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Ford Sponsors MiSci’s Spark!Lab, Four Free Ford Fund Days

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Spark!Lab

Ford and the Ford Motor Company Fund are supporting the Michigan Science Center (MiSci) as it introduces the first Smithsonian exhibit to the state of Michigan—Spark!Lab. The exhibit, geared toward prospective scientists both young and old, will provide hands-on, self-guided learning through activities and experiments.

Spark!Lab is open to children and adults of all ages, and it encourages hands-on experimentation and creative thinking with science experiments, games, and special programming. Ford Fund will be sponsoring four Ford Fund Days in 2016, as well as providing transportation for field trips taken by Detroit-area schools.

“New ideas and innovations spring from creative minds,” said Jim Vella, president, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. “Spark!Lab allows children and families to interact and experience the joy that comes with learning, while introducing a new world of educational and career possibilities.”

The MiSci Spark!Lab is the fifth exhibit of its kind in the United States, and Ford’s support of the project to bring it to Michigan is the latest component of a 40-year relationship with the Smithsonian. Ford has also helped support Spark!Labs in Anchorage, Alaska; Kansas City, Missouri; and Washington, D.C.

Ford has also been a supporter of the Michigan Science Center since its grand opening in 2012, pledging $400,000 to getting its doors open. In the years since, it has also donated a Ford Transit Connect van to the MiSci Traveling Science program.

The Spark!Lab officially opened to the public on Saturday. More information is available at http://www.mi-sci.org/exhibits-live-shows/sparklab/.