Too busy during the day to check out the Beaty Biodiversity Museum? Well, you’re in luck.
Beaty Nocturnal is a new event series hosted by the Beaty Biodiversity Museum on campus. It will be happening monthly, starting at 5 p.m. and accepting pay-by-donation. Sitting down with Amy Gibson — one of Nocturnal's masterminds — the day before the big kick-off, she said the first event wouldn’t be anything too crazy.
“It’s our normal daytime programming, but in the evening, we want to make sure we have the right staffing and work out the basic logistics of being open late,” said Gibson.
Gibson went on to explain that in the future, events will be themed — like nocturnal mammals in October and speed-dating in February — and a liquor license is in the works.
The September launch featured the museum’s brand new exhibit, Ecosystems at Play — an interactive food chain building activity based off the card game Phylo — which is guaranteed to tear friendships apart with the unleashing of oil spills and climate change on opponents’ ecosystems.
If the terminology is gibberish to you, fear not — there’s a much simpler, quicker version of the game that’s basically just a bunch of card flipping. Gameplay aside, the unique cards are exhibition enough — a result of collaboration with seven different local artists.
Ecosystems at Play isn’t the only hands-on feature. Arguably the most underrated section of the museum is at the very back — kept secret by the red-vest-laden volunteers and art students who frequent it. It’s called the Learning Lab and is a smorgasbord of interactive biology — where you can touch blue whale krill and cautiously waft a skunk’s glands’ odour in your direction — all in a few square feet.
It’s ideal for sketching, or getting over your fear of spiders.
“A lot of people come in, look at the whale and leave,” said Gibson. “I’m hoping that with the layout of the event, we can get more people coming through the door and getting downstairs … to check out the [other] things we have going on. ”
Beaty definitely doesn’t discourage the whale love, though. Their in-house feature film, Raising Big Blue, covers the behind-the-scenes drama involved in finding and restoring the skeleton.
After the film, interpreters guide visitors through a tour of the permanent exhibit and some of the newer elements like the UBC Centennial Top 10 Treasures, which features different specimens crowd-sourced from visitors, including a very cool musk ox skull and Killam’s typewriter.
Visiting Beaty Biodiversity museum is a great way to connect with science on campus. Whether it’s your first time or your twelfth time, it’s an easy way to try something new.
The next Beaty Nocturnal event will be held on October 20. Check out beatymuseum.ubc.ca or visit their Facebook page for more information.
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