January 2004
Contents
Treasury proposes new ruling on visitor-admission VAT
3000 Brits wanted by forensic scientists
DIARY: Evaluation Skills Workshop; BIG Fabricators' Week
News from the Ecsite-uk Office
New Year's honours list
The
New Year's honours list includes fine names:
OBE: Colin Howard Johnson, Director, Techniquest. For services to Science. (Cardiff, South Glamorgan)
MBE: Howard Nicol Firth, Director, Orkney and Moray Science Festival. For services to Popular Science. (Elgin, Moray)
MBE: John Kenneth William Green, For services to the South Downs Planetarium and Science Centre in Chichester, West Sussex. (Bognor Regis, West Sussex)
Congratulations!
Developments in the Sector 1
Treasury proposes new ruling on visitor-admission VAT
In
his 12 December pre-budget speech, the Chancellor announced:
"Many cultural attractions such as theatres, galleries, zoos and museums will no longer be required to charge VAT on visitor admissions, giving many attractions scope to reduce their admission charges.
"To allow affected organisations time to consider and prepare for this change, they will not be required to exempt their admission charges until 1 June 2004.
"In addition, transitional arrangements are being put in place to protect the position of affected cultural attractions in respect of major building projects in progress on which they had expected to be able to reclaim VAT."
Could you please consider the impact of these changes and let me know in outline, as soon as possible, specific points to be raised with the Treasury in relation to the pros and cons of the VAT exemption.
RSVP Melanie Quin: enquiries@ecsite-uk.net
Developments in the Sector 2
Science Museum offers two exhibitions for auction
There has been no minimum bid set and we'd encourage anyone interested in bidding for either exhibition to get in touch at the address below to arrange a viewing.
Illusions
is a highly interactive exhibition that the museum developed in collaboration
with Professor Richard Gregory, the world's leading authority on perception and
visual illusions.
The exhibition was developed for the Mind Zone of the Millennium Dome where it was installed for 8 months. It measures 10m by 2m and contains 14 digital and electromechanical interactives exploring optical illusions and visual perception.
Illusions is suitable for a wide audience, and has 6 directional speakers which provide an explanatory voice over. It also has a flexible modular structure which makes the overall shape and layout of the exhibition very easy to modify.
Afloat
is an impressive exhibition for children aged 5 to 12 which is shaped like a large
red boat. It is based on the Science Museum's popular children's gallery, The
Garden, and was developed for a cross channel ferry company.
It contains 9 interactive exhibits which allow children to immerse themselves in a world of sound, light and water and measures 10m by 2m and is 3m high.
Both exhibitions can be tailored to the bidder's specific requirements.
All bids must be received by 27th February 2004. No minimum bid has been set.
For an information pack, or to arrange a viewing contact Jessica Jones on 020 7942 4398, solutions@nmsi.ac.uk
News from the Regions
3000 Brits wanted by forensic scientists
As
part of an FBI-led research project, 3000 adult volunteers are to be asked to
have their heads scanned by a state-of-the-art 3D scanner set-up at Magna science
centre, South Yorkshire.
The Computer-Assisted Facial Identification Research Project will analyse the facial measurements (craniofacial anthropometrics) and distinctive features of every person in the pilot sample, and then use information on facial variation in the sample to develop software tools to calculate the frequency of any set of facial measurements in the wider population.
The project is of special interest to the police because it will help them identify or eliminate suspects from CCTV footage and provide a statistical likelihood of the suspect being the person in the picture.
Christine Melia, Magna's Managing Director, said, "We are delighted to be involved in such an exiting and important scientific study. Magna is about bringing science to the people and in this instance I hope Magna will actually bring the people to the science."
For further information, please contact Daniel Kennedy or Helen Lear at Spin Media on 0161 236 9909, or e-mail helen@spinmedia.co.uk.
Diary Dates
Evaluation Skills Workshop
30
January, The Dana Centre, London
ReDiscover funding partners - and other grant givers - are placing increasing emphasis on the role of evaluation in project development and delivery. This Skills Workshop is organised by Ecsite-uk and supported by the Wellcome Trust. It aims to address, in theory and practice: 'why evaluate?' 'when and how to evaluate?' improve professional practice through skill sharing.
The Workshop is led by:
Dr John Falk, Director, Institute for Learning Innovation, USA
Susie Fisher, The Susie Fisher Group
Dr Ben Gammon, Head of Learning, Science Museum, London www.sciencemuseum.org.uk
Numbers are limited to 40.
For details, email lucy.johnson@the-ba.net
BIG Fabricator's Week
16-20
February 2004, Bristol
Open to anyone with an interest in exhibit building, whether experienced or a novice, the British Interactive Group Fabricators Week is a chance to try your ideas in the workshop.
If you've got an idea for an exhibit or if you've always wanted to try welding/turning/whatever, this is the event for you. Previous workshop experience is not required, as experienced help is on hand to guide, with the emphasis on hands-on learning.
The week ends with an open day, including a seminar: 'Fit to interact - how to win with sport and fitness interactives'.
For further information and booking form please go to www.big.uk.com; enquiries fabricators@big.uk.com
Ecsite-uk
Dr Melanie Quin, Executive Director Ecsite-uk: the Science and Discovery Centre Network
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