The challenges presented by Covid-19 means we’ve had to think differently about our visitor offer for Christmas 2020.
Learning from how we implemented the ‘Unlocking the Black Country’ programme and insights from visitor feedback have helped us to design a new Christmas programme that can operate in a Covid-safe way and which will appeal to our audience.
Therefore, we wanted to share news of the Christmas programme with you – one that we hope will both excite visitors and be rewarding for staff to deliver.
The Rule of Six and protocols around social distancing means that we won’t be running Santa Hunts this year. We know how enjoyable Santa Hunts can be for both staff and visitors, and that this will be disappointing news for some people. We’ve also decided not to hold our Christmas Nights event. This latter decision was made based on visitor feedback which showed a greater demand and level of comfort in visiting the Museum during the daytime and when people feel they can spend quality time together as a family.
An Enchanted Christmas
Therefore, we’ve developed a completely new pre-ticketed event aimed at families and those visitors who consider themselves young at heart.
On Sat 12, Sun 13, Sat 19 and Sun 20 December between 10.00am-8.00pm, the Museum will be the backdrop to ‘An Enchanted Christmas’.
With a storyline based on ‘The Nutcracker’ BCLM will be transformed into a festive land where visitors will be asked to join the Nutcracker Army to thwart the plans of the Rat King and his band of rogues and, thus, save Christmas!
This is a new type of event for us, but it’s also one that we think will stand out versus events at other venues who may be taking a more ‘traditional’ approach this year. By differentiating our offer we intend to attract new audiences to the Museum.
Unwrapping Christmas
Visitor response to the Enchanted Christmas concept was extremely positive in market research, but we also want to make sure we’re serving the full spectrum of our audiences – particularly those for whom a visit to the Museum is about stepping back in time. Therefore, on December weekdays, and then on Sat 5/Sun 6 December, and from Mon 21 – Thu 24 December the visitor programme will be ‘Unwrapping Christmas’. This programme will adapt the zoned approach that was developed for Unlocking the Black Country and tell the story of Black Country Christmases through time, from the 1800s to the 1960s.
We’ll share further details about the specific elements of the visitor offer in due course, but we hope this update gives you a flavour of the Christmas programme in the meantime.
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