Hope festival will be starting point for lasting curiosity
Director Jerome Cousins said while they would not know the official attendance of this year's festival until later this week, early indications were "hugely promising".
"We're very happy with the attendance.
"I guess across the board, there's lots of different types of events, and the different events sort of have different expectations and hopes and dreams for the attendance.
"We found that pretty much all the activities for families that have 20 people per session, all of those were pretty much sold out or very close to it."
Establishing a "festival hub" and "Imagination Playground" in the Meridian Mall proved to be a godsend, he said.
"We look really closely at groups, what interests them, what's accessible to them, what gets them coming, what gets them coming back, etc.
"For the youngest kids, obviously it can be hard to explain scientific concepts when you're trying to explain what a concept is.
"But that hands-on play is really what they engage with — so that's where the Imagination Playground came in.
"In fact, you'll see the kids are playing with it in oftentimes way more complex ways than the adults do, because we've sort of lost that level of creative play that they still have."
The Meridian Mall site on the top floor, which in the past had hosted Smiths City and Kmart stores, was a "fabulous space", Dr Cousins said.
"We'd love to be here next year, but if this space is tenanted by something else, then we'll see what's available.
"We can always make use of empty shops, empty locations.
"It's been really great working with this space and being able to create all our zones, so to speak."
The variety of keynote speakers at the festival had led to good attendance at events held in the evening, and geared towards an older audience, such as Nasa astronomer Michelle Thaller.
"Having these keynote events helps support all of the other events, regardless of size."
Dr Cousins said he was pleased with the interaction across age groups, and he urged people not to "switch off the lights" and wait until next year's festival to be inspired.
"Never stop being curious.
"So if you found anything that slightly piques your interest during the festival, don't just think 'oh, I'll wait until next festival to engage with that again'.
"Look online, different tutorials for doing things, reach out."
matthew.littlewood@odt.co.nz
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