MUSIC fans are being offered a ‘night at the museum’ as part of a unique concert series that is developing in Warrington.
Warrington Museum and Art Gallery has started hosting bands and artists for small-scale gigs in a bid to break new ground as a cultural venue and welcome new audiences.
The events see the building’s Large Art Gallery space transformed into an intimate concert hall with the unconventional setting lending a ‘magical’ atmosphere to the shows.
Producer Roger Jeffery is leading on the project alongside the museum’s exhibitions programme.
And he has already attracted the likes of cult Liverpool electronic pop trio Stealing Sheep and acclaimed Norwegian singer-songwriter Sara Wolff.
Roger said: “We have a beautiful venue with an amazing history, but I think we need to do more with our programming to break down barriers and get more people through the doors.
“Live music in the galleries may be a bit of a niche, but we’ve shown so far that there is an audience for it and they want more of it – the feedback we’ve had so far has been excellent and it’s attracted people who wouldn’t necessarily come to the museum during our normal opening hours.”
Another aim of the concerts is to complement the existing live music programmes at sister venues, Pyramid and Parr Hall.
Roger added: “The audience mainly come for the music of course, but they also enjoy being able to look around the museum at night, and we’ve had many comments about how ‘magical’ the galleries look.
“Part of the appeal is that it’s something different to what you’d expect, so the aim is not to duplicate what is already very successful at Pyramid and Parr Hall. So that influences the acts we have chosen, who are all completely different but could broadly be categorised as alternative.
“Another element that makes it special is it’s quite intimate. There isn’t space for a huge crowd in there and the audience is closer to the performers than they would normally be. Live music is always better when there’s more of a connection between the audience and the musicians and that has definitely proved the case here.”
For the next concert, Warrington Museum has teamed up with independent record label, No Such Thing, for an evening of live music and visual arts headlined by progressive electronica performer Ruby Tingle on 11 May.
Ruby is also an artist whose work, Lagoons, was exhibited at the Museum last year. She will be joined by Lavender Rodriguez who fuses together the genres of afrobeat, alternative soul/RnB and electronic dance music, and trip-hop artist B!TEZ.
Ruby, who was even inspired to create an EP of songs based on her research into the Museum’s collections, said: “Warrington Museum is such a special place to me, I spent three years immersed in their collections so I feel intimately connected to it.
“To return with a music event and bringing No Such Thing Records to the forefront of the idea is amazing. Fusing music and visual arts is a huge part of our ethos so putting live music in a space like this is really important to us.
“We’re also hugely committed to putting the whole of the North on the map and not just the major cities, and Warrington and its Museum and Art Gallery are hidden gems – supporting their move into becoming a renowned hub of contemporary creative activity is something we’re really happy to be a part of.”
‘No Such Thing Records Presents’ is at Warrington Museum on Thursday, 11 May. Tickets are £5. Visit wmag.culturewarrington.org/whats-on/no-such-thing-presents
