DaVid President and COO, Georgia Aquarium


WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT AT THE GEORGIA AQUARIUM?


From its inception, Georgia Aquarium has embraced entertainment as a means of opening the hearts and minds of our guests and educating the public. I sometimes say that, in general, ‘education needs an injection of entertainment’ and I believe that it’s actually the biggest understatement in the world. We need to think about how children learn today, not how they learned before; and I believe that the zoological community hasn’t yet fully converted to our way of thinking along those lines. In today’s education, kids are acquiring their learning from both in-person instruction and engagement as well as sophisticated new technologies, and we have to adapt our teaching to that environment if we’re ever to tell our story effectively today – to have people of all ages understand the issues, appreciate the issues, and take action on those issues.


HAVE YOU MADE ANY PROGRESS ON THAT FRONT?


It’s certainly not easy – our job is to introduce issues, spur the imagination, and then encourage the visitors to learn through entertaining and engaging presentations and content. But each day we welcome a wide variety of visitors – ones who are simply seeking quality time with their families, to the ones who actively want to learn everything about the animals. We firmly believe that “how” we present our animal information, however, ensures that every guest leaves with valuable intelligence


about the aquatic world. We’re making progress, along with great partners like AT&T, to provide educational platforms like our Animal Guide, which was designed for use on your mobile device. Via the Animal Guide, a wealth of educational content, images and video are immediately available to the guest at the exhibit, which greatly enhances the guest’s access to animal information while viewing the animal in person; but perhaps the best part is that the guest can also use the guide outside of the aquarium, so the learning is available 24/7/365.


DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU’RE ACCOMPLISHING YOUR MISSION THROUGH THIS MIX?


Our mission and vision statement, which we call our “Compass,” says “we aim to be a premier institution delivering an awe-inspiring entertainment experience which supports animal research and conservation, inspires learning and instills a passion for the aquatic world.” It’s just human nature that people only work to conserve and protect the things they know and care about. In other words, if you’d never seen a Beluga whale before, would you know what it is or care about its perils in the wild? Probably not. Tat’s why we’re here – we touch the heart to teach the mind. When our guests can make a personal and emotional connection with an animal, they care; and when they care, that’s what empowers our conservation.


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