specifics. Suggestions or recommendations, Hivemind Atlanta? Future astronauts of Atlanta are counting on you!
I'm thinking of a lot of things that are going to be either really expensive or already booked for the science festival, which is huge. Highland Ballroom is a cool idea. A few other things to try:
High Museum of Art (really cool building that has been in a bunch of tv shows and movies lately and certainly meets most of your criteria)
Ponce City Market (they have lots of different kinds of spaces, it's very cool, it's probably hella expensive)
Georgia Freight Depot (old, but a nice space and good for events)
posted by hydropsyche at 1:30 PM on November 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
High Museum of Art (really cool building that has been in a bunch of tv shows and movies lately and certainly meets most of your criteria)
Ponce City Market (they have lots of different kinds of spaces, it's very cool, it's probably hella expensive)
Georgia Freight Depot (old, but a nice space and good for events)
posted by hydropsyche at 1:30 PM on November 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've been to events at both the Decatur Public Library at the Auburn Avenue Research Library. I suppose Fernbank would be the ideal but I'm sure it's so expensive and already allocated to some science festival activities. Botanical Gardens would also be amazing but I'm sure it's also expensive and possibly also already used for festival activities.
Have been to craft fairs and roller derby at the Yaarab Shrine, which is a neat place. Apparently they rent out Woodruff Arts Center, which is cool and has some outdoor space. Goat Farm is one of the coolest places in Atlanta, and I think they rent it out.
I'm sure you know Atlanta has a ton of colleges that might rent out space -- Emory, Agnes Scott, Georgia State, Georgia Tech. I can't speak to any particular location in these places.
Highland Ballroom is cool but probably not big enough / doesn't have breakout rooms to my knowledge.
posted by quadrilaterals at 11:00 PM on November 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Have been to craft fairs and roller derby at the Yaarab Shrine, which is a neat place. Apparently they rent out Woodruff Arts Center, which is cool and has some outdoor space. Goat Farm is one of the coolest places in Atlanta, and I think they rent it out.
I'm sure you know Atlanta has a ton of colleges that might rent out space -- Emory, Agnes Scott, Georgia State, Georgia Tech. I can't speak to any particular location in these places.
Highland Ballroom is cool but probably not big enough / doesn't have breakout rooms to my knowledge.
posted by quadrilaterals at 11:00 PM on November 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Good suggestions above. Also:
The Clarkston Community Center might serve. It's in the unique city of Clarkston, "America's most diverse square mile."(SLGuardian). Georgia State University's downtown campus has a large ballroom in the Student Center available for off-campus clients. The Fernbank Science Center (not the larger Fernbank Museum of Natural History) is part of DeKalb County Schools, and they have the capsule from Apollo 6!
posted by conscious matter at 1:49 PM on December 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
The Clarkston Community Center might serve. It's in the unique city of Clarkston, "America's most diverse square mile."(SLGuardian). Georgia State University's downtown campus has a large ballroom in the Student Center available for off-campus clients. The Fernbank Science Center (not the larger Fernbank Museum of Natural History) is part of DeKalb County Schools, and they have the capsule from Apollo 6!
posted by conscious matter at 1:49 PM on December 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by duien at 8:35 PM on November 10, 2018 [1 favorite]