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Beaker Street is a meeting place for curious minds

Who we are

The brain-child of a fun-loving evolutionary biologist, Beaker Street is a not-for-profit Science and Art Collaboration Platform located in lutruwita / Tasmania – an island where both are abundant.

Here, diverse adult audiences come together to discover the intersection of science, art, entertainment, culture, and community.

We’re best known for creating the Beaker Street Festival: An annual celebration of science and art. As well as the Festival, we host innovative science-based events, experiences, and experiments throughout the year, in captivating locations around lutruwita/Tasmania. We also produce entertaining scientific content for global audiences.

What we do

Beaker Street is a not-for-profit cultural organisation in lutruwita/Tasmania, which exists to promote an understanding of and appreciation for science, make science accessible to all, and explore the intersection of science and art. We do this in ways that facilitate collaborations and connections among scientists, artists, and the public. Our programming seeks to bring in diverse adult audiences, inviting those who don’t typically engage with the sciences — and those who do — to come together for shared cultural experiences, meaningful discussions, and opportunities to discover and create. 

What we value

We value community, collaboration, creativity, and curiosity. 

As members of Tasmania’s community, we aim to celebrate and protect the fragile beauty of this place and its natural assets. We are committed to supporting Tasmanian creatives — scientists, artists, makers, and producers — and contributing to shaping a vibrant and sustainable future for all who live and visit here. We aim to showcase the depth of knowledge and scientific, creative, and artistic contributions of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. 

We value working collaboratively with other organisations and events, sharing resources and expertise, promoting efficiency and boosting each other along the way. We also see huge potential in facilitating collaborations among scientists and artists who, as creators and experimenters, often have more in common than they might think. 

We support creativity in our organisation and in our programming. We value experimentation and innovation over perfection. We celebrate idiosyncrasy and encourage those we work with to take creative risks. 

We aim to promote curiosity, both as a way of bringing people together, as well as inviting them into scientific discovery — particularly those who may have had limited opportunity to do so previously. Through enabling meaningful interactions between scientists, artists, and the public, we hope to encourage people to experiment, ask questions, discover new ideas, and challenge their assumptions.

OUR TEAM

Dr Margo Adler

Executive Director

Rosie Pidd

Executive Producer

Errin Polegaj

Marketing and Communications Manager

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Tom Carr

Chairperson – Senior Solicitor at Crown Law

Adam Morton

Environment Editor at Guardian Australia

Belinda Kelly

Executive Producer and CEO at Terrapin Puppet Theatre

Professor Anya Reading

Geophysicist at University of Tasmania

Patrick Myer

Director at Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal

Jen Murnaghan

Owner & Marketing/Creative Communications Consultant at Digital Dandy

BOARD ALUMNI

Dr Varuni Kulasekera

Founding chairperson. Executive Director, Australian-American Fulbright Commission

Professor Maggie Walter

Yoo-rrook Justice Commissioner and inaugural Pro Vice Chancellor – Aboriginal Research and Leadership at UTAS

David Bartlett

Former Premier of Tasmania

Michael Bugelli

Former Gallery Director at Michael Bugelli Gallery & Curator at Detached Cultural Organisation