While museums and galleries make for an enjoyable day out, they can also offer an exciting backdrop for conferences or events.
With reports of traditional funding streams decreasing, many museums and galleries are targeting the corporate market as an alternative income stream and hiring out their spaces for conferences and events.
“Decreasing traditional funding streams is, understandably, pushing many not already hosting events to consider this route; it is, however, a challenging one for them operationally and a significant cultural shift,” says industry consultant Jacqui Rogers. “Balancing financial demands with an events strategy and curators who are incredibly protective about the collection is a real challenge, but the rewards can be immense.”
Imperial War Museum Duxford has seen an increase of 300 per cent in corporate events over the past few years and offers a host of added incentives for delegates. “Many bookers are looking for access to something which is not generally available. This led us to include private dining packages with viewings of specific collections or opening up collections that are not usually available. Boarding Concorde prior to drinks receptions has proved particularly popular,” says its Events Officer, Lucy Munns.
Among the benefits of hosting an event in a museum or gallery are the large spaces on offer. The Museum of London’s largest event saw it host 900 guests for a drinks reception, which included four food stalls, three bars, roving entertainment, a DJ and dance floor.
The Discovery Museum in Newcastle has noted an increase in the number of large scale corporate events and attributes this to “the nature of spaces offered and the flexibility they provide in terms of layout and capacity”. The Great Hall can host 380 guests, while 200 guests can enjoy drinks in the shadow of the steamship Turbinia, the centrepiece of the ground floor exhibition. The venue recently opened its Destination Tyneside gallery, which is also available for receptions.
The museum hosted a fundraising event last year and organiser, Alison Morgan, says: “When we decided to hold the event we knew we had to find a venue that had the wow factor, that could accommodate a large number of people and was easily accessible. The Great Hall at Discovery Museum ticked every box. It’s elegant and quirky and its high, vaulted ceiling allowed us to have trapeze artists while there was also room for a stage where our live bands permed.”
The Science Museum in London is seeing more briefs for experiential events as organisers look for wow-factor spaces offering the flexibility to build large-scale production and interactive elements, according to Alicia Earls, Communications Manager for Events. “Our 700sqm blank canvas space, Level 1, was recently used in conjunction with the IMAX cinema for the launch of Coca Cola and WWF’s pan-European campaign ‘Arctic Home’,” she says. Last year saw circa £1.7m in refurbishments to the venue and Earls says there has since been a “160 per cent rise in major events”.
Multi-purpose arts venue, The Lowry in Greater Manchester, has hosted large scale corporate events for clients such as the BBC, ITV, 02, and HSBC. The venue houses 19 event spaces including three theatres and a number of gallery spaces for up to 1,730 guests.
The Lowry Galleries present the world’s largest collection of LS Lowry’s work. Group tours can be scheduled into conference programmes and from 6pm the Galleries can be hired exclusively for a private view.
“The benefit of holding an event in a unique venue is that organisers will make a guaranteed impact,” says Kate Kelly, Event Sales Manager at The 02, which houses Britain’s only interactive museum of popular music, the British Music Experience. “They also provide ready-made talking points which can be perfect if hosting functions where attendees don’t know each other.”
The British Music Experience’s 346sqm Finale space is available to hire seven days a week and can host banquets for 288, conferences for 350 and receptions for 400. The museum offers exclusive hire of the exhibition and Finale space, giving companies private access to the installations and exhibits in the day or evening.
The changing backdrop of a gallery means events held at the same venue always have a different feel to them. Richard Sproson, Development Manager at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, says: “No two events are ever the same. This makes it ideal for people wishing to return for follow up events without repeating the previous experience.”
A new arts and music venue, MusicSlashArt, recently opened in Newcastle. The 300-capacity venue claims to be the UK’s first ‘Concept to Concrete’ arts and music venue, where the ambience and décor will change and develop constantly as the space itself is an evolving art installation.
The Whitechapel Gallery in London hosts a range of different exhibitions, so the spaces can be used year after year. The 1901 arts and crafts building with artist-designed features has enhanced its conference offering with a range of initiatives such as its ‘wine, dine and be inspired’ package. In March this year it hosted its first live catwalk at the Swarovski Whitechapel Gallery Art Plus Fashion event.
At Churchill War Rooms meetings and events can be held in the rooms in which Churchill made crucial decisions during WWII. Other unique spaces include its underground bunker and Churchill Museum experience.
Line of sight
It is important to recognise the focal points that make these venues so special can also bring their own difficulties, according to Helen Silvester, Head of Venues at Top Banana. “While areas with small to medium displays can work well to encourage networking, these spaces rarely work for large scale conferences where speakers need to connect with significant numbers of delegates, because sight lines and acoustics can be tricky.”
Creative production company, Fisher Productions, says one of the most challenging aspects of working in such venues is the short time allowed to get in, set up and install once the venue closes to the public. At this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition Preview party Fisher laid a 50m neon carpet that guests and celebrities walked along to get to the party. “We had to work while members of the public were still at the gallery and this is where compliance and health and safety come into play and we have to work as quickly as we can to ensure minimal disruption,” says Fisher’s Head of Production, Jason Down.
Making sure the collection or exhibition doesn’t get damaged is one of the more challenging aspects of holding an event in a museum or gallery. “As an operator who works out of many galleries and museums we have a real responsibility for the care and security of the venue,” says Tess Reilly from event organiser and caterer, Blue Strawberry. “This can involve opening champagne in back office spaces to ensure no flying corks to removing lemon juice from our drinks due to the levels of citric acid.”
Rogers recalls an incident when a guest was a little too taken with a piece of the collection Brighton’s Royal Pavilion. “A relaxed, wind down at the end of a conference day with a few glasses of fizz in a heritage location offers potential high jinxes,” she says. “At a civic reception at the Royal Pavilion a delegate, emboldened by wine, leaned over a beautifully presented table in the Banqueting Room lifted a priceless piece of cutlery and popped it into his top pocket. The security officer moved fast and that piece of cutlery was back on the table in seconds.”
This was first published in the October issue of CN. Any comments? E-mail conferencenews@mashmedia.net
