Salt Lake County announced plans Thursday for a $2,000,000 dollar update of the free public exhibits at the Clark Planetarium at the Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City.
“Clark Planetarium’s mission is to create a sense of wonder about the universe around us and inspire people to pay more attention to the science in their everyday lives, especially through learning about astronomy and space exploration.”
That’s Seth Jarvis, the planetarium’s director. Jarvis says the planned renovations are inspired by what science has already proven about humans. He says genetics is the first predictor of how well a child does.
“The second most important thing that determines how well a child will do in school are the informal educational experiences that they design for themselves or that their family helps them design,” says Jarvis.
The project is still in the planning stages. Joseph Wisne is president of the exhibit design firm Roto Group LLC. He says new technology allows people to participate in planetarium activities in ways that haven’t been possible until now.
“The human body is very capable of multi-sensory exploration. I want to harness that skill among all the visitors,” says Wisne.
The renovations are expected to be completed by late summer of 2016. Most of the funding for the latest project comes from the Tourism, Recreation, Cultural and Conventions Fund. It’s a portion of the sales taxes paid by Salt Lake City visitors. Salt Lake County pays about a third of the facilities overall operating costs.
