We’re celebrating our busiest year for more than 20 years – with 313,538 visitors in 2019. It represents our highest visitor numbers since 1998 and an increase of more than 4.5% (14,000) on the previous year.
Celebrating the tremendous numbers, Leigh-Anne Stradeski, our Chief Executive, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and we’re thrilled! Our entire team across all departments has worked so hard to ensure families have a great time visiting Eureka!, putting on a number of creative and industry-leading digital art exhibitions along with our regular programme of events that help children to learn through fun.
“To achieve our best numbers since 1998 is significant as it means we are welcoming yet another generation of visitors to discover their own Eureka! moments. We continually have parents, and grandparents, coming back to the museum they visited when they were children or younger adults.”
“Starting a new decade on such a high is great news, especially given we have lots of amazing plans ahead to make Eureka! in Halifax bigger and better.
“The next 10 years will be extremely important too for the Eureka! brand as we open our second site in the Liverpool City Region. It will serve an older age group and inspire them with the STEAM skills and knowledge they, and the local area, will need to thrive in the future world of work ahead.”
Plans for a second Eureka! gained momentum in 2019 with the announcement of a £6.4m grant from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. Eureka! Mersey will be a cutting-edge 21st century science and discovery centre for children aged 0-14. It is due to open in 2022.
We’re also investing in developments here in Halifax with significant plans to overhaul our indoor roleplay garage and outdoor playscapes in the coming months. Plus we’ve played host to a series of innovative digital and tech exhibitions in our Spark gallery. Over the past twelve months, the main exhibitions were both Eureka!-commission installations: Patternarium by IOU Theatre and Digital Dimensions, created by students from Backstage Academy. December saw the launch of Shapeshift, featuring artworks from the international Lumen Prize for Art & Technology.
A HUGE thanks to you – our visitors – for your continued support last year. Here are just a few of the many highlights from 2019:
By: Michelle Emerson