ENROLLED
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 15
BY REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS
A RESOLUTION
To commend the Louisiana Art & Science Museum (LASM) on the occasion of the
twentieth anniversary of its Irene W. Pennington Planetarium.
WHEREAS, in 1967, the city-parish of Baton Rouge and The Committee for a Better
Baton Rouge funded the construction of a Zeiss planetarium to complement the then-named
Louisiana Arts and Science Center (LASC) that was housed in the Old Governor's Mansion;
and
WHEREAS, in 1971, the International Planetarium Society (IPS) drafted its
constitution and bylaws in the LASC planetarium, which was the twelfth-largest planetarium
in the world at the time; and
WHEREAS, in 1998, the LASM entered into an agreement with the state of
Louisiana and the city-parish of Baton Rouge to fund a $16.8 million project to build a
planetarium, atrium, educational classrooms, and galleries at the museum's current location;
and
WHEREAS, in 1999, the Irene W. and C. B. Pennington Foundation funded an
endowment to support the operations of the planetarium; in 2001, ExxonMobil contributed
to the planetarium the largest single educational donation the corporation had ever made to
the Baton Rouge community; and
WHEREAS, on May 22, 2003, the Louisiana Art & Science Museum officially
opened the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium and ExxonMobil Space Theater; the
planetarium, with its sixty-foot dome and one hundred seventy-one seat theater, remains the
largest and most technologically advanced planetarium in the southeastern United States;
and
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WHEREAS, the LASM's economic impact on Baton Rouge grew significantly as a
result of the opening of the new Irene W. Pennington Planetarium; the planetarium caused
the average daily attendance at the LASM to quadruple, which also led to the doubling of
the museum's operating budget; the state-of-the-art planetarium draws not only community
members and tourists, but also tens of thousands of students seeking to add to their school
field trip experience; and
WHEREAS, in 2012, the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium hosted the IPS's twenty-
first biennial conference, which brought nearly seven hundred planetarium professionals
from forty-four countries to Baton Rouge; and
WHEREAS, in 2020, the LASM survived the COVID-19 pandemic; during the
height of the pandemic, the planetarium brightened the lives of hundreds of individuals
through weekly online livestreams of the "We Need Our Space" planetarium experience,
which was provided to patrons entirely free of charge in the safety of their homes; and
WHEREAS, in 2021, the LASM presented "Astronomy Virtual Voyages" to more
than twelve hundred fifth-grade students from struggling schools within the East Baton
Rouge Parish School System; the program featured live, presenter-led explorations of the
nighttime sky and other hands-on activities; and
WHEREAS, this year, the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium celebrated a landmark
occasion by admitting its one-millionth visitor; many of those visitors have been students
from nearly forty Louisiana parishes and five Mississippi counties, all of whom experience
curriculum-aligned educational programs that are focused on not only astronomy, but also
important topics such as engineering, history, culture, and the environment; and
WHEREAS, the LASM is also celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Irene W.
Pennington Planetarium by lighting the exterior of the planetarium dome on May 26, 2023,
and presenting an "Out of this World" themed gala on October 6, 2023, to raise funds for the
museum's capital campaign to renovate four of the LASM's hands-on, STEAM-based spaces;
and
WHEREAS, in 2025, the LASM will celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of its
historic building, which is the renovated Illinois Central Railroad passenger station built in
1925 by the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad Company which has been listed on the
National Register of Historic Places since 1994; and
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WHEREAS, both the LASM and the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium are most
deserving of the highest recognition on the occasion of the planetarium's twentieth
anniversary.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend the Louisiana Art & Science Museum on the
occasion of the twentieth anniversary of its Irene W. Pennington Planetarium; does hereby
recognize the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium's pivotal role in advancing Louisiana's
educational, cultural, and economic development by providing opportunities to learn,
explore, and discover under its awe-inspiring, sixty-foot dome; and does hereby extend
sincerest wishes that the LASM continue to receive the necessary support to continue its
truly inspiring mission of education.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
chair of the board, Elizabeth Canfield, and the executive director of the Louisiana Art &
Science Museum.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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