A total lunar eclipse on January 20, 2019 saw over 1,000 people in attendance.

The themes for our four DARK MATTERS events included: The Science of Sex, Game On, The Science of Drugs, as well as Art & Music and saw a total of over 3,200 adults in attendance.

CUBA opened in IMAX on February 1 with a Cuban dancer to officially launch the celebration.

The 2019 Science Fellowship was awarded to Dr. Vincent Bouchard from the U of A. Dr. Bouchard is a mathematician working in the intersection of math and physics.

February 11, we celebrated International Day of Women and Girls in Science with special activities run by female scientists.

On March 6, the science centre hosted the Canadian Space Agency and the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, as they announced a national space strategy that recognizes the strategic value of space and space exploration for Canada. Astronaut Jeremy Hansen also attended.

Just in time for the Captain Marvel movie release on March 7, the science centre announced that we would be the first science centre in Canada to open the Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes exhibition in the fall.

The new children’s gallery CuriousCITY opened on March 23. It mirrors our city with replicas of Edmonton landmarks, River Valley features, and an impressive cityscape mural by local artist, Jason Blower.

The IMAX film Superpower Dogs was seen by over 30,600 guests and the science centre received a prestigious international marketing award from the Giant Screen Cinema Association.

Spring Break March 22-31 was the busiest in the past five years and almost doubled the 15,837 tickets sold in 2018 with 31,453 tickets sold in 2019.

March 28, we held a “Science Slam” event on creative ways to talk science. The winning communicator was Owen Brierley of the Edmonton Digital Arts College who used improv media to talk about human-computer interaction.

April 26, we opened MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibition. From tablecloth pulling to card tossing, this was a hands-on, minds-on exhibition which sparked creative experimentation allowing guests to test the scientific method and bust myths. 124,465 guests visited during the run of this exhibition.

Many members of the local aboriginal community were present for the launch celebration of our first ever full dome digital show production “Legends of the Northern Sky” on April 10. 

We began a relationship with the International Children’s Festival in St. Albert and promoted our new children’s gallery CuriousCITY, to the many schools and families in attendance.

June 29, The Nature Exchange exhibition opened which included an opportunity for guests to set up an account at our Trading Post. Within six months more then 2,000 guests registered (Including 1180 Members).

We celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo Moon landing with a week-long celebration. Guests enjoyed space and astronomy-related hands-on programming throughout the science centre, special hours at the RASC Observatory to view the Moon and the lunar landing site, and a spectacular film Apollo 11: First Steps in IMAX. We also hosted numerous rocket launch days, including a  50-rocket salute on July 20. 

We partnered with TD Bank Group to reduce barriers to attending the science centre by introducing TD Family Nights. TD Family Nights occur every other month in our new CuriousCITY exhibition. As a result of TD's support admission is free, eliminating financial barriers for families to attend. Three TD Family Nights were provided in 2019 reaching over 200 guests. 

On June 28 we opened the new film Turtle Odyssey in IMAX and were delighted to have 15,219 guests enjoy the film.

The science centre participated in many community events including the Snowflake Gala (in support of the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation), Hockey Hooky Day (hosted by the Edmonton Oil Kings), and the Young Scientist Conference (hosted by the University of Alberta). Events like these are an opportunity to engage Albertans’ hearts and minds in science, and to support local businesses and non-profit organizations with similar missions to our own.

The science centre offered fantastic Summer Camps including a new one on Gamecasting. Our Summer Camps program was also voted as an official WINNER in the Best Summer Camp Category of StarMetro Edmonton’s 2019 Community Choice Awards.

Tim Archer the IMAX sound designer for Great Bear Rainforest spoke to Edmontonians for the opening of this new IMAX film on September 20.

A team from the science centre was involved in the Jasper Dark Sky Festival. Displays and activities were created with a Moon theme to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

On September 22, crews began installing a new concrete dome onto, an important historical city landmark, the 59-year-old Queen Elizabeth Planetarium. Science centre staff gathered to celebrate the occasion.

Over 750 guests attended our annual Where Science Meets Cocktails, LUMEN fundraiser on September 26. We netted $67,000 which will be used to fund educational programming and other operational needs.

We held three Science on Tap events. One on “Concussions”, another on “Are you What You Eat?” and a sold-out event on November 25 called “The Science of Beer”.

We featured 262 new products in the main Gift Shop this year.

To celebrate the second International Day of LGBTQ+ People in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, we introduced space-themed pronoun buttons. This important day aims to improve visibility and support and is a critical component of the global push to increase diversity and inclusion in STEM.

Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes exhibition excitement hits Edmonton on October 18. Including Ironman visiting City Hall to help out Mayor Don Iveson with an Infinity Stone.

Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes Media Event, preview party and launch event was a huge success with just over 1,000 guests in attendance.

November 10 was International Science Centre and Science Museum Day. We celebrated the occasion with a giant Upcycle Build Party inside The Science Garage. Members and the public joined in on making creative new items from recycled products.

We were selected as a gold winner in the 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards with Postmedia in the category of Best Family Friendly Attraction in Edmonton.

The new IMAX film Backyard Wilderness opened on November 8. This family friendly film was enjoyed by schools, Members and the public.

The science centre partnered with Trixstar Entertainment to bring Bill Nye: The Science Guy to Edmonton on November 16.

2,690 children attended Birthday Parties at the science centre. The 250 lucky birthday children were proud to receive their very own mini scientist purple lab coat.

One of our Purple Pear menu items, the Smokey Cheese and Bacon Burger, won the inaugural “Burgermeister” Competition in 2019. It’s a local competition in Stony Plain sponsored by Hubbles Lake Resort.

December 20 the new Science Garage opened. It focuses on the 'Design Thinking' process that many STEAM disciplines use to come up with creative ideas for solving problems. The tagline for the gallery is 'Design, Build, Test'.

A new brand image campaign video was produced inspired by our newly opened spaces that guests can now explore.

In 2019, we recorded our best annual attendance in the IMAX theater since renovating in 2013, with 159,844 tickets sold. This included 42,309 school children.

Members enjoyed an exclusive Christmas Party, with 351 Members attending this sold out event. In 2019, we achieved the highest science center Membership participation and sales. A 24% growth since 2018, 2019 achieved 27,530 Members and Membership sales over $1.2 million. Which resulted in 39% more visits to the science centre by our Members over 2018.

We saw an explosion in the popularity of our annual IMAX Fanatic Pass. We sold 2,552 passes, which more than doubled our sales in 2018.

Science centre attendance saw a 23% increase from 2018 with 557,376 in attendance.