Blinded by science

What with Acxiom, Welspun and LM Windpower and Windstream, and four hospitals in town, it’s a wonder science isn’t a more prominent theme on the charity event circuit. That’s not a brand new idea. Kelley Bass, director of the city’s Museum of Discovery, has been sitting on that for months, and on Oct. 17, he tripped the switch on Spark!, the museum’s new fundraiser.

Guests arrived at the door on an orange carpet, greeted by servicemen and women holding up sparklers beneath a big “Spark!” banner. Plied with delicious hors d’oeuvres prepared by Shane Henderson of Ben E. Keith and Rob Best of Simply the Best, museum supporters took turns working at the many activity stations and watching science videos playing on screens around the museum’s main floor.

A Pulaski Academy robotics team’s plastic disc-throwing robot - “4535” - was there, as was “The Bear Claw Team” from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, who competed in the Microsoft Imagine Cup World Finals in Russia this summer with their aid for hand-injury sufferers. Central High School science fair award winner Mohammed Abdulla displayed his project, a wind tunnel that explains wind drag using model cars and a fan. A team of computer science students from Philander Smith College explained their research on personal cyber-security. And museum staff made liquid nitrogen ice cream, to the delight of anyone willing to eat liquid nitrogen ice cream. (The liquid nitrogen is a cooling aid, not an ingredient.)

A robot named “Carl,” modeled intentionally or otherwise on “Johnny Five” from the ’80s movie Short Circuit, accompanied museum staff member Kevin Delaney, who controlled him by way of a modified travel mug.

Aaron Gamewell won a trip to San Francisco’s Exploratorium simply by showing up - his ticket was picked during a raffle. Other trips to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico ($6,100), Chicago ($2,900), and Disney World ($3,100) were bought in a live auction.

Animal lovers could adopt a skunk for $150, a skink for $100 or a scorpion for $50. This “adoption” hews closer to the adopt-a-highway program than a caretaker transaction, which is probably a relief for the aforementioned species, as well as the hissing cockroaches and prickly sticks.

All told, the museum expects gross revenue around $130,000, which, after expenses, is still a six-figure haul.

“In terms of the performance of our fundraisers, historically,” Bass says, “last year’s Uncorked … netted $53,000, so you can see that we will easily more than double that with the inaugural Spark! The key was that cash sponsorships were more than triple what we’d ever done for Uncorked.”