HLS 23RS-960 ORIGINAL
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 15
BY REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS
COMMENDATIONS: Commends the Louisiana Art & Science Museum on the twentieth
anniversary of its Irene W. Pennington Planetarium
1 A RESOLUTION
2To commend the Louisiana Art & Science Museum (LASM) on the occasion of the
3 twentieth anniversary of its Irene W. Pennington Planetarium.
4 WHEREAS, in 1967, the city-parish of Baton Rouge and The Committee for a Better
5Baton Rouge funded the construction of a Zeiss planetarium to complement the then-named
6Louisiana Arts and Science Center (LASC) that was housed in the Old Governor's Mansion;
7and
8 WHEREAS, in 1971, the International Planetarium Society (IPS) drafted its
9constitution and bylaws in the LASC planetarium, which was the twelfth-largest planetarium
10in the world at the time; and
11 WHEREAS, in 1998, the LASM entered into an agreement with the state of
12Louisiana and the city-parish of Baton Rouge to fund a $16.8 million project to build a
13planetarium, atrium, educational classrooms, and galleries at the museum's current location;
14and
15 WHEREAS, in 1999, the Irene W. and C. B. Pennington Foundation funded an
16endowment to support the operations of the planetarium; in 2001, ExxonMobil contributed
17to the planetarium the largest single educational donation the corporation had ever made to
18the Baton Rouge community; and
19 WHEREAS, on May 22, 2003, the Louisiana Art & Science Museum officially
20opened the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium and ExxonMobil Space Theater; the
21planetarium, with its sixty-foot dome and one hundred seventy-one seat theater, remains the
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HR NO. 15
1largest and most technologically advanced planetarium in the southeastern United States;
2and
3 WHEREAS, the LASM's economic impact on Baton Rouge grew significantly as a
4result of the opening of the new Irene W. Pennington Planetarium; the planetarium caused
5the average daily attendance at the LASM to quadruple, which also led to the doubling of
6the museum's operating budget; the state-of-the-art planetarium draws not only community
7members and tourists, but also tens of thousands of students seeking to add to their school
8field trip experience; and
9 WHEREAS, in 2012, the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium hosted the IPS's twenty-
10first biennial conference, which brought nearly seven hundred planetarium professionals
11from forty-four countries to Baton Rouge; and
12 WHEREAS, in 2020, the LASM survived the COVID-19 pandemic; during the
13height of the pandemic, the planetarium brightened the lives of hundreds of individuals
14through weekly online livestreams of the "We Need Our Space" planetarium experience,
15which was provided to patrons entirely free of charge in the safety of their homes; and
16 WHEREAS, in 2021, the LASM presented "Astronomy Virtual Voyages" to more
17than twelve hundred fifth-grade students from struggling schools within the East Baton
18Rouge Parish School System; the program featured live, presenter-led explorations of the
19nighttime sky and other hands-on activities; and
20 WHEREAS, this year, the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium celebrated a landmark
21occasion by admitting its one-millionth visitor; many of those visitors have been students
22from nearly forty Louisiana parishes and five Mississippi counties, all of whom experience
23curriculum-aligned educational programs that are focused on not only astronomy, but also
24important topics such as engineering, history, culture, and the environment; and
25 WHEREAS, the LASM is also celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Irene W.
26Pennington Planetarium by lighting the exterior of the planetarium dome on May 26, 2023,
27and presenting an "Out of this World" themed gala on October 6, 2023; to raise funds for the
28museum's capital campaign to renovate four of the LASM's hands-on, STEAM-based spaces;
29and
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HR NO. 15
1 WHEREAS, in 2025, the LASM will celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of its
2historic building, which is the renovated Illinois Central Railroad passenger station built in
31925 by the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad Company which has been listed on the
4National Register of Historic Places since 1994; and
5 WHEREAS, both the LASM and the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium are most
6deserving of the highest recognition on the occasion of the planetarium's twentieth
7anniversary.
8 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
9Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend the Louisiana Art & Science Museum on the
10occasion of the twentieth anniversary of its Irene W. Pennington Planetarium; does hereby
11recognize the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium's pivotal role in advancing Louisiana's
12educational, cultural, and economic development by providing opportunities to learn,
13explore, and discover under its awe-inspiring, sixty-foot dome; and does hereby extend
14sincerest wishes that the LASM continue to receive the necessary support to continue its
15truly inspiring mission of education.
16 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
17chair of the board, Elizabeth Canfield, and the executive director of the Louisiana Art &
18Science Museum.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 15 Original 2023 Regular Session Davis
Commends the La. Art & Science Museum on the occasion of the 20
th
anniversary of its
Irene W. Pennington Planetarium.
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