Creative Placemaking & STEAM Education Strategy

CSC partnered with staff from a museum’s Studio for Public Spaces and Education departments to explore how creative placemaking could deepen community engagement, expand Latino youth participation, and address inequities in local STEM education.

Through a series of facilitated strategy workshops, the team examined how cultural traditions, public space, and participatory design could be integrated into science learning. The result was Ciencia Pública — an experimental collaboration among museum educators, artists, Latino youth, and community leaders.

Ciencia Pública adapted the “parklet” model to create small-scale public platforms for informal science education across San Francisco. Each installation was conceived not simply as a learning site, but as a co-designed civic space where Latino youth could explore scientific inquiry through culturally resonant practices.

The initiative aimed to:

• Expand access to STEAM learning through public space
• Center Latino youth as co-creators rather than passive participants
• Strengthen relationships between cultural institutions and local communities
• Support leadership development through reciprocal learning exchanges

In parallel, CSC supported the development of program design and narrative strategy that contributed to a successful National Science Foundation proposal, securing funding to advance this science-focused creative placemaking initiative.

Ciencia Pública demonstrates how cultural strategy, relational engagement, and public design can align to create more inclusive pathways into science education — strengthening both institutional practice and community opportunity.