The Tennessee STEAM Festival is a statewide celebration that brings schools, museums, libraries, universities, businesses, and community organizations together to create engaging STEAM experiences for learners of all ages.
Held annually in October, the festival showcases the creativity, innovation, and educational opportunities happening across Tennessee.
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The idea for the Tennessee STEAM Festival was first conceived in 2016 by Discovery Center Children’s Museum as a way to “give back” to the community in celebration of their 30th anniversary. The original idea was that the first year of the festival would be local to Middle Tennessee, focusing mainly on Rutherford, Davidson, and Williamson counties. However, to the surprise of festival organizers, by the end of the first year the festival had expanded state-wide. That first year saw 45 event hosts join together from across the state to host 60 unique events for over 10,000.
Since that first year, the festival has been held annually, including during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 and 2021, when all of the festival programming was moved either online or to outside venues that could accommodate the social distancing mandates at the time.
We are incredibly grateful to our partners who have helped grow and sustain the festival over the last several years, and we continually look forward to building the STEAM Ecosystem in our great state in the future.
What does “STEAM” stand for?
Why a statewide STEAM Festival?
2025 Impact
73
Event Hosts
19
Counties
327
Events
47,284
Attendees
Adventure Science Center -
American Museum of Science and Energy -
Bays Mountain Park & Planetarium -
Board and Brush -
Boys & Girls Clubs of Rutherford County (Smyrna) -
Cannonsburgh Village -
Cason Lane Academy -
Center for the Arts -
Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville -
Cleveland Bradley County Public Library -
Collierville Burch Library -
Country Music Hall of Fame -
Creative Discovery Museum -
Discovery Center -
Discovery Park of America -
Dow Street Community Music School -
Earth Experience -
Etowah Carnegie Library -
Fort Negley Park -
Frayser Community PTSA -
Friends Of Mill Ridge Park -
Frist Art Museum -
Gateway STEM Center -
Hands On! Discovery Center -
Hardin County Library -
Humanities Tennessee/Southern Festival of Books -
Imagine Foundry -
Kidsville of Centennial Park Conservancy -
Linebaugh Public LIbrary -
Little Art House -
Lucius E. & Elsie C. Burch, Jr. Library -
Memphis Museums of Science & History -
Memphis Parks -
Metal Museum -
Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation -
Metro Water Services -
Middle Tennessee State University -
MTSU Astronomy Club -
MTSU Department of Art and Design -
MTSU Early Learning Programs -
Murfreesboro Municipal Airport -
Muse Knoxville -
Nashville Ballet -
Nashville Zoo -
Native American Indian Association of Tennessee -
Northview Primary STEM School -
Oakley STEM Center at Tennessee Tech -
Outdoor Murfreesboro -
Paint + Canvas -
Raccoon Mountain Caverns & Campground -
Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies -
Smyrna Public Library -
So-Kno Robo -
Tennessee Performing Arts Center -
Tennessee Robotics Center (TRC) -
Tennessee State Parks -
Tennessee Theatre -
The Children's Museum of Oak Ridge -
The Curve: Nashville's Homeschool Enrichment -
The Parthenon -
TN Maker Fest -
Union Grove Elementary School -
University of Memphis Lambuth M. D. Anderson Planetarium -
UT Space Institute -
UTC Challenger STEM Learning Center -
Vanderbilt University Dyer Observatory -
Vanderbilt's Peabody Library -
Wonderworks Pigeon Forge
Adventure Science Center - American Museum of Science and Energy - Bays Mountain Park & Planetarium - Board and Brush - Boys & Girls Clubs of Rutherford County (Smyrna) - Cannonsburgh Village - Cason Lane Academy - Center for the Arts - Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville - Cleveland Bradley County Public Library - Collierville Burch Library - Country Music Hall of Fame - Creative Discovery Museum - Discovery Center - Discovery Park of America - Dow Street Community Music School - Earth Experience - Etowah Carnegie Library - Fort Negley Park - Frayser Community PTSA - Friends Of Mill Ridge Park - Frist Art Museum - Gateway STEM Center - Hands On! Discovery Center - Hardin County Library - Humanities Tennessee/Southern Festival of Books - Imagine Foundry - Kidsville of Centennial Park Conservancy - Linebaugh Public LIbrary - Little Art House - Lucius E. & Elsie C. Burch, Jr. Library - Memphis Museums of Science & History - Memphis Parks - Metal Museum - Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation - Metro Water Services - Middle Tennessee State University - MTSU Astronomy Club - MTSU Department of Art and Design - MTSU Early Learning Programs - Murfreesboro Municipal Airport - Muse Knoxville - Nashville Ballet - Nashville Zoo - Native American Indian Association of Tennessee - Northview Primary STEM School - Oakley STEM Center at Tennessee Tech - Outdoor Murfreesboro - Paint + Canvas - Raccoon Mountain Caverns & Campground - Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies - Smyrna Public Library - So-Kno Robo - Tennessee Performing Arts Center - Tennessee Robotics Center (TRC) - Tennessee State Parks - Tennessee Theatre - The Children's Museum of Oak Ridge - The Curve: Nashville's Homeschool Enrichment - The Parthenon - TN Maker Fest - Union Grove Elementary School - University of Memphis Lambuth M. D. Anderson Planetarium - UT Space Institute - UTC Challenger STEM Learning Center - Vanderbilt University Dyer Observatory - Vanderbilt's Peabody Library - Wonderworks Pigeon Forge
Total Impact - since 2017
618
Event Hosts
25
Counties
1,446
Events
210,790
Attendees
How it works…
See the festival in action!
