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Natural History Museum diversifies venue hire offering with debut live streamed concert

All images: © Dermot Kennedy/Twitter

An inaugural live streamed concert hosted at the Natural History Museum is the latest way the venue has adapted its commercial offering during the prolonged period of social distancing.

The event, Some Summer Night, saw Irish musician Dermot Kennedy perform with Emmy nominated Normal People star Paul Mescal to a global audience of around 30,000.

“After such a difficult period for the venue hire and events industry, we are thrilled with the success of the event,” notes Robert Wetherell, head of events and catering at the Natural History Museum. “Moving forward and adapting to the ‘new normal’ is our number one priority in the Venue Hire team and this event really showcased what we are capable of.

“The Museum being shut has given us the opportunity to work on this beautiful production and are hopeful that during the summer period when the Museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, we will be able to offer more entertainment clients the opportunity to utilise our iconic venue in a safe and socially distanced environment.”

The London venue reopened its doors to the public last week, but will only be welcoming visitors who have pre-booked during limited Wednesday to Sunday opening hours.

The Natural History Museum’s Venue Hire team has continued to innovate throughout the pandemic. In May, for example, the spike in interest surrounding virtual tours was leveraged to better promote the institution’s commercial spaces online.