Sustainable operation of an (expensive) planetarium in a small city – focus and context, marketing and funding

Presentation themes: future, sustainability and worldviews; PR for planetariums

Since the advent of the planetarium 100 years ago we have entered the computer, space, Internet and lately also the AI eras. Possibly the original opto-mechanical planetariums could possibly be considered as engineering marvels of relevance only for communicating about the basic science of astronomy. However, I will argue that in our current epoch of serious challenges related to the climate, dramatic increase of satellite traffic in low earth and geostationary orbits, and of course also the fast growth in AI platforms, the modern digital planetarium can and should grow far beyond being just a popular and immersive science edutainment facility, into facilities that should indeed help shape the future. A virtual immersive »space journey« will become a powerful tool to address topics of great concern for our future! 

In addition to argue for the growing importance of the digital planetarium I will also attend to the practical and financial challenges of the establishment and sustainable operation of a digital planetarium in the small City of Bloemfontein in Central South Africa.

Image © Arena Berlin