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World Science Festival returns to Brooklyn

May 18, 2015 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
A young boy tests out a telescope during a Brooklyn stargazing event. Courtesy of the World Science Festival
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The World Science Festival — which will include more than 50 events throughout New York City during its five days — is set to return to Brooklyn from May 27 to 31. The annual festival brings the city into direct contact with the world’s leading scientists, thinkers and artists.

“By recasting science with art, music and story, we’re shifting science toward the center of culture,” said Tracy Day, co-founder and CEO of the World Science Festival. “We’re touching all those people who love the arts but run the other way, and fast, when it comes to science.”

Through debates, original theatrical works, interactive explorations, musical performances, intimate salons and major outdoor experiences, the festival takes science out of the laboratory and into the streets, parks, museums, galleries and premier performing arts venues of New York City. The annual festival has drawn a total of than 1.3 million visitors since it was introduced in 2008, and millions more have viewed the programs online.

This year’s Brooklyn events will take place at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Red Hook, Jamaica Bay and Coney Island.

“Night Lights, Big City: Stargazing” — which includes live music, stargazing and opportunities to meet astronomers and astronauts — will take place on May 30 from 7 to 11 p.m. at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1. The event is free, and attendees are encouraged to bring a telescope.

“When people realize that there’s so much more to science than what’s in the textbooks, science comes alive,” said Brian Greene, co-founder of the World Science Festival and chairman of the Science Festival Foundation. “That’s a life-changing experience. And that’s what the World Science Festival is all about.”

Hailed as a “new cultural institution” by The New York Times, the festival has featured scientific and cultural luminaries including Stephen Hawking, Maggie Gyllenhaal, E.O. Wilson, John Lithgow, Sir Paul Nurse, Glenn Close, Harold Varmus, Yo-Yo Ma, Steven Weinberg, Philip Glass, Eric Lander, Steven Chu, Chuck Close, Richard Leakey, Bobby McFerrin, Sylvia Earle, Anna Deavere Smith, Oliver Sacks, Liev Schreiber, Mary-Claire King, Charlie Kaufman, Bill T. Jones, John Hockenberry and Elizabeth Vargas, among many others.

For tickets or more information about the festival’s highlights, visit www.worldsciencefestival.com.

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