The Exploratorium is a museum of science, art, and human perception founded in 1969. The Exploratorium’s mission is to create a culture of learning through innovative environments, programs, and tools that help people nurture their curiosity about the world around them.

 575,000 people annually visit the Exploratorium
 52% of visitors are adults and 48% are children
 51% are from the Bay Area, 30% from the rest of California, 14% from other states, 5% outside U.S.
 110,000 school-age students and their chaperones visit the museum each year, of these, 80,000 participate in the Field Trip program
 11,500 individuals and families are Exploratorium Members
 47% of visitors receive free or discounted admission
 43,000 visitors attended on Free Wednesdays (the first Wednesday of every month) last year
 145 million visit Exploratorium exhibits at science centers and other locations worldwide

 More than 1,000 original interactive exhibits, displays, and artworks have been designed, prototyped, and built on site, with 400 currently on view
 Hands-on exhibits explore biology, physics, visual perception, listening, and mind
 Public programs include hands-on workshops, lectures, performances, films, and other special events. Bilingual programs in Spanish, Cantonese, and/or Mandarin are offered 2-3 times a year.
 The museum has hosted more than 250 artists in residence
 Exhibits located at 60 international and 66 U.S. science centers
 Partnerships with 13 science centers nationwide offer them exhibit collections and educational training
 Exploratorium exhibitions—Memory and Navigation—travel worldwide

 An estimated 6,000 teachers from 47 states participate in Exploratorium-designed workshops
 400 U.S. teachers participate in more than 60 hours of intensive professional development each year
 A national model program improves the classroom success of beginning teachers
 Center for Informal Learning and Schools, a partnership with UC Santa Cruz and King’s College London, develops leadership in the study of informal science learning and institutions, and their relationships to schools
 The Educational Outreach reaches 5,000 underserved children and families in the community 
 Explainer Program hires and trains a diverse group of up to 75 high school students each year
 The Osher Fellows Program hosts Program hosts 4 to 6 resident scholars, scientists, educators, and artists
 8 staff members, including 3 PhDs, comprise one of the country’s most active museum research and evaluation groups

 24 million Web visits annually access www.exploratorium.edu, which has 25,000 pages of original content
 50 live Webcasts, podcasts, and videos are produced each year from the Exploratorium and remote locations
 50,000 copies of Exploratorium-developed publications were sold in the past year, with 28 titles in print
 12,500 copies of explore, the membership newsletter, are distributed quarterly

The Exploratorium uses 110,000 sq ft of floor space within San Francisco's historic Palace of Fine Arts, plus offices and exhibit-building shops in adjacent Presidio Buildings. Facilities include:
 multimedia Learning Center with library • 9 wired classrooms • life science laboratory
 Phyllis C. Wattis Webcast Studio • 125-seat McBean Theater • ample free parking
machine, wood, and electronics shops • store and café 
The Exploratorium is available to rent for private events during evening hours. 

 2009–10 budget: $32,242,270
 491 total employees; 266 full-time equivalent; 42% people of color
 an international team of 225 volunteers contributes more than 12,000 hours annually