Evansville Museum: Indiana’s longest running planetarium could use new equipment

WNIN | By Tim Jagielo

Published January 9, 2026 at 6:07 PM CST

Chelsie Walker, marketing director of Evansville Museum of Arts History & Science stands before the Koch Immersive Theater & Planetarium, Wed. Jan. 7. The museum has featured a planetarium since 1952. A new film series will feature popular media once per month. The museum is also seeking to update the projection and computer system of the theater.

Museum is fundraising to upgrade planetarium — some newer educational programming incompatible with current system; museum is expanding cinema offerings with Movies at the Museum starting Jan. 10

The Koch Family Immersive Theater & Planetarium currently features a 10,000 watt digital surround sound system, and the ability to play standard films and "full dome" films.

The technology that powers the Koch Family Immersive Theater & Planetarium at The Evansville Museum of Arts History & Science is 15 years old.

Museum leadership is seeking to replace everything but the screen. This means projectors, computer and software.

Because of current hardware restrictions, the museum can’t run the highest resolution films or images from space, for example. The former higher standard of 4K is about the best resolution the planetarium can handle.

Aside form more processing power, if upgraded, the images would be projected using lasers — not the traditional lamps and bulbs.

Chelsie Walker, marketing director said this is not just about getting a sharper, better image.

“It also just helps increase the longevity of the life of the dome here in Evansville,” Walker said. “And considering that this is the longest still-running planetarium in Indiana, of course, we want to keep that legacy going.”

This campaign is their annual Museum “fund-to-need” which was promoted at the Museum Ball. The total required amount is not being shared publicly.

The museum is also kicking off their planetarium series “Movies at the Museum” starting with several screenings of ‘Mary Poppins’ on January 10th.

Until this series, The Evansville Museum has stuck to educational programming at the planetarium. For the first time they’re breaking with that tradition.

The next films include “Lincoln” screening in February and “42,” the biopic about Jackie Robinson, in March.

“We're always wanting to engage with different parts of our community who may not always come in for the educational side of things,” Walker said. “Or people who have been here a few times and are looking for something different. So it's just a really cool opportunity to engage new audiences and also re-engage our existing audience with something brand new.”

She said they’ll be screening a select film on one Saturday per month. The exact weekend will depend on other events.

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