Barbican Business Events has continued to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the market, which included the launch of filming and photo shoot packages at the start of 2020. The packages include not just the space for the shoot but also green-room and preparation areas, catering and on-site hosts.
As a direct response to an increasing number of ad-hoc enquiries, the packages and focus on this growing revenue stream helped the team increase film and photo shoot enquiries by more than 50% in 2020 (compared to 2019) despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Clients using the Barbican for shoots have included pop rock band The Vamps, singer and songwriter Becky Hill, and several high-profile fashion and beauty brands. The Barbican was also a key location in The One, a Netflix top 10 hit, released last week.
Jackie Boughton, Head of Business Events at the Barbican commented: “Although the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns have impacted our short-term meetings and event offering, we have continued to develop alternative revenue streams taking government guidelines on safety into account. Our filming and photo shoot offering was just coming to fruition when the first lockdown struck, meaning we were in the perfect place to expand it beyond simple ad-hoc responses to a full service, as soon as restrictions lifted. The whole team have worked hard to make this offering a reality and I am delighted by the success they have seen in enquiry levels as well as the subsequent confirmed business and delivery.”
The increase in shoots is just one area Barbican Business Events has seen growth and diversification over the last 12 months. Others include weddings, training events and a full-service hybrid offering.
About Barbican Business Events
The Barbican is one of the world’s leading conference and international arts venues. Located in the City of London, it is capable of holding meetings from 10-2,000 delegates in its fully equipped concert hall, theatres, conference suites and boardrooms. Barbican Business Events brings together the venue’s expertise in the arts and corporate meetings.
Built as part of London’s Barbican development and officially opened in March 1982 by HM Queen Elizabeth, unlike many other venues, Barbican was specifically built with the dual purpose of holding conferences and arts events presenting a diverse range of art, music, theatre, dance, film and creative learning.
The Barbican’s Business Events team contributes to the venue’s future success. To make the most of the Barbican’s rich culture and heritage, Barbican Business Events was created to bring together their expertise in three very different areas – the arts, creative learning and corporate business. This approach to corporate events is based on stronger, more in-depth partnerships with their artistic, creative learning and development teams in order to bring more creativity and rich content to events.
The Barbican provides a vibrant and inspiring venue for corporate events, conferences, meetings and entertainment. The venue is capable of holding meetings from 10-2,000 delegates in spaces including a concert hall, theatres, a boardroom and conference suites that can accommodate 10-170 delegates and can be adjusted using sound proofed sliding. As part of its wider investment strategy, the Barbican spent £2.2m on a significant refurbishment throughout the Centre in the summer of 2016 including its Frobisher rooms and Level 4. The focus of the Frobisher refurbishment is designed to create an even stronger connection between the Centre’s main conference and meeting facilities and its arts spaces.
About the Barbican
A world-class arts and learning organisation, the Barbican pushes the boundaries of all major art forms including dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts. Its creative learning programme further underpins everything it does. Over a million people attend events annually, hundreds of artists and performers are featured, and more than 300 staff work onsite. The architecturally renowned centre opened in 1982 and comprises the Barbican Hall, the Barbican Theatre, The Pit, Cinemas 1, 2 and 3, Barbican Art Gallery, a second gallery The Curve, public spaces, a library, the Lakeside Terrace, a glasshouse conservatory, conference facilities and three restaurants. The City of London Corporation is the founder and principal funder of the Barbican Centre.
