Angel of the North. © Topher McGrillis
One of the most popular events in the museum and gallery calendar is set to go ahead in May 2009 following confirmation of funding from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).
Culture24 has received the funding green light from MLA to co-ordinate and promote Museums at Night 2009. The event will see museums and galleries across the UK welcome the public through their doors on the weekend of May 15 – 17 for an array of innovative nighttime activities ranging from musical events, to torchlight tours.
“Modern life for many people is a 24 hour experience,” said Roy Clare, Chief Executive of MLA. “Museums at Night responds to this round-the-clock lifestyle by providing a rich and unusual opportunity for everyone to spend quality time browsing the great diversity of UK collections.
“I am delighted the MLA is able to support Culture 24 in encouraging people, especially those who would never normally go to their local museum, to devote an evening to discovering the free resources that lie just on their doorstep. Previous years have shown how being involved in a museum at night event is a wonderfully rewarding and engaging experience.”
At the Collection, Lincoln
The national event will link up with the European-wide campaign (La Nuit des Musées), which takes place on Saturday May 16 2009. Since its inception in France four years ago the event has grown quickly. In 2008 over 2,200 museums in 40 European countries took part.
In the UK Museums at Night 2009 is designed to extend right across the country with everyone from the big national museums to the smallest local museums taking part. It is also a way of taking forward the good work of the now defunct Museums and Galleries Month, which had taken the night-time museum weekend prmotion under its wing.
Last year Museums and Galleries Month worked with over 150 venues on a range of Museum at Night events. For 2009 Culture24 is developing a UK-wide promotion, including competitions, public participation, brand and PR support to ensure that UK museums can build on the achievements of previous years.
African mask torchlight tour at the Horniman Museum.
“We are keen to not only to raise the profile of museums and galleries and encourage unique social events, but also to help UK museums and the public participate in a very the European flavoured event that reflects the changing role of museums in our cultural life,” said Jane Finnis, Director of Culture24.
“With museums already signing up to participate, I hope Museums at Night 2009 will entice a broad range of people into our museums and galleries to discover the richness and diversity they contain.”
One of the museums already signed up is the National Gallery, who are developing an innovative programme centred on a project that sees art students develop elaborate costumes based on paintings from the collection.
Albanian dancers at the Pitt Rivers. © Kevin Walsh
National Gallery Head of Education, Colin Wiggins, said: “We are delighted to be participating in Museums at Night 2009. The project offers us an opportunity to present the National Gallery’s collection and history in a new and inspiring way and, at the same time, introduce our paintings to new audiences.”
The campaign will also seek to get visitors involved by developing a ‘hands on’ competition. The ‘Its Your Night’ competition will encourage people to go along to their local event, take pictures and upload them to a dedicated flickr group.
The photographs will be judged by a panel of photography experts and prizes awarded. Full details of the competition will be announced in February.
