2023 Year in review

As we wrap up 2023, we want to take a moment to reflect on some of our favorite moments from the past 12 months and thank you for connecting with us in-person, online or both! This year, we welcomed more than 30,000 visitors to the Discovery Center. Look back on some highlights from 2023 in this short video.

Exploring the universality of birth and motherhood

Our special exhibition Designing Motherhood: Things that Make or Break our Births opened in February. Featuring more than 200 objects, the exhibition transformed the Discovery Center’s galleries into an immersive journey through the arc of human reproduction.

Designing Motherhood was on view in Philadelphia and Boston before debuting in Seattle. Throughout 2023, we welcomed several local partners — including BLKBRY, NurtureNW, Open Arms Perinatal Services, PEPS, and WestSide Baby, to participate in events related to the themes in the exhibition.

Designing Motherhood showcases an unapologetic truth about motherhood: It’s complicated, and approaches to it are as varied as they are personal.

Crosscut

Last chance: Designing Motherhood is on display through Dec. 30, when it will go to Sweden next and make way for our upcoming exhibition, A Better Way To Go: The Future of Toilets and Sanitation which opens February 28, 2024. 

  • Two women from our partner organization Nurturely smiling for the camera while meeting visitors in the Discovery Center.
  • Visitors in the Designing Motherhood gallery space
  • Gallery image of a visitor looking onto two portraits of a queer couple holding their newborn at the hospital
  • Women gathered together at the Discovery Center in conversation
  • A visitor points at a Yona Prototype Speculum through a case. The photo only features the woman's hand and the speculum.
  • View of a stroller in the gallery space on display in the "Designing Motherhood" exhibition.
  • Two women with bacjs toward the camera looking at infographics in the DEsigning Motherhood exhbition.
  • Two women from our partner organization Nurturely smiling for the camera while meeting visitors in the Discovery Center.
    Our partner organization Nurturely meeting visitors in the Discovery Center.
  • Visitors in the Designing Motherhood gallery space
    Gallery view of the Designing Motherhood exhibition.
  • Gallery image of a visitor looking onto two portraits of a queer couple holding their newborn at the hospital
    Guests explore exhibits at the grand opening of “Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births” at the Bill and Melinda Gates Discovery Center in Seattle, Washington, on February 15, 2023.
  • Women gathered together at the Discovery Center in conversation
    Guests explore exhibits at the grand opening of “Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births” at the Bill and Melinda Gates Discovery Center in Seattle, Washington, on February 15, 2023.
  • A visitor points at a Yona Prototype Speculum through a case. The photo only features the woman's hand and the speculum.
    Up close view of items on display in the “Designing Motherhood” exhibition.
  • View of a stroller in the gallery space on display in the "Designing Motherhood" exhibition.
    View of a stroller on display in the “Designing Motherhood” exhibition.
  • Two women with bacjs toward the camera looking at infographics in the DEsigning Motherhood exhbition.
    Guests explore exhibits at the grand opening of “Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births” at the Bill and Melinda Gates Discovery Center in Seattle, Washington, on February 15, 2023.
Visitors enjoy a group tour of the Discovery Center.

Tours, tours and more tours

In 2023 we hosted nearly 5,400 people for 230 general and school tour groups and we worked with partner organizations to bring topics like climate change, food security and global sanitation to life.

These unique experiences gave hundreds of middle- and high-school students a chance to dive deeply into topics they care about while learning how to get involved and take action.

For Designing Motherhood, we invited caregivers and their little ones to join us for regular stroller tours of the exhibition. We also hosted a series of staff chats with employees from the Gates Foundation focused on topics ranging from education to infectious diseases to innovations in soil health.

Learn more and book

Coming together to bring about change

In 2023, the Discovery Center hosted several public programs and events highlighting important causes and challenges. Along with the Designing Motherhood opening reception, we began the year by celebrating International Women’s Day with a MOTH storytelling event and exploring the Importance of Care with local thought leaders. Our incredible cohort of Youth Ambassadors planned this year’s Teen Action Fair The event brought together over 1,000 teens and focused on the theme of “Those Who Made Us” exploring the connections between family life, mental health and racial equity.

As spring turned to summer, the Discovery Center hosted a film screening of the documentary “Deconstructing Karen,” opened our doors for the Seattle Design Festival, and brought together members of the local Asian and AAPI communities for a powerful conversation about hate crimes in the wake of COVID-19.

In the fall, we explored the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+ families at Parenting While Queer. We also celebrated Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month at Drag Loteria and during a conversation about intersectional belonging, inclusion, and healing that was facilitated by author Jesse Leon.

Toward the end of the year, we invited young changemakers to gather at the Discovery Center and learn more about the Sustainable Development Goals while connecting with other leaders. Our World Polio Day event celebrated the progress made in eradicating the disease while discussing the obstacles that remain. A total of 28 vendors and over 2,100 visitors came through our doors for Giving Marketplace, an event that gives shoppers a chance to support the work of mission-driven organizations while purchasing gifts for the holidays.

  • Dancers perform at Teen Action Fair.
  • Youth Ambassador members pose together at the Discovery Center during Teen Action Fair 2023.
  • Portrait of guests during the International Women's Day: Stories of Redefining Motherhood celebration at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center.
  • Hema Magge, MD, MS Senior Program Officer, Newborn Health on the Maternal, Newborn, and Child health team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (left) poses together with the Moth storytellers at the International Women's Day: Stories of Redefining Motherhood celebration at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center.
  • Speaker, Ezra Teshome with Moderator, Penny Legate, from Wold Polio Day.
  • Foundation staff member Jaon Chu leading a Tour and Chat at the Discovery Center.
  • Dancers perform at Teen Action Fair.
    Dancers perform at Teen Action Fair.
  • Youth Ambassador members pose together at the Discovery Center during Teen Action Fair 2023.
    Youth Ambassador members pose together at the Discovery Center during Teen Action Fair 2023.
  • Panel of speakers from the Creating Connections for a Sustainable Tomorrow event.
  • Portrait of guests during the International Women's Day: Stories of Redefining Motherhood celebration at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center.
    Portrait of guests during the International Women’s Day: Stories of Redefining Motherhood celebration at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center.
  • Hema Magge, MD, MS Senior Program Officer, Newborn Health on the Maternal, Newborn, and Child health team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (left) poses together with the Moth storytellers at the International Women's Day: Stories of Redefining Motherhood celebration at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center.
    Hema Magge, MD, MS Senior Program Officer, Newborn Health on the Maternal, Newborn, and Child health team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (left) poses together with the Moth storytellers at the International Women’s Day: Stories of Redefining Motherhood celebration at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center.
  • Speaker, Ezra Teshome with Moderator, Penny Legate, from Wold Polio Day.
    Speaker, Ezra Teshome with Moderator, Penny Legate, from Wold Polio Day.
  • Foundation staff member Jaon Chu leading a Tour and Chat at the Discovery Center.
    Foundation staff member Jaon Chu leading a Tour and Chat at the Discovery Center.

New year, new website

The Discovery Center website underwent a major redesign in late 2023 to provide an updated visual platform for multimedia and storytelling and to provide resources and inspiration to take action.

Be sure to explore DiscoverGates.org and check out our new digs!

A better world is within reach

We recently updated our Get Involved Gallery with new interactive activities and information that focus on the Sustainable Development Goals which range from ending extreme poverty and hunger to improving healthy living, education, gender equality, and access to clean water and sanitation by 2030. Find out more about the foundation’s Goalkeepers community and stop by the gallery to explore and give us your feedback on these new experiences.

Thank you for your partnership and support this year. We wish you a safe and healthy start to 2024 and look forward to seeing you soon!

The Discovery Center team

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