Museum Lates at the National Museum of Scotland
Last night we were fortunate enough to have a ticket for RBS Museum Lates, the first of a new night out experience at the National Museum of Scotland.
Tickets for this event sold out fast – and we’re pleased to report it was a great success, and lived up to the buzz and excitement which built up around it.
The Grand Gallery of the museum provided a hub, with a central stage area, two pop-up bars and atmospheric lighting. As the space is so large and airy, it never felt cramped, even when the night was at its busiest. This was partly thanks to all the Museum’s galleries also being open, allowing people to wander around and enjoy the collections and all they have to offer.
The animal galleries proved popular as ever, with the opportunity to have your photo taken dressed as an intrepid jungle explorer; or, on the top floor, to have an up close & personal encounter with snakes, tarantulas and other (very friendly) creepy crawlies!
Entertainment was provided by Ben Butler and Mousepad, S-Type and Found, with the mix of DJ geek chic and folk-tinged pop providing a chilled-out, pre-club atmosphere as the music echoed around the pillars and galleries of the beautiful Victorian interior.
As well as the music, there were plenty of other things to see and do. The facepainting stalls proved to be hugely popular; as did the chill-out zone with the big beanbag cushions and retro boardgames. The Silent Disco was great fun; and the brasserie was doing brisk business serving up snacks and drinks.
Above all, everyone there looked as though they were having a great time, and the atmosphere as people milled around, chatted and grooved to the music was fantastic.
It’s safe to say that this first Museum Lates event was a success – and we’re delighted to hear another one is planned for February 2012, to coincide with the opening of the museum’s Egyptian exhibition – no doubt with some more great music, popup stalls and fun themed activities for everyone to enjoy.
Here are our video and photos of the night.
Gallery
Click on a thumbnail to see the gallery.
-
- The Museum begins to fill up
-
- Tickets sold out quick
-
- Pop up seating in the Grand Gallery
-
- Ally McCrae and Ben Butler & Mousepad
-
- The facepainting proved very popular
-
- The music had a pre-club vibe
-
- People enjoying the atmosphere in the Museum
-
- A relaxed and chilled-out atmosphere
-
- The pop up bars were popular
-
- There were opportunities to meet some creepy crawlies…
-
- People were encouraged to tweet and post updates
-
- The Silent Disco was great fun
-
- What better way to relax than with a game of Hungry Hippos?
-
- The staff seemed to enjoy it too
-
- Chilling out
-
- Museum Lates
Sounds like a great night (love hungry hippos!) Your photographs capture it well. We ran a photography project for 11/11/11 where we were asking people to contribute up to 11 pictures to our Flickr group ‘Museum Exposure’ (http://www.flickr.com/groups/museumexposure) to help create a photographic time capsule of museum activity around the world on this one day. It would be great if you could submit some of your NMS photos to the project. Thanks!