Event Communications, or Event, is one of Europe's longest-established and largest museum and visitor attraction design firms; it is headquartered in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

History

The firm was founded in 1986 by businesswoman Celestine ("Cel") Phelan and design partner Steve Simons. In 2008, a new management team took over the running of Event, led by museum design consultant James Alexander, and creative director Esther Dugdale, which saw the firm expand from its European base to an international focus that included the Middle East (Oman and Kuwait), and latterly Asia (China and Hong Kong). Event projects have won the major

European Museum of the Year Award The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) is presented each year by the European Museum Forum (European Museum Forum, EMF) under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The EMYA is considered the most important annual award in the European mu ...

(EMYA) a number of times, including for the

Riverside Museum The Riverside Museum (formerly known as the Glasgow Museum of Transport) is a museum in Glasgow, housed in a building at Pointhouse Quay in the Glasgow Harbour regeneration district of Glasgow, Scotland. The building opened in June 2011, winnin ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in 2013, and for the

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews ( pl, Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich) is a museum on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The Hebrew word ''Polin'' in the museum's English name means either "Poland" or "rest here" and relates to a ...

in 2016. Event projects have also won other EMYA awards such as the Silletto Prize for the Shipwreck Museum St. George in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in 2019. The firm was also notable as the exhibition designer for the

Titanic Belfast ''Titanic'' Belfast is a visitor attraction opened in 2012, a monument to Belfast's maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in the city's Titanic Quarter where the RMS ''Titanic'' was built. It tells the stories ...

visitor attraction which opened in 2012, and which has also won several major international visitor attraction awards including the 2014 THEA award. Event projects have won notable cultural tourism awards, including the

World Travel Awards In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

''Europe's Leading Tourist Attraction'' for the EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in 2019, for the

in 2016, and for the

Guinness Storehouse Guinness Storehouse is a tourist attraction at St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over twenty million visitors. The Storehouse covers seven floors surrounding a glass atrium shaped in the for ...

in 2015. Since 2016, Event became associated with "immersive" and "technology-driven" experiences, such as the ''

Meet Vincent Van Gogh Experience The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened on ...

'', a traveling exhibition created in 2017 with the

Van Gogh Museum The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opene ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, and which also won a 2017 THEA award. Another example being the overhaul of the Hans Christian Andersen Museum in

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

, into the '' House of Fairytales'' concept, a collaboration with Japanese architect

Kengo Kuma is a Japanese architect and professor in the Department of Architecture (Graduate School of Engineering) at the University of Tokyo. Frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima, Kuma is also noted for his prolific writin ...

, that was set to open in late 2020. Event's EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum was described by the ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' as "the world’s first fully digital museum", and was also shortlisted for the

in 2018 (but did not win). Event has designed attractions for corporate exhibitions and landmark buildings such as The Shard: Viewing Gallery in London, the

KAPSARC The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) is an advisory think tank that consults different organizations in the Saudi energy sector, with a focus on global energy economics and sustainability. It is located in Riyadh, Sa ...

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of th ...

, the Siemens Crystal in London, and the Expo 2020: Opportunity Pavilion in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

Selected works

, Warsaw. * Polytechnic Museum, Moscow. *

, Belfast, Northern Ireland. * EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, Dublin. * Siemens Crystal Building, London. *

, Glasgow. *

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...

, England. *

Burrell Collection The Burrell Collection is a museum in Glasgow, Scotland, managed by Glasgow Museums. It houses the art collection of Sir William Burrell and Constance, Lady Burrell. The museum reopened on 29 March 2022 with free entry, having been closed for ...

, Glasgow. * Hans Christian Andersen Museum ''House of Fairytales'',

. * The Roman Baths,

Bath, England Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

. *

National Army Museum The National Army Museum is the British Army's central museum. It is located in the Chelsea district of central London, adjacent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the home of the " Chelsea Pensioners". The museum is a non-departmental public bo ...

, London. *

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. It reopened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment and since then has been one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions. The museum has 22 galleries, h ...

, Glasgow. *

King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) is an advisory think tank that consults different organizations in the Saudi energy sector, with a focus on global energy economics and sustainability. It is located in Riyadh, Sa ...

(KAPSARC),

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. * The Shard: Viewing Gallery, London. *

Eden Project The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS ...

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

, China. *

, Dublin. * Shipwreck Museum St. George, Denmark. *

St Fagans National Museum of History St Fagans National Museum of History ( ; cy, Sain Ffagan: Amgueddfa Werin Cymru, links=no), commonly referred to as St Fagans after the village where it is located, is an open-air museum in Cardiff chronicling the historical lifestyle, cultur ...

, Wales.

Selected awards

European Museum of the Year The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) is presented each year by the European Museum Forum ( EMF) under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The EMYA is considered the most important annual award in the European museum sector. History ...

: ** EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, Dublin (2018) – shortlisted, but did not win. **

, Warsaw (2016). **

, Glasgow (2013). **

Chester Beatty Library The Chester Beatty Library, now known as the Chester Beatty, is a museum and library in Dublin. It was established in Ireland in 1950, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present museum, on the grounds of ...

, Dublin (2003). **

In Flanders Fields Museum The In Flanders Fields Museum is a museum in Ypres (Ieper), Belgium, dedicated to the study of the First World War. It occupies the second floor of the Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle) on the market square in the city centre. The building was largely dest ...

, Ypes (2000). * European Museum of the Year, Silletto Prize: ** Shipwreck Museum St. George, Denmark (2019). *

Museum of the Year The Museum of the Year Award, formerly known as the Gulbenkian Prize and the Art Fund Prize, is an annual prize awarded to a museum or gallery in the United Kingdom for a "track record of imagination, innovation and excellence". The award of £ ...

: **

, Wales (2019). *

Themed Entertainment Association The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) is an international non-profit association that represents creators, developers, designers and producers of themed entertainment. It is also noted for its THEA Awards, which were founded in 1995 and ar ...

(THEA): ** Immersive Museum Exhibit: Touring: Meet Vincent van Gogh Experience, Amsterdam (2017). ** Visitor Centre: Titanic Belfast, Belfast (2014). *

: ** Europe's Leading Tourist Attraction: EPIC The Irish Immigration Museum, Dublin (2019). ** World's Leading Tourist Attraction: Titanic Belfast, Belfast (2016). ** Europe's Leading Tourist Attraction: Titanic Belfast, Belfast (2016). ** Europe's Leading Tourist Attraction: Guinness Storehouse, Dublin (2015).

Gallery

File:Riverside Museum Glasgow EC2018.jpg,

in Glasgow (2013) File:Titanic Belfast is an iconic six-floor building featuring nine interpretive galleries - panoramio (6).jpg,

in Belfast (2014) File:Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw Main exhibition Gwoździec synagogue.jpg, POLIN in Warsaw (2015) File:The crystal (27265775033).jpg, Siemens Crystal in London (2013)

References

External links

*
Interview with Kengo Kuma: The New Hans Christian Andersen Museum
'' House of Fairytales'', Odense City Museums, Denmark
Meet Vincent Van Gogh Experience

, Netherlands
Fully Digital: Irish Emigration Museum
EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, Dublin
Buildpedia: Case Study: Zaha Hadid Architects and Event Communications