Watch Polly Morgan’s Connect10 taxidermy demonstration at Victoria Gallery & Museum

The Connect10 competition, where museums and galleries could win a top contemporary artist for their Museums at Night event, was a great success in 2012. Venues tried lots of new event ideas, and attracted both new audiences and lapsed attenders.

One of the most unusual events was a live demonstration of taxidermy by Polly Morgan, held at Liverpool’s Victoria Gallery & Museum.

Receiver (c) Polly Morgan

The museum decided to give a group of student filmmakers the opportunity to record the taxidermy demonstration: their 4 minute highlights reel includes the artist talking about her inspiration and close-ups showing the incredibly detailed work.

Videos can be a great way of recording and sharing what happens at one-off events. Are there ways that your venue could capture the atmosphere at your events – perhaps by filming what’s happening, recording short interviews with the curators or artists involved, or asking simple vox pop questions to your visitors?

It’s worth considering this in advance, and finding out whether you can call on anyone local with the skills and equipment to help you out.

Get extra publicity all year round with Culture24’s BBC partnership!

One of the key elements that helps the 5000+ arts and heritage organisations on Culture24’s database to reach new audiences all year round, building on the big spike of interest that happens around Museums at Night, is signing up as part of our BBC partnership.

I’ve asked Culture24’s Activities Assistant Jack Shoulder to explain a bit more about how this partnership works and what the benefits are for your venue.

—————————————————————————————————-

Did you know that Culture24 is the official cultural data provider to the BBC? This means  we can send the details of your Museums at Night event to the BBC’s Things To Do site, which gives people a chance to discover hands-on activities happening around the country.

It’s more than just Museums at Night though! Activities going on at any time of the year feature on the Things To Do site,  providing you with an even bigger platform to get the word out.

The best bit? It’s all completely free.

“Oh, I suppose this means I’ve got to brand all my events as a ‘BBC thing’ now?” Actually, you don’t. You don’t have to be running specific BBC-themed events to become a partner or feature on Things To Do. All sorts of activities being put on by museums, galleries, heritage sites, science centres and other cultural venues feature on the site.

The one thing they all have in common? They all get the audience involved.

The Next Step:

It is quick and easy to become a BBC Partner with us: just fill in this simple form and away you go!

If you have any questions or want to know a bit more about the BBC Partnership, please contact jack@culture24.org.uk or conrad@culture24.org.uk.

—————————————————————————————————-

Thanks, Jack!