Beakerhead’s Commitment to Innovation: A Stage for Local Artists
Written by Melanie Lavoie
Innovation, creation, art and science: you can always count on Beakerhead to put on a transcendent spectacle. Operating at a crossroads between the technical and the creative , the folks at Beakerhead are inspiring adults and children in the STEM community to unite, collaborate and embrace ideas both old and new — with some unexpected twists.
Inspired by her friend’s artistry, along with her own passion for science and technology, CEO and President of Beakerhead, Mary-Ann Moser, was originally motivated to design a platform that enables local artists to showcase their work.
“Somewhere a long, long time ago, I got this sense that one of my callings was to enable artists to make art. So in some ways, Beakerhead is a platform, and what’s important about this is it all involves science and engineering as well… Beakerhead was created to bring these two worlds together.”
Despite Beakerhead’s present success, the beginning of its journey was bumpy. The vision of Beakerhead first started as just that: an idea that required key players to buy into it and be willing to stand behind its mission..
“We spent 4 years just having meetings with people and trying to build support. The very first town hall we held with the members of the Calgary arts community was back in 2008, and the first Beakerhead event was not until 2013,” says Moser.
“I remember it was the spring before the first Beakerhead, and I remember the stress level was through the roof. We were trying to get this thing off the ground that was brand new, we have never done before and it was going to be BIG . I thought at that point my body was going to jump out from itself!But at some point I realized, there is no shame in failure..The only shame would have been giving up!”
The organization like its events has always adopted the ‘go big or go home’ view. Despite their original plan to start the organization at a grassroots level, Mary Anne and the rest of the team realized that going the extra mile right out of the gate was the best way to capture the public eye — a decision that paid off when Beakerhead experienced tremendous engagement and support from the community in 2013.
Behind each and every successful event there is an extensive planning process; with Beakerhead, that planning process is transparent, safe and open.
“We have an upgrading culture. If you’re working in pure arts or pure science, you might call it interference, but we don’t. We call it a collaborative process, so we try to put all of our ideas in the middle of the table and you separate yourself from egos. Egos get in the way a lot of times from coming up with crazy, wacky, new ideas, and we believe that the best ideas are sparked in the relationships between people, so you can’t have your ego invested.”
Featuring visual and culinary artists, to musicians, inventors, scientists, and many others , Beakerhead has something for everyone. Mary Anne Moser encourages attendees to keep an open mind in order to fully absorb the Beakerhead experience: “I would say, set aside your expectations and you would be most rewarded.Some of the pieces are grand and some are subtle. Some breathe fire and some are best seen at night.Sample as much as you can! Explore!”
Come September 13, Beakerhead will be featured at Chic Geek’s Meet’n’Tech event. This is a night where the curious, the artistic, the fun and, of course, the GEEKY, gather under one roof as headlining experts share stories revolving around the theme of the night: virtual reality.
The event will run from 6pm — 8:30pm, and tickets are now available on our website:
To view the full line-up of events, visit beakerhead.com.
