Only 10 Days until Museums at Night, UK’s Biggest Museum Festival

Don’t miss the UK’s biggest museum festival. In this Jubilee year it is a celebration of Britain’s diverse, fascinating and unusual heritage. Museums at Night 2012 starts on Friday 18th May and sees over 450 venues stay open late across the weekend and host special events. Visit www.museumsatnight.co.uk for all details.

On the menu; cake ‘bake offs’, traditional pints, ‘live’ taxidermy, a world record attempt to ‘float’ Brunel’s SS Great Britain on the world’s biggest, lime scented jelly, sleepovers in haunted houses and Royal castles, nightclubs in museums run by artists, exclusive steam train rides through working steel mines, iconic photographers, whole city celebrations, Medieval garrisons, secret gardens, world war 2 bunkers, award winning authors, ghost tours, bat safaris, re-enactments, RAF cockpits, restored treasures, protesters and much, much more.

Available for interview about the event are: Lauren Laverne (BBC Radio 6 Music/ C4 Culture Show), Terry O’Neill (photographer), Polly Morgan (celebrated taxidermist), Bompas and Parr (Jellymongers), Simon Roberts (award-winning election photographer) and organisers of the event. Don’t miss it – do something different with your weekend. For details of all venues, events and activities visit www.museumsatnight.org.uk, where listings information will be updated right up until the weekend itself.

1. Museums at Night is the annual after-hours celebration of arts, culture and heritage when hundreds of museums, galleries, libraries, archives and heritage sites open their doors for special evening events. It takes place over the weekend of Friday 18^th – Sunday 20^th May 2012. www.museumsatnight.org.uk

2. Culture24 is a non-profit cultural publishing organisation supporting arts and heritage venues to reach audiences across digital platforms. We collect and share cultural data, publish websites, run the national Museums at Night campaign and lead action research projects. www.WeAreCulture24.org.uk

3. Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2011 and 2015, we will invest £1.4 billion of public money from government and an estimated £0.85 billion from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. www.artscouncil.org.uk

4. Love Art London is the leading independent arts club in London, providing its members with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the art world. Every month Love Art London creates 4 unique pop-up events at galleries, studios and places of cultural interest, each of which are led by artists, curators, critics and those in the know. www.loveartlondon.com

5. The Historic Houses Association represents 1500 privately owned historic houses, castles and gardens throughout the UK. These are listed buildings or designated gardens, usually Grade I or II, and are often outstanding. www.hha.org.uk

6. The Arts Marketing Association is open to all arts professionals involved in bringing the arts and audiences together. The AMA has an active and diverse membership of over 1900 who regularly participate in professional development opportunities to improve their working practices. www.a-m-a.org.uk

7. The National Trust is a charity with a statutory duty to preserve places across England, Wales and Northern Ireland ‘of historic interest and natural beauty for the benefit of the nation’. As Europe’s largest conservation charity we protect over 350 historic houses, 160 gardens, 1,100 kilometres of coastline, 254,000 hectares of land of outstanding natural beauty, six World Heritage Sites, 28 castles and 60 pubs – and give access to them for people to enjoy. The Trust has around 4m members and 61,000 volunteers. Find out more at: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

8. English Heritage is the Government’s advisor for the historic environment. We provide advice on how best to conserve England’s heritage for the benefit of everyone. Most of England’s heritage is in private hands. We work with landowners, commerce and industry, planners and developers, national, regional and local government, the Third Sector and local communities to help them conserve the historic environment. We promote public knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of our heritage. We are also entrusted with the custodianship of some of the most important monuments of human history – such as Stonehenge and Hadrian’s Wall. For further information about our work, please visitwww.english-heritage.org.uk