Offering hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) experiences for young children, the Homewood Science Center has become a popular place for thousands of families to visit since opening in 2016.

A Cook County Arts Creative Placemaking grant is now taking the center “to the next level,” according to executive director Edie Dobrez, and supporting the installation of exhibits both inside and outside the space.

As of May 2026, the Center featured a pollinator garden and an exhibit focused on the well-being of birds. A mural will also be installed.

The community at large—including a “STEAM Team” consisting of high school students—is providing input on the project, as well as several artists.

“I feel like this project is an opportunity to collaborate with artists, with youth, with educators, and really get the community more involved in deciding what is done here, instead of it just being executive director-driven or board-driven,” Dobrez said. “It’s more inclusive. Community ownership is one of the more powerful outcomes of creative placemaking.” 

Prior to receiving a Creative Placemaking grant, the Homewood Science Center already offered various STEAM and STEM experiences for families, including an Imagination Playground and a STEAM Studio.

Officials hope the latest additions will fuel young visitors’ curiosity even more.

The pollinator garden was built in a landscaped area, Dobrez said, and is now a “living exhibit,” as guests can enjoy a Percussion Play bumblebee. A Percussion Play butterfly will also be added.

The center wanted the garden to be “interactive,” Dobrez said, and more than just a greenspace with signage.

Inside the center, artist Holly Greenberg, of Evanston, has installed a “mini exhibit” that is part of her Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene project, highlighting the danger of birds colliding with buildings due to their glass and bright lighting. “Anthropocene” is a term used to describe an era in which humans have had a major impact on the environment.

Participants are using upcycled cloth and donated materials to handcraft over 10,000 life-sized bird sculptures.

For Dobrez, Greenberg’s exhibit is a great example of how art can be educational.

“She’s expressing something that is occurring in our natural world—the infliction of humans damaging the natural world,” Dobrez said. “Instead of just writing a story about it or publishing an article, she’s using art to touch people and to communicate what is happening in science. That is really powerful.”

The grant is also supporting the installation of a color wheel, which shows the relationship between colors and what new hues form when colors are combined, and a Vuseum microscope, which visitors can use to view natural materials—like flower petals, leaves, feathers and insect wings—at high magnification. 

A mural will soon be installed on the ceiling near the center’s entrance.

Local artist Janelle Dunlap is leading the development of the mural, working with the “STEAM Team,” which includes students from Homewood-Flossmoor High School. She is also supporting the development of the pollinator garden.

Working on the project is a chance for her to be more connected with the community in which she grew up.

“It feels great to have an opportunity to develop a more intimate relationship with Flossmoor, with Homewood, and to be a part of the beauty that these communities are,” Dunlap said.

Local artist Kyrin Hobson, an educator who has worked with museums around the country, is also supporting the project.

The center is also partnering with Playful Learning Landscapes, a national nonprofit focused on building interactive, educational exhibits for children, as well as researchers from Purdue University, to examine its programming, including the installations supported by the grant.

An official ribbon cutting unveiling all the Creative Placemaking-funded work is planned for late summer 2026.

Dobrez is proud of what a collaborative effort the experience has become.

“It’s the improvement of our physical space, but it’s more than that. It’s the people–it’s the people that we’ve involved,” Dobrez said. “It’s these young people; it’s these artists. It’s really been fun for me.”