The Salina Art Center recently learned that the Art Center Cinema is one of thirty-five US-based nonprofit art house theaters to receive a 2016-17 Science on Screen grant, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The Science on Screen program, now in its twelfth season, promotes scientific literacy by creatively pairing screenings of classic, cult, science fiction, and documentary films with lively presentations by notable experts from the world of science and technology. To date, fifty-seven cinemas have participated in Science on Screen nationwide. The Art Center Cinema is the first theater in Kansas to be selected for this innovative program.

The Art Center’s Science on Screen series begins Monday, December 5, 5:30 p.m. at the Art Center Cinema (150 S. Santa Fe) with a screening of Future Weather, the story of Lauduree, a thirteen-year-old passionate environmentalist who clings to her rural home and a carbon sequestration experiment after her single mother runs off to California. Immediately following the film at 7:30 p.m. there will be a discussion panel and reception at the Salina Art Center (242 S. Santa Fe). The discussion panel, “Skirting the Issue: Women in Science,” will feature Verna Fitzsimmons, CEO and Dean, Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus, and Martha Tasker, Director of Utilities, City of Salina.

The Art Center’s Science on Screen series continues on March 28, with a screening of the 1996 disaster film Twister, featuring Helen Hunt, as part of the 2017 National Evening of Science on Screen.

All of the Art Center’s Science on Screen programs (films and discussion panels) are free and open to the public.

For more information about Science on Screen visit scienceonscreen.org