Leading Through Transition

Organizational transitions are delicate. Festivals are also delicate, despite all the steel, fire, robots, scaffolding, permits, and giant inflatable things.

Beakerhead’s move into TELUS Spark required careful integration of operations, staffing, budgeting, brand identity, stakeholder relationships, volunteer engagement, and production systems.

My role was to help the festival find its footing inside a larger institution without losing the wild creative charge that made people care about it in the first place.

That meant balancing institutional alignment with community ownership, financial discipline with creative risk, and operational structure with the kind of ideas that make people say, “Can we actually do that?”

Often, the answer was yes.

Then we built the workback.

Record Engagement & Programming Growth

In 2023, Beakerhead delivered one of the strongest festival years in its history.

The festival generated 57,645 hands-on science and art engagements, a 72% increase over the previous year. Programming expanded by 281%, with 114 activities delivered in collaboration with 511 presenters, partners, artists, educators, engineers, makers, and community contributors.

That growth did not happen by accident.

It came from clearer planning, stronger partner coordination, expanded programming pathways, and a more intentional approach to audience experience.

Beakerhead worked because it invited people into curiosity. It gave them something to touch, question, build, watch, laugh at, climb into, stare up at, and talk about on the way home.

Revenue, Partnerships & Public Reach

A festival this ambitious needs more than enthusiasm and an excellent playlist.

It needs funding, sponsorship, media attention, public trust, and partners willing to bring their best ideas to the table.

During my tenure, Beakerhead secured $567,683 in sponsorships, grants, donations, and self-generated revenue. The 2023 festival achieved 129M in earned media reach and a 201% increase in social media impressions, helping extend the festival’s visibility far beyond the event footprint.

We also strengthened community and partner engagement by creating meaningful opportunities for local artists, engineers, educators, businesses, cultural organizations, and volunteers to contribute to the festival experience.

The result was not just a bigger festival.

It was a more connected one.

Systems Behind the Spectacle

Big creative events need operational bones.

Behind every installation, performance, panel, activation, and public experience, there are budgets, contracts, schedules, vendor calls, volunteer plans, site maps, emergency considerations, partner needs, sponsor expectations, and at least one spreadsheet doing emotional labour.

I introduced project management systems and improved shared documentation processes to better capture production details, track deliverables, improve collaboration, and support future planning.

Google Workspace and centralized project tools helped make information more accessible to staff, volunteers, partners, and stakeholders. These systems supported smoother coordination across programming, production, communications, sponsorship, and operations.

Not glamorous.

Absolutely necessary.

Why This Work Matters

Beakerhead mattered because it made curiosity public.

It brought science out of the lab, art out of the gallery, engineering out of the schematic, and creativity into streets, parks, buildings, stages, and unexpected places.

At its best, Beakerhead showed people that learning could feel electric, that public space could become a playground for ideas, and that complex concepts could become shared experiences.

My role was to help make that possible at scale.

Not just through vision, but through planning, systems, partnerships, revenue, logistics, and the very real work of getting strange and brilliant ideas safely in front of thousands of people.

The Outcome

Under my leadership, Beakerhead grew its engagement, expanded its programming, strengthened its partner ecosystem, increased media visibility, improved operational systems, and delivered a major public festival during a complex organizational transition.

The work proved that big creative ideas can survive institutional change when they are supported by strategy, structure, trust, and enough operational stamina to keep the weird wonderful.

Science met art.

The audience showed up.

The machinery held.