If gazing at paintings in the hushed surroundings of an art gallery isn’t your thing, perhaps cocktails, live DJ sets and quirky fashion shows are. In which case, head straight to that art gallery.
This week the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in central London announced that when it reopens in June after a £35m refurbishment, a new bar will serve cocktails and small plates long after its display areas have closed.
By day, Audrey Green will be a cafe offering light lunches and afternoon tea. Later, it will transform into a sophisticated bar, putting the gallery at the centre of “both day and night-time activity in the West End”, the NPG said.
It is part of a growing trend by museums and galleries to offer after-hours events to draw in new, younger audiences. They include workshops, live music and other performances, guest craft breweries and “student takeovers”.
Last month, Art After Dark was launched by the Heart of London Business Alliance (Holba) to allow the public to “experience headline exhibitions at major galleries as part of their night out in the West End”.
The initiative “opens up the art world to a new generation of night owls”, said Mark Williams, of Holba. He said most galleries were looking at how to grow and diversify their audiences, and the public were keen for new experiences after the pandemic. “We have wonderful institutions, and we want to engage people in a fun way.”
After its refurbishment, the NPG plans to keep its galleries open late to the public two evenings – Fridays and Saturdays – a week, and will also offer events. Anna Starling, the NPG’s director of commercial, said this was “key to being an accessible attraction for new and existing audiences alike. We would like to be known as a unique destination for food and drink as well as art.”
She added: “Hospitality, shopping, special events and membership are all evolving and becoming more sophisticated in the museum sector. In London and across the UK, there is increasingly additional activity happening alongside the art programmes.”
The National Gallery overlooking Trafalgar Square is open until 9pm on Fridays, and hosts special events, drawing classes, comedy shows, student “live art happenings” and talks. It also has a cocktail bar and restaurant open until 11pm four nights a week.
Late at Tate is the after-hours offering across all four Tate galleries. On Friday, Tate Britain is hosting Love and Heartbreak, which includes DJ sets, workshops, performances and talks that draw on its pre-Raphaelite collection and its current exhibition, The Rossettis. Members of the public are also invited to reflect on their own experiences of love and heartbreak.
Next month, Tate Liverpool will host The Spirit of Eurovision before the international song competition, with live music, a drag queen and a student fashion show with designs based on contestants’ costumes. The audience is expected to be “less traditional” than the usual clientele, said a member of staff.
After-hours events at Compton Verney, an art gallery within a Grade I-listed 18th-century mansion in rural Warwickshire, include silent discos, morris dancing workshops and an “anarchic street theatre extravaganza … rousing audiences young and old into a joyful frenzy”.
A pre-pandemic survey published by the government found that 54-55% of people aged 25 to 74 said they had visited a gallery or museum in the previous 12 months. But only a third of people from the most deprived areas, and only 28% of black people, had done so. Homeowners (56%) were more likely to have visited museums and galleries than renters (32%).
Starling said the NPG was “a beautiful building in the heart of the West End, and we want to maximise who we share that with and how we interact with our locale. We hope that those who pop in for a coffee or a drink will enjoy the experience but also be intrigued to move further into the gallery and explore.”
