Somerset House has seen a significant increase in multi-day events for big brands during the first nine months of the 2019-2020 financial year, compared to the same period in 2018-2019.
Since April 2019, Somerset House has hosted major brands, including: Uniqlo, ASDA, Twitter, Wallpaper, Pixi Beauty, Homes & Gardens and Discovery; for large scale product launches, press events and public exhibitions.
In total Somerset House has doubled the number of multi-day commercial events held at the venue in the year to date, with more confirmed over the next three months, including the Crafts Council’s Collect: The International Art Fair for Modern Craft and Design, which will open from Feb. 27-March 1.
The venue’s success in 2019 has been supported by repeat business from commercial exhibitions. They return to Somerset House year on year, due to strong personal relationships with the commercial events team and the venue’s ability to incorporate client events into its wider public cultural program.
These annual exhibitions include: Photo London, 1-54: Contemporary African Art Fair and Sony World Photography Awards. London Fashion week also continues as a strong source of revenue, with leading brands vying for use of the creative spaces to showcase their latest collections.
“Somerset House is an iconic venue benefiting from stunning architecture and a diverse artistic community,” says Luci Sorrell, business development manager of the commercial events team at Somerset House. “When combined with our professionalism and reputation for great customer service it is clear to see why organizers want to maximize their time on site and hold events which deliver a significant return on investment, by extending their time beyond just one day. The result is that over the last nine months we have seen a significant surge in bookings from major brands looking to hold multi-day events. Clients continue to be drawn by our link to the arts, our creativity and ability to bring the commercial and artistic worlds together in a way which delivers significant added value for event organizers.”
The Embankment Galleries and East Wing have been particularly popular spaces for staging large events, due to both their size and flexibility, Somerset House site has also seen an increase in bookings for photo shoots and film locations. This has included numerous hires of the South, West and New Wing roof for big budget TV and film productions including the recently released Jack Ryan series 2 on Amazon Prime.
Sorrell concludes: “Despite a wealth of confirmed bookings for 2020, including a number of major events for big brands, the team remains focused on a desire to exceed this year’s success—this includes a focus on summer bookings; partnering with industry leading suppliers to provide a complete package; and developing even more links between our commercial and artistic offering, through the incorporation of the public program into commercial events.”
Built on historic foundations at the very heart of the capital, Somerset House is London’s working arts center, home to the UK’s largest creative community and one of the city’s best loved public spaces. The spectacular, neo-classical building offers 12 blank canvas, versatile event spaces, including indoor and outdoor spaces suitable for staging events of all styles and sizes ranging in capacity from 10 to 1,500. Somerset House is ideally located, sitting between the River Thames and Covent Garden and is accessible via major transport links in the center of the capital. For more info, visit https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/venue-hire.
