Conference News May 2020 | Page 12

12 Venue Tips Three West Midlands venues for culture vultures Pictured: Birmingham Pictured: Hippodrome Wolverhampton Art Gallery Pictured: Coventry Transport Museum The West Midlands is a trove of venue secrets, and there are treats for those with cultural inclinations For your next event in the West Midlands, consider one of these cultural venues, as recommended by the West Midlands Growth Company. Birmingham Hippodrome Birmingham Hippodrome is one of the UK’s busiest venues, welcoming on average more than 840,000 visitors every year through on-stage and off-stage activities. A short walk from Birmingham New Street station, the Hippodrome offers a wide variety of inspiring spaces for events with spacious and versatile facilities that can host conferences, award ceremonies and gala dinners for 10 to 1,800 delegates. The theatre – which celebrated its 120th birthday in 2019 – also allows you to dine on the same stage as your favourite productions in the stunning auditorium for a real show-stopping event. Offering in-house technical support and delicious on-site catering, if you can imagine it, Birmingham Hippodrome can create it. Website: www.birmingham hippodrome.com situated alongside the museum’s collection. The venue’s largest space – the Singer Mezzanine Gallery – has capacity for 260 in a theatre layout. Other spaces, which suit a mixture of layouts and delegate numbers, include the Starley Suite, Bettmann Suite, Swift Centre and Collins Room. Website: www.transport- museum.com Wolverhampton Art Gallery Coventry Transport Museum Located in the heart of the city, Coventry Transport Museum is home to the world’s largest collection of British road transport and takes visitors on a journey through the history of the booming motor industry. Offering everything from pioneering bicycles to the world’s fastest car, Coventry Transport Museum is one of a kind experience. Private event spaces are The award-winning Wolverhampton Art Gallery offers more than 300 years of art, including fantastic collections of Victorian and Georgian paintings as well as a nationally acclaimed Pop Art collection. Current exhibitions include Victoria & Albert: Our Lives in Watercolour (until 31 May) from the Royal Collection. The venue in Lichfield Street offers a historic and cultural location for corporate www.conference-news.co.uk meetings, away days and functions. There is a choice of unique, impressive and affordable spaces ranging from stylish meeting rooms to large gallery spaces with a maximum capacity of 100 guests. There are also additional options for gallery hire and use of the whole gallery out of opening hours. Website: www. wolverhamptonart.org.uk Next year, Coventry will become the UK City of Culture 2021. The most youthful, diverse UK City of Culture to date, Coventry will host a 12-month programme ranging from huge outdoor spectacles to small intimate events, in every corner of the city. With events set to be announced later this year, in the meantime, why not try one of these great West Midlands cultural venues?