benefits of forming a museums at night city cluster

Rosie ClarkeCulture24

Museums at Nightclustering

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Museums at Night

The bi-annual UK festival of after-hours events in museums & galleries

Museums at Night seeks to encourage venues to try something different to attract new audiences.

We aim for every eligible cultural venue to take part and a million

visits by 2020.

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Museums at Night ran from Wednesday 13th to Saturday 16th May and will explode into life again on Friday 30th and Saturday 31st (Halloween) 2015

Museums at Night is about having an amazing night out in an unusual space -like seeing your favourite band in an aircraft hanger full of WW2 bombers!

Or cocktails and craft at your favourite gallery

The public love Museums at Night: since 2009 673,000 visits have been made by audiences to events designed to show culture in a different light.

Step into a new world!

Be part of a rapidly

growing festival

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 (est)

157

345

457

537

583

700

900

125

286

352

416 411

486

600

Events Venues

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

Museums at Night Visits 2009 - 2014

Visits

May vs October festivals

• Tourism “shoulder season”

• May – success in attracting domestic tourists, take advantage of long evenings

• October – genuinely dark after hours, likely to attract locals. Opportunities around illuminations, ghoulish archive history, adult events

2015 Stats650 events in May, 200+ expected in October

475 venues in May, 150+ expected in October

850 number of resources downloaded so far in 2015

350 number of hours spent supporting the sector on phone

160 number of museum/gallery professionals attending

participation workshops in Cambridge, Manchester, Bristol,

Canterbury and Sussex so far this year, another 150

expected to attend future workshops by end of the year.

Museums at Night Reach & growth• Website: 330,300 page views, 80,500 users (Mar 3 - May

19 2015)

• Email: 23,000 people on email lists (up from 10,000 in Dec 2013)

• Twitter: 10,000 followers (up from 1492 in Jul 2012)

• Events at over 230 UK locations

Monthly national

consumer release

Regional monthly

Short lead PR

17 July YES YES YES

7 August YES YES

11 Sept YES

Event registration deadlines

City clusters: increasing footfall

• Coordinate programming• Animate public spaces• Walking tours• Offer transport between venues if necessary• Collecting stamps in “passport” over weekend• Alters how people perceive city

Cluster marketing opportunities

• Joint marketing offer• Themed cluster – food, heritage, anniversary, “Wonders”• Share branding• Visual aids e.g. glowsticks• Share stories and press releases• Strong suite of images

Cambridge cluster – photos of target demographic at events

Showcasing Manchester music scene in unexpected venues

Tie-ins with businesses and community groups

• Late openings of shops• Tie in with local food and drink• Experiential opportunities at events e.g. fashion shows, performing arts• Learning and skills development• Discounts on dinner at restaurants

Potential pitfalls

• Must have buy-in from everyone• Clear goals agreed e.g. KPIs, target audiences• Event details must be confirmed by deadlines• One main central coordinator • Data capture, evaluation• About resilience and legacy

Funding opportunities

• Grants for the Arts – if applying for under £15,000, 6 week turnaround, but must be artistically led

• Heritage Lottery Fund – longer timescales

• Must be part of wider strategy

Museum Town Square

01273 623226 | MuseumsAtNight.org.uk | rosie@culture24.org.uk

Thank you!