Educating Risa

Why Telus Spark Science Centre has Lost our Family as Members

 

Yesterday, we purchased an annual family membership to Edmonton’s science centre. It cost $134.95 (+GST), and came with a slew of benefits, like 50% off IMAX movies. Membership at Calgary’s new Telus Spark science centre with comparable benefits would have cost our 4-person family $320.

 

We made this choice for both financial and ethical reasons, and despite being long-time members of Calgary Science Centre in the past.

 

We’re a middle-class family fortunate enough to have $320/year to spend on science enrichment and education for our children. But we need to get good value for that money. For $320, we can buy the Edmonton membership ($135), a Royal Tyrrell membership ($60), visit the new Telus Spark on a day admission ($65.80), and still have money left for family nature classes at Devonian Gardens, tours at Dinosaur Provincial Park, admission to the newly renovated John Janzen nature centre, or Coaldale’s Birds of Prey centre—a place we just discovered this past summer. Or we’ll offer small donations to free places like Calgary’s Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Lethbridge’s Helen Schuler Nature Centre, or Medicine Hat’s Police Point Park. Or to the Ellis Bird Farm who hosts the Bug Jamboree each August, the University of Alberta who offers ‘Science Sunday for Kids’ each March, or our own Calgary Public Library, where in the past couple weeks our family has taken in a Rock and Fossil show, and a class about bats. We’ve done enriching, hands-on, science-based activities at all these places in Alberta. And all keep prices affordable—in fact, many are free! Yes, there are higher travel costs associated with some of these outings, but several of them are no additional cost to what our family would be doing anyways (my husband sometimes works in Edmonton; we have family to visit in Lethbridge, etc.).

 

We also want to see our money spent wisely by the institutions we support. We expect them to offer solid, enrichment opportunities—and also to make these opportunities affordable and inclusive, reaching as many of our “future generation of scientists, engineers and innovators” as they can. Reading through science centre annual reports, I’ve learned that in 2010 Edmonton had 27% more visitors than Calgary’s old Science Centre, yet also spent at least $358K less on ‘salaries and compensation’. (It is unclear whether to include the additional $460K in ‘Professional Fees and Contracts’ that Calgary listed under ‘operating costs’ for the old science centre, which would make the total $818K less). So in 2010, Edmonton spent $358K (possibly $818K) less on employees, while accommodating 86,000 more visitors, and while running a larger science centre. Food for thought.

 

The other factor behind our spending decision is ethical: put simply, my husband and I have little tolerance for “stretching the truth”. I understand Telus Spark needs to attract visitors, and wants to seem as appealing as possible. That’s marketing. But misinformation crosses the line. Spark CEO Jennifer Martin came out swinging in her editorial, claiming folks—including Klaszus and implying me—were stating “inaccuracies”. Since we’re talking about inaccuracies, I’ll address only three, the significance of which I leave you to decide for yourself:

 

1) CEO Martin stated that the science centre does not receive tax-payer dollars to help fund operating costs. Her words: “…it seems that some members of the community, and Klaszus, are under the impression that our operations are either fully or partially subsidized, which is not the case.” Yet according to their 2010 annual report, Calgary science centre received about $3M in “operating grants”. Just over $1M of that is listed in the annual report as being for the “new science centre”, and just under $2M listed under “operating costs” for the old centre. And the majority of that $3M came from the City of Calgary.

 

Let’s be clear about what I am upset about here. I am not upset about them receiving grants per se; other science centres, like Edmonton’s, do so as well. And as a friend of mine rightly pointed out, this can help bring tourist dollars into our city, benefitting many Calgarians who work in that field. Edmonton, though, is quite up-front about this, mentioning on page 8 of their annual report “…our unique partnership with the City of Edmonton, our only source of public funding for operations.” They are not denying the fact, nor trying to use that denial to justify high membership prices that keep a science centre less accessible to local families.

 

2) Telus Spark is under fire for membership fees, and has inaccurate information on their website about how long it takes for membership to “pay for itself”. On their main membership page, they claim memberships pay for themselves “in just 3 to 5 visits”. If you crunch the numbers, you’ll find memberships pay for themselves in 4 to 6 visits. For example, three ‘day admission’ visits for a child costs $38.85 (3x$12.95); a child’s green membership is $42. Three day visits for youth costs $47.85 (membership $48); adult $59.85 (membership $60), and senior $53.85 (membership $54). It takes 4 visits to pay for any of the green memberships. For gold membership, adult and senior do pay for themselves in 5 visits as stated, but child $64.75 ($70 membership), and youth $79.75 ($80 membership) do not. They take 6 visits.

 

3) Telus Spark on the home page of their website says “Canada’s first new Science Centre in over 25 years”. This phrase has been oft-repeated by the media, and gone unquestioned. Yet Montreal’s science centre opened in 2000, and last I checked Quebec was still part of Canada. I find it particularly amusing that the government of Canada official press release goes along with the “first in 25 years” story, even though they gave funding to both Calgary’s and Montreal’s projects. A simple “first to open in more than a decade” surely would have had a similar impact on the lay public, and been accurate. And for the curious, family memberships in Montreal are $95/year. Edited Nov 23: I have since learned that this claim is even more inaccurate than I thought. I have found at least 7 science centres that have opened in Canada in the past 25 years. For a chart comparing Spark’s membership prices and benefits to those of these 7 centres, and 7 additional major science centres in Canada, see here.

 

So there you have it. By choosing to spend our money in this way, we are still supporting Spark—they’ll get our $65.80 for a one-day admission. But that is considerably less than we would have given them if memberships were kept in line with every other science centre in Canada (and North America). It’s not just membership money they have lost—we will watch our IMAX movies in Edmonton, buy Christmas and birthday presents for our science-crazy sons at Edmonton’s gift shop, etc. And, in our view, better support Alberta’s many institutions that provide accessible science enrichment for our youth.

 

Please note: I am only telling my family’s story, with our particular circumstances and values. I in no way disparage you if your family chooses differently—for folks who don’t travel much, or who have preschoolers who will expend energy at the much-improved Creative Kids area this winter, or who value spending locally (in Calgary) more than provincially—buying memberships to Spark makes sense. I fully support your decision. I simply ask you to extend the same courtesy and not disparage our choice. And Spark, if you are listening, why not look at a price structure like Vancouver, where families have more choice—from $140/year for basic membership, to ‘premier’ memberships at $350 – $500, which come with tax receipts, 25 IMAX movie vouchers, and 2-4 guest passes. Surely some Calgary families would jump at this sort of value, and feel good about doing so knowing there were options in place to keep membership affordable (at $140) for far more families in the community.

 

I honestly do want to see Spark succeed and become a jewel of this city. But I also want value for my family, and value for the money I spend supporting science education and enrichment in Alberta. I will be judging Spark’s success on two grounds: (1) can they make the numbers work? and (2) can they be as accessible as possible to the local Calgary community? Right now, the first remains to be seen—though as a new place, I suspect they will be fine for at least a few years, novelty being a great seller—but they get a failing grade from me on the latter. I hope to see that improve in the coming years.

 

Bottom line, Spark: we’ve bought memberships in the past, and were planning to again. And we will buy again, if the value for our dollar is there. But between the price jump and the benefit drop, and the many other opportunities to support science education and enrichment in Alberta, we cannot justify it in our family budget.

 

Risa Kawchuk,

Founder of facebook’s People For an Affordable Calgary Science Centre