Connect10 competition closes at 5pm today!

UPDATE 22 January 2013: The Connect10 competition is back this year – find out more!

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It’s been a crazy busy couple of weeks – Nick, interns Beth and Rosie G and myself have been speaking to lots of museums, galleries and heritage sites about our Connect10 competition, and we’re blown away by the creative event ideas we’ve received.

If you’ve been considering entering the competition – bear in mind, you could win a top artist and £500 towards your Museums at Night event on May 18, 19 or 20 – you have until 5pm today to submit your event pitch through this simple form!

Meet the ten intrepid artists you could win:

Claire Barclay, futuristic Scottish sculptor whose carefully balanced installations have been exhibited in Tate Britain and Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery.

Bompas & Parr, the Jellymongers, create spectacular culinary experiences ranging from architectural jellies to lakes of cocktails.

Ryan Gander, provocative installation artist whose Artangel commission in a Hoxton warehouse provided clues for visitors to solve a mystery.

Jon McGregor, award-winning novelist and short story writer, author of If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things and Even The Dogs.

Polly Morgan, contemporary taxidermist whose poignant installations have been collected by Kate Moss.

Terry O’Neill, fashion and rock photographer renowned for iconic images of Hollywood stars and bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Martin Parr, Magnum documentary photographer whose pictures tell stories of leisure, consumption and communication.

Simon Roberts, landscape and documentary photographer who spent a year crossing Russia and was Official Artist of the 2010 General Election.

Bob & Roberta Smith, sign-painter, activist and installation artist who uses text on recycled signs and floorboards.

Susan Stockwell, creator of beguiling installations, drawings and films commenting on globalisation and colonisation, often using recycled materials.

Ready to enter the competition? Here’s the form to complete by 5pm today http://bit.ly/wECRYB – best of luck!

Register your event details by the end of today to join our first big PR push!

Just a quick reminder: we’re pulling together our first big Museums at Night PR push into long lead glossy magazines on Monday, so if you want your venue to be included, you need to register your event details by the end of today!

Even if you’re not 100% certain about the event you’ll be doing, log in to your venue’s record on Culture24’s DDE database, tell us the date and start time of the event, and use the event description field to tell us that an exciting evening is being planned. You can always log in again later and update it once you’ve confirmed the details.

Need a quick reminder of how to register your event details?

Make sure your venue is listed on Culture24′s website.

Our listings service is free to use for all UK gallery, museum and heritage venues that are publicly owned or funded. If your venue isn’t listed on the Culture24 site, you can request to be added here:

https://culture24.wufoo.com/forms/join-our-network/

Need reminding of your username or password? 

If you are listed on the Culture24 site, but don’t yet have your username, you can get it here:

https://culture24.wufoo.com/forms/new-dde-username/

If you’re already signed up, the link to log in is here:

http://update.culture24.org.uk/dashboard 

Click ‘Add a new event or exhibition’ and use the form to add as much information as possible about your event. Don’t forget to make the event description sound as interesting as possible!

When you get to the yellow Tagging bar, the first option is Programmes. Click the ‘Add’ button, and tick the box marked Museums at Night 2012. Scroll down to the bottom and click ‘Save’.

Make sure to tick the Programmes box marked Museums at Night 2012!

Any questions or problems, please give me a call on 01273 623336 or drop me an email: rosie@culture24.org.uk.

Finally, the photos for our media image library are rolling in thick and fast – thanks to everyone who’s emailed me high-res pictures of people having a good time at arts and heritage after-hours events! If you have good pictures and you’d like a bit of extra publicity, email them across to me at the address above.

Phew, what a week – finally, I’d like to wish everybody a peaceful and relaxing weekend!

Guest Post: Essex Havard from NIACE introduces Adult Learners’ Week 12-18 May 2012

Today’s guest post comes from Essex Havard from the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE).  Adult Learners’ Week runs from 12-18 May 2012 – this means that an Adult Learners’ Week event on the evening of Friday 18th May could also double as your Museums at Night event!

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Why get involved with Adult Learners’ Week?

I’m tempted to say “put the kettle on, this may take some time” but I’ll try to be brief…

Adult Learners’ Week is a “celebration of adult learning” of all sorts, by all sorts of providers and in all sorts of venues: Local authority adult education departments, Higher Education and Further Education institutions, voluntary and charity sector providers (e.g. U3A), museums, libraries, archives and Uncle Tom Cobley and all…

Museum-specifically, it’s a time for you to trumpet your successes over the previous year (exhibit adults’ work, have a certificate presentation evening etc), highlight projects coming up in the near future and also organise short, bite-sized, have-a-go type learning events for adults and family groups.

The UK population is ageing and lifelong learning ought to be a more important part of all our lives. Actively engaging with learning as an adult leads to many direct and indirect positive benefits:

·         improved self confidence
·         decrease in reliance on health services
·         increase in racial tolerance
·         increase in detection of life-threatening illnesses
·         improved social cohesion
·         improved chances of gaining employment

and many other benefits too numerous to mention here.

Museum education services are usually, but not exclusively, staffed by primary school-experienced professionals. So, if you are less confident in developing an adult “offer” for Adult Learners’ Week (and beyond) why not liaise with a local adult learning provider? In my experience the best adult learning projects in museums have done this (for example, the “In Touch” volunteer programme in Manchester Museum and The Imperial War Museum North).

Why not use Adult Learners’ Week to try something new? Push the boundary. Be innovative!

If you join in with this UK-wide promotion you will be joining with thousands of other events and gaining from the publicity that is currently being organised by NIACE (England and Wales) and SALP (Scotland). For colleagues in Northern Ireland I’d recommend contacting EGSA.

NIACE (England): www.niace.org.uk
NIACE Dysgu Cymru (Wales): www.niacedc.org.uk

Contact us, let’s develop a dialogue. I’d love to field questions about Adult Learners’ Week. My e-mail address is Essex@niacedc.org.uk. I’m happy to answer your questions and/or point you in the right direction.

If you are a museum in Wales then you can gain access to some small funding to facilitate your events. This money is only available if you join one of our 22 (one per county) Learning Festival Planning Groups. Again, drop me a line and I’ll tell you who your local contact is.

So wherever you are in the UK, get stuck in and show that museums are for adults too!

Good luck with your plans.

Essex Havard

Essex Havard works for The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) where he is Campaigns and Fundraising Coordinator for NIACE Dysgu Cymru (NIACE’s Wales arm). He is NIACE (England and Wales) contact for adult learning in the museum sector. Prior to his joining NIACE (in 2004) Essex worked in the museum education sector with periods as Events Officer at National Museum Wales, Museum Education Officer for Bath City Council and Education, and Education and Access Officer for The Council of Museums in Wales.

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Thanks very much, Essex! If you’d like to write a guest post or case study for this blog about any aspect of event planning or marketing in arts or heritage venues, please drop me a line at rosie@culture24.org.uk or call me on                01273 623336.

Send us your Museums at Night photos for maximum publicity!

Eye-catching, enticing images of people discovering the fun and excitement of Museums at Night hugely increase the impact of our PR campaign – meaning that more people will want to come to events in this year!

Late Night Dining in the Victoria and Albert Museum

Our PR campaign is built around the stories and images from your events: the stronger these are, the more media interest and coverage the festival will get. So, please send us your photographs so that we can create the most eye-catching publicity material possible!

We need images that are high-resolution – at least 300dpi – and ideally which are taken at sunset, dusk or night-time. The pictures could be of the outside or inside of your venue, but should ideally involve interested people having a great time interacting with objects, collections or exhibitions at your venue.

Remember to ask parents’ permission before photographing children.

The images we receive which capture the spirit of the weekend could be featured in:

• local, regional and national press coverage
• the Culture24 website and Facebook page
• this blog
• BBC History Magazine’s printed Guide to Museums at Night
• in presentations given by Culture24 staff
• and in many of the other ways we promote Museums at Night events

Email images to Rosie, rosie@culture24.org.uk

To be included in our first big PR push into long-lead glossy magazines, your Museums at Night events need to be registered onto the DDE database by 5pm on Friday 20^th January.

You’ll find information about how to register your event here. Any questions? Want to discuss your plans? Give me a call on 01273 623336!

Guest post: Kate Webber from Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum on planning and publicising after-hours events

Today’s guest post comes from Kate Webber, Press and Marketing Officer at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

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The Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford University Museum of Natural History began a late night event as part of Nuit de Musées. My colleague Kate White initiated this annual event to encourage new visitors, and it grew and flourished from 1300 attending the first event in 2005, to 3000 visitors attending a 3-hour event in 2007. As if one event a year wasn’t enough, we now also do a similar event in December as part of the Oxford City Christmas Light Night, so we are well practiced!

Torches light the way through the Pitt Rivers Museum (c) Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

In a Different Light is an eclectic mix of live and recorded music, colourful lighting, the Pitt Rivers by torchlight and a bar – any profits are ploughed back in to the next event. It has also featured traditional world dance, glowing bugs, group art activities, Future Cinema, ethnographic films, projections and music workshops.

A view of the Pitt Rivers interior in a different light (c) Alex Melville, Oxford Giclée

Neither of the Museums have an events officer, so the event is planned and run by committee and relies on volunteers on the night. About 10 staff from admin, education, front of house, marketing and technical departments come together in January to begin the planning. All the staff have been involved in many events, so the knowledge base that has built up is invaluable. We have a very small budget, and planning has to fit around all the usual demands of our jobs.

As the Museum’s Press and Marketing Officer I promote the event, but having formerly been the Front of House Manager and also being a designer I am in a fortunate position of being able to create all steps of the promotion from designing banners to writing press releases and creating signs and programmes for the night.

The flyer Kate designed for the Pitt Rivers' Winterlight evening event in 2011

The enormous popularity of this event is due to the combination of stunning collections and architecture, and our dedication to keeping this event free, relying on word of mouth recommendation.

Kate's flyer design for last year's Museums at Night evening event, reusing the lantern design from her winter flyer with a different colour scheme

We do not do any paid advertising, instead promoting the event through our websites, e-newsletter and viral emails, free online listing, posters (printed in-house), local press, Twitter and a banner outside.

The banner Kate designed to promote In A Different Light last year

We always debrief after every event, to help iron out the hiccoughs and tweak the format. From our experience, if you are starting a new event try to keep it simple! Play to your strengths, showcase your collection and embrace the often hidden skills of your staff.

This event is time heavy, relies on goodwill and indirectly costs us money. However, it is great fun (even when we’re working), has created some very happy visitors and has helped to raise the Museum’s profile considerably.

Kate Webber studied to be a silversmith, and has worked at the Pitt Rivers Museum since 2002, managing the Front of House. She unleashes her creative streak to create books, exhibition promotional print etc, and tweets for the museum as @Pitt_Rivers.

 

 

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Thanks very much, Kate! If you’d like to write a guest post or case study for this blog about any aspect of event planning or marketing in arts or heritage venues, please drop me a line at rosie@culture24.org.uk or call me on 01273 623336.

Eastbourne’s Towner Gallery asks fans for Connect10 artist ideas

Wow, what an action packed 24 hours! Since publishing the details of our ten intrepid Connect10 artists and sharing the competition announcement yesterday morning (it’s even on the Arts Council website), project manager Nick and I have been overwhelmed by the response. We’ve received lots of interested emails, seen a flurry of excitement on social media, and within one hour venues had started submitting event ideas.

I was particularly interested to see this discussion taking place on the Towner Gallery’s Facebook page – they’ve asked their fans, who are already interested in their venue, which of the artists they would most like the gallery to bid for. It’s great to see this kind of engaged discussion: so far it looks as if the people of Eastbourne are most keen on Polly Morgan and Susan Stockwell.

A lively discussion on the Towner Gallery's Facebook page about which Connect10 artists their fans would like to win

Which of the Connect10 artists would appeal to your audience? Can any of your fans and visitors suggest ideas for events they’d like to experience? A quick reminder: the ten intrepid creatives you can win for your event are:

Claire Barclay, futuristic Scottish sculptor whose carefully balanced installations have been exhibited in Tate Britain and Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery

Bompas & Parr, the jellymongers, who create spectacular culinary experiences ranging from architectural jellies to lakes of cocktails

Ryan Gander, provocative installation artist whose Artangel commission in a Hoxton warehouse provided clues for visitors to solve a mystery

Jon McGregor, award-winning novelist and short story writer, author of If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things and Even The Dogs

Polly Morgan, contemporary taxidermist whose poignant installations have been collected by Kate Moss

Terry O’Neill, fashion and rock photographer renowned for iconic images of Hollywood stars and bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones

Martin Parr, documentary photographer whose pictures tell stories of leisure, consumption and communication

Simon Roberts, landscape photographer who spent a year crossing Russia and was Official Artist of the 2010 General Election

Bob & Roberta Smith, sign-painter and installation artist who uses text on recycled signs and floorboards

Susan Stockwell, creator of installations, drawings and films commenting on globalisation and colonisation, often using recycled materials

You have until Tuesday 31 January 2012 to pitch an exciting Museums at Night event idea involving your chosen artist to Culture24 using this online form.

Culture24 will then select the two or three event ideas for each of the 10 artists, and open them up to an online public vote. Each successful venue will receive a £500 bursary for their event, and those selected venues that don’t win an artist will still receive £100 to support an alternative Museums at Night event.

Exciting times!

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UPDATE 7th February 2012: The Connect10 competition is now open – vote to send the 10 artists to venues across the UK here!

Introducing new Museums at Night campaign intern Rosie Gore

My name is Rosie, and I have just begun an internship with Culture24 working on the fantastic Museums at Night Festival.

Rosie Gore

I graduated last year from Manchester University where I studied History and Sociology. Although I didn’t study a degree specifically related to the arts sector, since graduating I have undergone various work placements at galleries and museums such as Somerset House and Manchester Museum.

I also took part in a work placement with the BBC on their radio 4 show Front Row, which highlights upcoming cultural events, shows and exhibitions. Having absolutely loved these different experiences I now know this is the sector I wish to continue working in and am therefore trying my hand at everything!

Having grown up in London I have always had London’s galleries and museums at my fingertips and thus many are old favourites. The Natural History Museum  has proved the test of time and still remains my favourite: one can spend a whole day wandering around mesmerised!

I can’t wait to get started working on Museums At Night as I think it’s an amazing opportunity for all museums, galleries and heritage sites to open up their doors and entice the public in with exciting and unique events to really give visitors an idea of all the things these venues have to offer.

I look forward to working with you all over the next few months!

9 top tips to make your Museums at Night Connect10 event a success

Are you entering an event plan into our new Connect10 competition to win an exciting artist? Wonderful!

Canpaign intern Beth Hogben has come up with some tips and ideas to consider when working with a visiting artist, to ensure that audiences get the best experience possible.

Artist Susan Stockwell, one of the Connect10 artists you could win, working on World in her studio

1. Confirm the artist’s access and staging requirements ahead of time, so you can deal with any special requests in advance. Chris Pensa of Love Art London will help you liaise with your artist.
2. Your artist may not be familiar with your local area, so consider meeting them at the station or their hotel when they arrive..
3. Keep artists happy by offering them light refreshments – a cup of tea is always welcoming!
4. Provide a private space at your venue for the artist to get ready before the event.
5. Consider how technical aspects such as lighting and sound amplification could enhance your event. For example, make sure that any audience questions can be heard, and that the area where the artist will be speaking is well lit.
6. Consider how the space where your event takes place will be laid out: where is the best place for the audience to view the artist? Will they see more sitting down or standing? How will the seating be arranged? If the artist will be speaking about collection objects in different rooms, do you have a staff member or volunteer to help guide your visitors around?
7. Make sure visitors know where to go: if you have a large venue with lots of rooms, or other events going on at the same time, for instance, make sure the Connect10 event is well signposted.
8. How will you introduce the artist to the audience? A staff member should be prepared to introduce the artist/event, and to lead a Q&A session afterwards.
9. Create supporting information about the artist and your event which visitors can take away with them if they want to learn more. What will be the best way of distributing this to your audience?

We hope this will help you plan and run a successful event that your staff, volunteers and audience all enjoy! If you have any questions about the competition, the artists or any other aspect of Connect10 please contact us:

Rosie Clarke: 01273 623336 or rosie@culture24.org.uk

Nick Stockman:  01273 623279 or nick@culture24.org.uk

First Museums at Night publicity deadline: Friday 20th January

Welcome back – and Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a relaxing Christmas break.

Here at C24 Towers we’re preparing our big announcements about Connect10: full profiles of the 10 participating artists with examples of their work, and a simple form you’ll be able to use to tell us which artist you’d like to come to your venue and what sort of event you’d plan with them. We’ll be publishing all this information and emailing everyone on our mailing list next Monday, 9th January. (Want to make sure you don’t miss our campaign updates? Sign up for our free monthly e-newsletter.)

The early bird who registers their Museums at Night events before Friday 20th January catches the worm of publicity! Image courtesy of Flickr user dicktay2000, shared under a Creative Commons licence

Our first PR deadline is Friday 20th January 2012. If you’re not going to enter the Connect10 competition, and you’re planning the Museums at Night event that your venue would like to run, now’s the time to log in to your venue record on Culture24’s database to register your event.

We’re keen to help every organisation participating in the festival to get as much publicity as possible, and we’ll soon be sending press releases and event listings out to the media. All Museums at Night events that are registered in the DDE database by 5pm on Friday 20th will be part of our first big PR push into long lead glossy women’s, local interest, travel, history and heritage magazines.

For event-planning inspiration, take a look at our Big List of successful Museums at Night events from previous years.

HOW TO REGISTER YOUR MUSEUMS AT NIGHT EVENT

Make sure your venue is listed on Culture24’s website.

Our listings service is free to use for all UK gallery, museum and heritage venues that are publicly owned or funded. If your venue isn’t listed on the Culture24 site, you can request to be added here:

https://culture24.wufoo.com/forms/join-our-network/

Need reminding of your username or password? 

If you are listed on the Culture24 site, but don’t yet have your username, you can get it here:

https://culture24.wufoo.com/forms/new-dde-username/

If you’re already signed up, the link to log in is here:

http://update.culture24.org.uk/dashboard 

Click ‘Add a new event or exhibition’ and use the form to add as much information as possible about your event. Don’t forget to make the event description sound as interesting as possible!

When you get to the yellow Tagging bar, the first option is Programmes. Click the ‘Add’ button, and tick the box marked Museums at Night 2012. Scroll down to the bottom and click ‘Save’.

This is the list of Programmes you'll see - simply tick the box marked Museums at Night 2012

If anything isn’t clear, or if you’d like to discuss your plans, please give me a call on 01273 623336.