2017 Science Festival Alliance Annual Report

The Science Festival Alliance (SFA) is a professional association of independent science and technology festivals. We are dedicated to supporting both new and existing festivals, and to fostering an international conversation about how to make public science events more meaningful, entertaining, and instructive.

This annual report provides information in two distinct categories:
1) member activities—the accomplishments of the independently organized science festivals that comprise SFA membership; and
2) network activities—SFA efforts that support the exchange of inspiration, advice, and resources among members.

Science festivals are the unique product of the communities in which they take place. Most science festivals feature scores of activities, many of which change substantially from year to year. This makes it a challenge to succinctly summarize even one science festival, let alone the operations of all of the SFA’s many members. Nevertheless, this annual report provides a useful snapshot of SFA member activities in 2017 based on voluntary self-reporting.