Musical twist to science festival

Learning made fun: An advertistment displaying some of the numerous activities taking place at the Petrosains Science Festival 2014 at Petrosains, The Discovery Centre in Suria KLCC.

KUALA LUMPUR: The country’s premier science exhibition Petrosains Science Festival 2014 kicks off today, covering a range of fun and educational talks, workshops as well as a music fest to excite all in the family.

The seven-day event, themed “Music, Arts and Sciences”, fuses music and art into science activities and expects to draw more than 70,000 visitors when it ends on Sept 21.

Petrosains Sdn Bhd director of programming Kamaruddin Kassim said the workshops would cater to different age groups.

“We have a workshop for teens entitled ‘Magic of Colours’ which explains the science behind colours. We also have a workshop that not only teaches kids how to bake but also the fundamentals of measurement and the science behind cooking,” he said.

Held at Petrosains, The Discovery Centre in Suria KLCC, other attractions include talks on “Enhancing Learning Through Music Neuroscience” by Assoc Prof Dr Valerie Ross from the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) music faculty and “Music, Art and Space” by Malaysian astronaut Major Dr Faiz Khaleed.

Musical performances will be held at the Esplanade, KLCC Park from Sept 19 to Sept 21, with hip hop artist Joe Flizzow, Sasi the Don and electro pop artiste Darren Ashley and German band Cee.

Key partners for the festival include Petronas, Google and Telekom Malaysia. The Star and Discovery Channel are the official media while RedFM is the festival’s official radio station.

The event is also supported by Petronas, through its Music-Arts-Science trilogy, courtesy of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, Galeri Petronas and Petrosains.

The exhibition space includes the Galleria of Petrosains, The Discovery Centre and Suria KLCC. It extends to the Esplanade and KLCC Park over the last three days.

Festival hours for forums and workshops at Petrosains, The Discovery Centre are from 10am to 5pm while activities at the Esplanade are from noon to 9pm.

At Petrosains, the admission fee is RM3 for adults and youths, and free for children under 12, with RM5 as entry fee for each workshop.

Visitors get to enjoy the weekend activities at Esplanade, KLCC Park for free.

For enquiries, log on to www.sciencefestival.my