Beakerhead is Calgary’s STEAM festival, a mash-up of art, science, technology, engineering, and math with interactive installations, performances, workshops, and talks. It ran every September from 2013, paused in 2025, and returned reimagined as Petri Dish by Beakerhead.
About
The festival throws scientists, artists, engineers, and curious Calgarians together around hands-on science and engineered art. Programming runs from big spectacle nights to daytime family activities, with installations, live performance, and workshops across the schedule.
Beakerhead was founded in 2013 by Mary Ann Moser and Jay Ingram and ran every September through 2024. The organizers announced a pause for 2025, then brought it back for 2026 in reimagined form as Petri Dish by Beakerhead, now produced by TELUS Spark Science Centre in association with the University of Calgary.