L’Universo attraente – Un festival di astronomia in un piccolo borgo / The attractive Universe – An astronomy festival in a small village

by Anita Zanella (INAF - Osservatorio astronomico di Padova), Federico Di Giacomo (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

Friday 15 Apr 2022, 12:00 → 13:00 Europe/Rome

Google Meet

Welcome to the third appointment with “A TUTTO SPETTRO”, a new monthly series of 1-hour web seminars dedicated to projects and topics in the field of Public Engagement of Science. 

Google Meet link: https://tinyurl.com/inaf-pe 

Abstract: 

The first edition of the Astronomy Festival, entitled “Colors of the Universe”, took place on June 19 and 20, 2021 in Castellaro Lagusello, labelled as one of the “Most beautiful villages in Italy”, near Mantova. The theme of the Festival has been the electromagnetic spectrum and its use in astronomy. Given the success of the first edition, we are now organizing a second edition titled “Attractive Universe”, with gravity as a theme, which will take place on June 10 - 12, 2022.

The goals of the Festival are multifold: promote the dissemination of scientific culture and knowledge by engaging the public; teach PhD students how to design public engagement activities and hack them in the field; link the research institutes and universities with schools and the population by means of the so-called peer-education; and valuate the beauty of the territory and its historical sites. The Festival includes exhibitions, hands-on workshops, wall-map projections, movies, shows, outreach conferences, and observations with telescopes.

In this talk we will discuss the organisation behind the scenes, the challenges overcome, the process of documentation and evaluation of the Festival, and the lessons learnt.