What a Season: Flying Fish at CASC, AAM, and Ecsite 2026

The recent museum conference season brought Flying Fish to three countries, two major award stages, and more than a few conversations we’re still thinking about. Here’s how our 2026 spring conference season unfolded.

If we’re being honest, we didn’t walk into the 2026 conference season expecting quite this much. We went hoping for great conversations, the chance to connect with colleagues, and create opportunities for new partnerships. What we got was all of that AND a couple of moments we’ll be talking about for a long time.

From Ottawa to Philadelphia to Sweden, the Flying Fish team spent the spring joining the conversations that shape the future of museums, planning what’s next, and celebrating the work that makes this industry worth showing up for. It was a season worth remembering—so let’s dive in.

CASC 2026: Recognition of a Lifetime

At the 2026 CASC Annual Conference, Flying Fish Principal and Managing Director Jay Brown was named the recipient of the CASCADE Outstanding Career Achievement Award — the highest individual honor the Canadian Association of Science Centres bestows. The award recognizes a thought leader who has made significant, long-term contributions to the Canadian STEM sector over a 15-plus-year career, with a deep commitment to building a culture of science and innovation in communities across Canada.

For those of us who work alongside Jay every day, this recognition lands differently than most awards do. Jay has never been someone who seeks the spotlight. He builds teams, shares credit generously, and treats every partnership with the same integrity and care. His expertise in touring strategy, exhibition finance, crate engineering, modular fabrication, and operational logistics is genuinely rare in this field. But it’s the way he leads that the people around him remember most.

“His work has strengthened CASC member organizations, advanced the Canadian informal STEAM community, and engaged millions of visitors in meaningful science experiences.”

For more than 15 years, Flying Fish has built lasting partnerships with science centres and cultural institutions across Canada—from the Montréal Science Centre and Science World British Columbia to TELUS World of Science Edmonton, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Canadian Museum of Nature, the Ontario Science Centre, Saskatchewan Science Centre, Discovery Centre, THEMUSEUM, and Waterloo Region Museum. What keeps those relationships strong is exactly what the CASCADE committee saw: Jay doesn’t just deliver exhibitions. He helps institutions become more capable, more strategic, and more confident in their touring programs. The result? Institutions that are better equipped for the road ahead. That’s always been the goal.

Congratulations Jay!

AAM 2026: To the Moon and Back

This year’s conference theme, The Museum Odyssey, felt like it was written just for us. Timekeepers, travelers, chroniclers, seers: that’s the museum field at its best, and it’s the spirit we bring to every exhibition.

The highlight of AAM—and yes, we’re over the moon about it—was Artemis Adventure with LEGO® Bricks taking home Best New Traveling Exhibition at the TREX Awards during the TREX New Traveling Exhibits Forum. The TREX Awards celebrate excellence in the traveling exhibition field, and this one means a lot to us.

Artemis Adventure with LEGO® Bricks is an interactive touring exhibition inspired by NASA’s Artemis missions — the program working to return humans to the Moon and lay the groundwork for future exploration of Mars. Developed in close collaboration with Science World, the exhibition turns complex space science into a hands-on STEAM adventure built around a unifying creative language: LEGO bricks. Visitors step into the roles of engineers, scientists, astronauts, and designers — building spacecraft within real launch constraints, designing rovers for extreme lunar terrain, assembling mission crews, constructing habitable space station modules, and imagining life on Mars. Every challenge mirrors the actual decisions behind Artemis planning. It’s space exploration you can step into.

Science World’s contribution to this project brought an educational depth and community connection that made the exhibition stronger in every direction — from curriculum alignment and family resources to Science World’s own Lunar Lounge, which grounds the Artemis story in Canadian innovation with authentic artifacts and youth science programming. This award belongs to that partnership as much as it does to Flying Fish.

To the TREX community, to Science World, and to every host venue that has welcomed Artemis Adventure with LEGO® Bricks into their galleries: thank you!

Ecsite 2026: Jay in Sweden

Most recently, Jay traveled to Sweden for Ecsite 2026 — the annual conference of the European Network of Science Centres and Museums, and one of the most important gatherings in the international science centre community. Ecsite brings together institutional leaders, exhibit developers, educators, and innovators from across Europe and beyond.

Being present at Ecsite reflects something we believe to be true: the most interesting ideas in traveling exhibitions cross borders. Being part of the conversations surrounding the challenges science centres face allows us to be part of the solution and help strengthen traveling exhibition programs.

Sneak Peeks and What’s Coming Next

One of the real joys of this conference season was sharing early glimpses of what’s in development.

Powerful Pollinators, produced in collaboration with the One Hive Foundation, is a sensory-immersive exhibition that traces pollination from the biology inside a single flower to the global food systems that feed humanity. From rainforests to city rooftops, a remarkable cast of creatures is hard at work on one of nature’s most important jobs: bees, butterflies, bats, hummingbirds, beetles, and over 20,000 other species sustaining the ecosystems the world depends on. The science is rigorous, the experience is spectacular, and Powerful Pollinators is on track to premiere summer 2027. Touring inquiries are open now.

Espionage, in production in collaboration with the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, pulls back the curtain on the real intelligence cycle. Not the Hollywood version. The handlers, the codebreakers, the double agents, the analysts piecing together fragments before time runs out — all brought to life through immersive environments, authentic objects, and hands-on interactives that put the impossible choices directly in front of visitors. It is high stakes, deeply human, and more gripping than any fiction. In development now.

Next Up: ASTC 2026 in Phoenix

We’re looking forward to our next stop. Flying Fish is heading to Phoenix this September for the ASTC 2026 Annual Conference, September 16 to 19, hosted by the Association of Science and Technology Centers. ASTC is one of the most important gatherings in the science center world, and we can’t wait to continue the conversations started this spring, share more about what’s in development, and connect with the community that makes this work matter.

If you’ll be in Phoenix, let’s connect. Get in touch ahead of the conference.

It’s been quite a season. We’re grateful for the community that makes it all possible—the partners, the host venues, the colleagues at the booth, and everyone who stopped to talk about what they’re building and what they need. That’s what conference season is really about, and this year, it delivered.

It’s been quite a season. We’re grateful for the community that makes it all possible—the partners, the host venues, the colleagues at the booth, and everyone who stopped to talk about what they’re building and what they need. That’s what conference season is really about, and this year, it delivered.