An introduction to how Culture24 delivers the twice-yearly Museums at Night festival, how UK museums and galleries can get involved, and how to apply to the Connect! competition to win a top artist to lead your festival event and a £3000 bursary.

1. Photo (c) lizzieridout.com

14. “Culture24 makes amazing happen.
We are an independent non-profit company
which exists to support the cultural sector
to reach and connect with audiences. ”

15. Editorial
•Articles
•Trails
•Reviews
•Previews
Data sharing
Publishing
Knowledge
Programming

18. WeAreCulture24.org.uk
Kate@culture24.org.uk

19. Museums at Night

20. The UK festival for the
culturally curious

21. Lateseventsin
museums&galleries

22. Twiceyearly,May&October

23. Nationwide

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

25. Our target is for every eligible
cultural venue to take part and a
million visits by 2020.

27. 0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Museums at Night Visits 2009 - 2015
Visits

28. 0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Museums at Night venues & events 2009 - 2015
eve
ven

29. Wednesday 11 – Saturday 14 May
2016
Thursday 27 – Saturday 29 October
2016

33. Authors

48. Participation
Audiences
ArtistsVenues

51. Bursaries
Place in
competition
Connect! event
bursary
Match funding
(inc. staff time)
1st £3000 £830
2nd £300
3rd £200
4th £100
5th £100

52. “It was good news, it gave people something positive to do and it brought
artists to the town.”
Michelle Lally, Arts officer 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe,
participating venue 2013 and 2014
“In some ways it is a disadvantage to be part of a larger organisation where
everything is done by committee.”
Laura, Development Manager, Brighton Pavilion and Museums
“We don’t usually engage with contemporary art. We’d never had the
opportunity to work with an artist before.”
Lucie Connors, Learning and Outreach Officer, The Cardiff Story Museum
“We also wanted to shift perceptions of the gallery – someone described us as
“dusty”, which we took exception to, though Pam was very professional and
didn’t slap them.”
“Working with such a high profile artist was incredibly beneficial, the gravitas of
that name, and the exposure that came with that.”
Matthew Chesney, Backlit Gallery, Nottingham
“This was a bigger project than we’ve ever undertaken before and it’s really
changed the way we think. I really enjoyed the opportunity to work with another
department: in this case it was Libraries, who had their event on the Friday
evening.”
Karl Morgan, Virtual Interpretation Officer Swansea Museum

53. We were intrigued with a project that relocates a cult exploitation movie, reimagined by a
contemporary hipper than hip director, into a former Church in a steel town.
Faster Pussycat… is an ode to female violence and plays with traditional gender roles.
This brought to mind Scunthorpe’s only newsworthy riot that took place in 1997 and started
with two women brawling outside a chip shop after a night out and ended with 3 burnt out
police cars. ‘If you want wild living fast…’ then come to 20-21.
In the library of the Yorkshire Museum stands a stuffed bear in a glass case sporting a top
hat. This bear is a favourite with our visitors not least because it used to live in the museum
gardens. Having escaped and chased a member of the philosophical society across the
lawns, the bear was sent to London zoo. A letter in the collections, dated 1831, describes
how the bear would be booked as an outside passenger on the York coach, in the care of
the driver! We would like to invite Alan Measles (and Grayson Perry) to meet the bears in
our collections, including toys from the Castle Museum and ceramics from the Art Gallery,
for a game of hide-and-seek.

54. Speaking publicly can often be a nervous and anxious experience; the content, how well the
message is communicated, the confidence of the speaker. ‘Wearing’s’ idea plays around with these
emotions inviting people to be more expressive and creative with their language, making a
sometimes-dreadful scenario uplifting and light-hearted. This approach also follows Wearing
practice, which examines the relationship between public image and private identity and the
expression of intimate thoughts or personal convictions.
Personal Karaoke will include a half-day creative writing session facilitated by local poets / writers
(e.g. mouthy poets, Nottingham Writers studio), bringing together spoken word and community
recording artists who will respond to present a self portrait of themselves through a verbal / musical
“selfie”. The Museums at night event will culminate in workshop participants showcasing their
karaoke “selfies” to the public.
The half-day creative session and showcasing event will take place in Backlit’s top floor gallery
space during the last week of Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2015 exhibition.

55. We want to build on our recent growth of an audience segment the NT term ‘live life to the full’
visitors – adults who confidently seek distinctiveness and originality and whose open attitude keeps
them young at heart.
We also want to attract a new audience to this event -‘young experience seekers’ (a group of
people who are open to a challenge and who make and take opportunities). Likely to be under 30,
they are impressed by the spectacular and will approach it with energy and enthusiasm, capturing
moments in their mind which will feature in the anecdotes of their life
We already use ACE’s Insight segments as part of our audience development strategy. In addition
to our
identified loyal audiences we expect following groups to attend
• Urban Arts Eclectic (Exeter, Bristol, Plymouth and visitors to region)
• Time Poor Dreamers
• Older Homebound
• Limited Means, Nothing Fancy
This event would also engage the following marginalised groups:
- Because of the aural nature of the artwork we would be able to involve the West of England

56. Installation Re-plinthing 'Love’ - £250
Moving the marbles - £650
Equipment/materials (McGuires) - £1750
Soirée to celebrate the opening of the enchanted garden: promenade/dance performances
by magical beasts/paper dolls/?, music inspired by the installation, film booths showing the
creation of the installation and other work by the McGuires, a pay bar.
Internet advertising - £500
Print advertising - £400
Filming installation - £500
Materials for costumes - £750
Set dressing for galleries - £500
Printing of Soirée invites and flyers - £300
Drinks on arrival - £1500
Music - £500
Projected ticket income £5000
Income £8000 ~ Expenditure £8000

57. 32,000 VOTES

59. CONNECT! PROJECT TIMETABLE
NOW to FRIDAY 11th MARCH
Event submissions from venues
FRIDAY 8th April
Participating venues announced
11am FRIDAY 29th APRIL UNTIL
SATURDAY 14TH MAY
Competition open for public voting
THURSDAY 27 TO SATURDAY 29 OCTOBER
Events

60. Contacts
Rosie: rosie@culture24.org.uk
Nick: nick@culture24.org.uk
Or call us on 01273 523981 to discuss your
event plans.