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Looking to connect with any Museums with Theatres

Jen Skelly
$organization

Hi all! 

My name is Jen, and I am with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. When our Museum was built, a "theatre" space was constructed, but never finished.

We are looking at finally getting the space up and running, and I had some questions and was hoping to connect with anyone with something similar. 

The vision of the space is this: 

It will be a mixed use space. Will have the capacity as a seated theatre with seats that retract to have an open space that could accommodate round tables, or just a GA space. Will have permanent AV/sound/audio capable for small theatrical performances, musical acts, meeting space, educational classes, live stream broadcasting, film festivals etc. 

We are in the early planning of this, and am looking at how it works for you from an operational standpoint. 

Thanks 

Jen 

  • $organization

    Our campusmates The Phoenix Art Museum feature a space like this.   They have a theatre space that they use in the capacity you are referring to and we run 3 additional theatre spaces on the same campus with our programming.  

  • $organization in reply to Luis Terrazas

    Can you speak a little to the operations? What departments handle what? 

    We currently have an events team that handles all the events in the building and a visitor services team that handles ticketing and customer service...but neither have any experience in theatre operations. 

    And we also have no technical person on staff as all tech is typically contracted out. 

  • $organization in reply to Jen Skelly

    unfortunately I am not able to speak to how they operate.  If you want to email me directly I can try to get you a point of contact over there.  l.terrazas@phoenixtheatre.com

  • $organization

    We have a space like that at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago). I came from the theater world to museums and run the ticketing/ customer service side of our performances/talks etc... working closely with our programmers and production team. Happy to chat!

  • $organization in reply to Casey VanWormer

    Thanks Casey, 

    I too come from the theatre world originally, so that part I am confident in. 

    What kind of production team do you have? 

  • $organization
    We also have a robust rental/events program so our production staff is pretty big. We have a 7-person full-time staff, with another 8 part-time theater techs. They handle our theater events plus our outdoor concert series and regular wedding/bar mitzvahs and corporate events that take over the full museum.
     
    Two people, the Theater Production Manager and Coordinator are dedicated to the theater specifically, but the rest of the team is on hand to run boards, hang lights, build sets, etc....
     
    We had some growing pains convincing curatorial staff and lecture programmers that we have to have a house manager for every event in the theater, but they’re on board now. Managing capacity and keeping last-minute comp ticket requests under control is also a cultural shift for museum programmers who are much more accustomed to all walk-ups and fewer hard start times,  so maybe be prepared for that as well.
     
    Casey​ VanWormer
    Ticketing Systems Manager
    Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
    220 East Chicago Avenue
    Chicago, IL 60611
     
     
    Pronouns: she/her/hers
    cvanWormer@mcachicago.org
    312‑397‑3823
    mcachicago.org

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  • $organization

    I am another performing arts to museums convert! I have only worked at my museum for a couple of months but as far as I know:

    We have a 500-seat theater at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. We mostly use it for lectures so it is very low-tech. We only have one IT person on staff who mostly only handles sound checks (handheld mics and lavs.) We also live stream most events. Our IT person, VP of Guest Engagement, and our VP of marketing all know how to run that. Our guest services team handles daily admissions tickets to the museum and ticketing for the theater events through Tessitura.

    My husband is the A/V supervisor at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Next door. They are not a Tessitura organization but I am familiar with their setup. He handles all events in their 500-seat theater. They used to host Theatre Virginia productions in their space so they have a large array of A/V. They have a full-time A/V supervisor and a full-time assistant. They also handle A/V for the rest of the museum: meetings, special events, rentals, etc in a wide variety of spaces inside and outside the museum.

  • $organization

    I came from a Science Museum and I operated the 3D theater space. It didn't have a stage or "open floor space", but we did use it for a LOT of uses besides films. Not sure if this helps, but if you are in need of actual installation or build-out, I would recommend this Giant Screen film company that is very familiar with the non-profit, cultural space:     https://gsfilms.com/

    (and if you wanted a contact name, I would be happy to provide one).

    Also, this institution is not a Tessitura user, but they have a space that I have always been intrigued by...it is very flexible:     https://www.discoverycube.org/ (google the building to see interior shots of the flex-space -https://www.ocregister.com/2015/04/10/discovery-cube-in-santa-ana-opens-new-500-seat-julianne-argyros-showcase-theater-and-exhibition-hall/ )