Celebrating One Year of Inside Out

This week marks the first birthday of Inside Out: an Anatomy Experience, a 2,500-square-foot gallery comprised of 47 unique, hands-on and digital interactives that expand The Discovery’s educational offerings for visitors of all ages, incomes, and abilities.

Inside Out is the museum’s first permanent gallery project debuted since The Discovery opened in September 2011. We partnered with four fantastic companies to bring Inside Out to life, including Council, some of the best exhibition design experts in the industry; Pacific Studio, based out of Seattle, Washington; Upswell, a design practice located in Portland, Oregon; and Understand.com, a medical education company.

From concept and design, to final production and installation, Inside Out was a $1.3 million project with content developed for a target 5^th-8^th grade and older audiences. Click on the Inside Out installation time lapse video below to get a glimpse of what it takes to install an exhibition of this scope.

• The Discovery has engaged more than 143,000 visitors from all over the country in hands-on learning about the human body.
• Nearly 15,000 K-7th grade students have visited Inside Out on field trips with standards-aligned Discovery Labs, one of which was specifically designed around this exciting exhibition.
• The Discovery’s 2015 summer Camp Discovery session included an “Inside Out” camp for 5^th-7^th grade youth where they could find out what happens inside their outsides, and dive deep into the amazing systems that make the human body work, grow, age and heal.

Visitors experience the “Your Father’s Nose” exhibit in Inside Out

The Discovery also utilized the expertise of medical professionals in the community to host an “Inside Out” themed Social Science on July 18th, 2015. More than 350 adults got to learn about open heart surgery, dissect cow eyes, and experience the symptoms and effects of pregnancy.

Inside Out also enabled The Discovery to build relationships with leading community partners in health and medicine, including Reno Orthopaedic Center, Carson Tahoe Health, and Renown Health. Experts from the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine and Orvis School of Nursing have also supported our demonstration program through activities that enhance learning about the human body and the medical field.

Over the last year, Inside Out: an Anatomy Experience has helped The Discovery complete its transition from a children’s museum to world class science center for all ages. In short, Inside Out enabled us to increase the direct impact of our educational programming, including growing our membership base, visitor attendance, and long-term sustainability as a leading community science center.

Inside Out was made possible by the generosity of the Frank M. & Gertrude R. Doyle Foundation, the Terry Lee Wells Foundation, the Robert S. and Dorothy J. Keyser Foundation, Reno Orthopaedic Clinic, Carson Tahoe Health, Renown Health, Anonymous, the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, Inc., Norma and Ranson Webster, the E.L. Cord Foundation, Upland Contractors, Understand.com, Monica and Joe Brandl, the Community Foundation of Western Nevada, and many other individual donors and businesses in our Northern Nevada community.

There’s still more to learn about the human body – explore Inside Out: an Anatomy Experience and other exciting exhibitions at The Discovery today! We look forward to seeing you soon!