Have you heard about the Museum of Science and Industry’s Month at the Museum project? They took thousands of applications for one participant to live at the museum for an entire month and document what he or she would do, see, hear, think, etc. And Kate brought home the bacon… or maybe she’s bringing the bacon to the museum.

I’m often surprised by how many people say things like, “It’s always been a dream of mine to sleepover/explore at night/party at the museum.” (And this could really be said about any museum you’ve ever been to) But when the DIA was open for 36 hours straight you bet I was there at 2 am looking at art and dancing to hip hop beats. There is an allure for people about going “behind the scenes” at the museum and seeing all the cool/amazing/secret/old stuff that very few people are allowed to see. I think this project is an opportunity for visitors to live vicariously through one “normal” person who will have this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I’m excited to see how this will turn out. It’s not often that a museum will take such a big risk, which probably requires a decent amount of funding, on an individual not associated with (i.e. on the payroll at) the institution. Kate will be an ambassador for the museum to the world, but she also has to be funny, thoughtful and exciting, maybe even daring. (Check out Slover Linett’s recent post about taking risks)

And not only will Kate be representing the MSI to the public, she will be a representative for women in science, and more generally everyone in science. Educators/institutions/government groups have been pushing to increase the number of women in the STEM fields for decades. Kate is a young woman who enjoys science and will take part in helping bring an interest in science and technology to others. She could be a positive face for helping girls get excited about learning and doing science.
But, Kate does not have a science background (she has worked mostly in theater) which makes her a good candidate to reach out to the millions of individuals who think they don’t work with science. In fact, we all encounter science everyday, and science museums want to help visitors realize this in a fun and exciting way.

She moves in on October 20th! It’s still unclear as to what she will be doing exactly (interacting with curators, educators and visitors? exploring the collections? making video blog posts?) but here’s to hoping she will be sleeping behind a plexi case like a Duane Hanson piece on display.