On Saturday 23rd July, Birgu’s Couvre Porte was decorated with the colours of Esplora as the science festival Esperimenta Tikka Xjenza was held with the main aim to bring the immersive world of science to the community. This festival was the science centre’s latest initiative to showcase that science can be entertaining and accessible to all.

Organised under the auspices of the STEM Engagement Working Group, of which Esplora is chair, and with the support of the Birgu Local Council, the event was free of charge and targeted towards people of all ages. It continued to build upon Esplora's vision which is to cultivate a culture of scientific curiosity and creativity, achieved by its mission to ignite a passion for questioning, investigation and discovery. The objective of this festival was to highlight that science has a major role in our lives and how it affects us in our day-to-day activities.

It also increased the awareness of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects and encouraged the young generation to take up these subjects at school and envisage a career in one of these areas.

The theme of this year’s festival was Environmental Sustainability for Wellbeing, highlighting the importance that a healthy environment has on the quality of our lives and our wellbeing.

During this evening, the Knights of St John’s majestic Couvre Porte was converted into a fun-filled scientific hotspot, jam-packed with activities such as science shows, tinkering session, an animated movie, dance and theatre performances. Visitors had the opportunity to converse with various experts in the STEM fields as well as interact with a gorgeous collection of wooden games coming all the way from Barcelona.

This was the first event in a projected series of science festivals planned to be held in Cottonera’s Three Cities and Kalkara, bringing the need for science to be more accessible to the communities, whilst at the same time, helping to break down barriers and show that with learning through play, science can be understood by everyone. As a matter of fact, part of the festival was also held at Ħaż-Żebbuġ on Sunday 24th July, where Misraħ l-Isptar hosted a number of activities including a recycled wooden educational exhibition.

These type of events, organized within the community, are very important because they help people interact with scientific subjects whilst simultaneously encouraging them to ask questions about the world around them. At the same time these festivals serve as an opportunity for local scientists and entities in the STEM fields to interact and build a relationship with local citizens.