Case Study: Sea Creatures Exhibition Aims to Educate and Enthral UK Audiences
Tell us about your event and who it is aimed at?
Sea Creatures: Life Beneath The Ocean has just completed a sell-out tour of the US and is making its European premiere here in London. It is aimed at family audiences and is a unique, awe-inspiring, eye-opening insight into the science and anatomy of sea creatures.
This blockbuster exhibition is packed with 50 full body, real specimens, 150 body parts and organs and interactive digital exhibits. Sea Creatures invites family audiences to explore and truly understand marine life as well as conserving marine species and raising awareness of marine conservation.
“As our relationship with the blue planet becomes ever more intertwined, the Sea Creatures exhibition aims to educate and enthral audiences with fascinating facts, figures and information.”
Children and adults alike will make discoveries in ocean science, sea creature anatomy and marine conservation, never before seen in an exhibition environment. Exhibition highlights include full plastinated specimens of a 3.5m long Baleen Whale, 5m long Whale Shark, 3.6m long Great White Shark, 2.8m long Dolphin, Octopus, Penguin, Sting Ray and many more.
Other highlights include plastinated organ specimens, including the lung & eyeball of a Mink Whale, Shark Fin & Teeth, Kidney of a Whale, Egg of a King Penguin, Heart of a Sea Lion, transparent and sliced specimens of many types of fish and much more.
We understand that learning through fun and interaction is the key to modern exhibitions, so in addition to the 200 real sea creature exhibits, there are some cutting-edge, fun interactive exhibits for adults and children to enjoy. These include digital interactive quizzes, VR experiences, children’s digital games, and a mini, education cinema.
Why did you move your ticketing over to Eventbrite?
We chose Eventbrite as our ticketing partner for Sea Creatures as we have partnered with them in the past for our previous events – Jurassic Kingdom and Magical Lantern Festival – and they offered a streamlined service for all our ticketing needs. With a very friendly user interface and customer journey, we know that customers find it very easy to navigate and purchase through Eventbrite.
What challenge has it helped you solve?
We required a ticketing partner that understood our event needs and could offer an hourly entry ticket purchase and the ability to make date changes and offer refunds if needed very quickly and easily. Eventbrite’s ticketing platform offered this and much more and made our ticketing process very easy.
What are your future plans?
Culture Event Creative launch a new blockbuster ticketed event every year. In 2016 we launched Magical Lantern Festival, in 2017 we launched Jurassic Kingdom and now, in 2018, we are launching Sea Creatures. We have a slate of new projects to launch for the next 10 years.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to new event organisers starting up an event?
Think outside the box, look around the world at what events are working and don’t be afraid to purchase a licence for an event, festival or exhibition. You don’t always need to reinvent the wheel. If a concept is working abroad, and it’s not too niche then it is likely that it will work here in the UK. But the key is making sure your event is full of cutting-edge interactive elements to engage with your audiences onsite.
How much has your event grown since inception?
We have managed to secure a four-city tour since the event concept was born last year. We launch in London in July, then move to Edinburgh, Yorkshire, and Belfast. After that, we are hoping to secure some more UK venues before touring major European Cities. We don’t launch until 20th July 2018 but we hope to attract a minimum of 80,000 visitors.
This video explores the Sea Creatures concept and realisation in more detail and is one of a series of videos we created to celebrate our organisers!