Interactive carnival of science, art, and technology is coming to the Bay Area

Eric Gradman and Brent Bushnell want “to make science and engineering the new rock and roll.”

They’re taking that mission straight to the youth with their STEAM Carnival, a festival of Tesla coils, music, lasers, games, interactive puzzles, and of course robots — all meant to inspire schoolchildren. In October, the first STEAM Carnival happened in the Los Angeles area, in San Pedro, California. This year, it’s coming to the Bay Area.

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The San Francisco STEAM Carnival will be held at Pier 48 in San Francisco over a long weekend, November 6-8, 2015. Tickets will go on sale September 21, and pricing will start at about $20 for children and $25 for adults. The Cartoon Network is the event’s major sponsor.

“We can’t wait to bring this fun-for-all carnival to the tech-savvy and hands-on community of the Bay Area,” Bushnell said in a press release.

Bushnell comes to his love of technology and play honestly, by the way — his father is Atari founder Nolan Bushnell. (The senior Bushnell will be speaking at VentureBeat’s GamesBeat Summit next week.)

STEAM is short for science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics — art is added to the usual “STEM” educational focus in order to help engage kids with music, fashion, and more. The idea is to create an interactive, circus-like event where school-age kids can engage with shows, displays, and games that will help inspire them to pursue science and technology careers.

Last year’s event was spread over five days, included 90,000 feet of display and performance space, and attracted 13,000 attendees. It’s not clear how big the upcoming San Francisco one will be, but it’s safe to say that it will be big. The team plans to bring new games and spectacles, and “more lasers and fire,” to the event.

Among the testimonials the organizers sent me was this one from 11-year-old Jonathan Huffman: “You must go to STEAM Carnival. Don’t miss it! I can’t even name my favorite thing —  it was all awesome!” For my kids, whom I have been bringing up with annual visits to the Maker Faire, that sounds like a pretty promising recommendation.

Here’s a photo gallery showing some of the highlights of the 2014 carnival.

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