Festival Description:

The Cambridge Science Festival, started in 2007, is a multifaceted, multicultural event every spring, making science accessible, interactive and fun for the general public.  It showcases the City of Cambridge as an internationally recognized leader in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Modeled on art, music, and movie festivals, the Cambridge Science Festival makes STEM part of the wider culture by illuminating the richness of scientific inquiry and the excitement of discovery.

The festival reaches more than 30,000 people at approximately 200 events run by more than 100 partners in close to 50 venues throughout the Boston area. Almost all events are free.

Main events include:

• A large, family friendly Carnival on the first day of the festival, with booths of interactive, engaging demonstrations staffed by partner organizations;
• Outreach in all Cambridge schools, including student video contests and the annual Curiosity Awards;
• Lunch with a Laureate program offering the public the chance to bring a brown bag lunch and meet with a different Nobel prize-winner in an informal setting each day of the week;
• Open houses, opening up academic and commercial labs to the public;
• The Science of Gardening, an outdoor celebration of the beginning of the New England growing season on the last weekend of the festival;
• Full theater productions of science-based plays;
• Festival At Night: events for adult audiences such as The Science of Wine.

The festival is presented by the MIT Museum, and the founding collaborators include MIT, Harvard University, the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Public Schools, Cambridge Public Library, WGBH, and the Museum of Science.