This paper discusses efforts at the New England Aquarium to attract multicultural audiences, with projects like the Lake Victoria exhibit. This NSF-funded, collaborative project, centered on Lake Victoria in East Africa, addresses the aquarium's lack of representation by racial minorities, specifically Boston's African-American community.
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Jason J. DrebitkoGillian NelsonVisitor Studies Association
The Zoological Society of Florida and Miami Metrozoo will use this award to plan their strategy for "Attracting New Neighbors". During their planning activities they will address issues involved in attracting the traditionally underserved and large Hispanic population of Dade County, Florida to the educational programs of the zoo. The planning grant will support 1) audience research within Dade County, 2) a national study to see what others have done to attract diverse audiences, 3) a three-day invitational planning conference, 4) site visits and focused research by Metrozoo staff on attracting a diverse audience, and 5) dissemination of the information about marketing strategies and programming techniques developed during the planning activities to zoos and science museums across the country. The planning process will culminate in the development of a long-range exhibition, educational program, and marketing plan for the zoo's new Education Court scheduled to open in 1998.
The Rhode Island Zoological Society will develop, prototype, install, and evaluate "Habitrek", a 3000 sq. ft. exhibit to be placed in their new Education Center. The center is a circular building and as visitors go through it they will encounter habitat displays of a Urban Providence, Woodlands, Wetlands, and Desert. In addition there will be giant scale replicas of a wormhole, a bat cave, a prairie dog colony, and a stream. Their intent is to use live animals, animal replicas and interactives to shift the visitor's emphasis from simply finding and identifying species to learning about habitats where animals live and where animals and humans often have to interact. In addition to the exhibits, several complementary educational activity packages will be developed. These include a family activity pack of activities that can be completed both at the zoo and in the home. They will relate many natural history stories not obvious from the exhibit alone. To streamline the development process, materials developed by the Bronx Zoo's Habitat Ecology Learning Program (an NSF-supported teacher enhancement activity) will serve as the basis for these family packs. The HELP materials will also serve as the basis for activities developed for use by teachers to complement the already existing Kits in Teaching Elementary Science (KITES) program (another NSF-supported program). The zoo also has cooperative programs with the Rhode Island Girl Scout Council and materials will be modified for their use as well. Of special interest is the attention that is being given to going beyond minimum ADA standards to make the exhibit broadly accessible. Ambient sound will be an important part of all exhibit settings, design considerations will be made for those with limited vision, and sightlines will be consistent with wheelchair standards, are a few examples. The anticipated exhibit opening is early 1998.