Venue

Ministry Venues - Borough

The White Space

March 2019

Clients

Wild at Heart Foundation 

Funding animal welfare projects all over the World and are on a mission to compassionately reduce the world's 600 million stray dog population. 

Bon Jardin

A dog rescue charity located in the central province of Nakhon Nayok, with an aim to end the unnecessary suffering of street dogs in Thailand. 

Client brief

'One Night Only'

Sharing a common goal, the clients wanted to create an event to raise both awareness and funds to compassionately reduce the world's 600 million stray dog problem through spaying and neutering initiatives. The charities wanted to exhibit fine artwork to an invited guestlist of press and donors in a cool and trendy setting and maximise donations through artwork sales and a raffle. 

Delivery

This was the first time that we had an art exhibition at the venue and we had a number of things to consider 

• We did not have art hanging rails within the space.

After a lot of research into hanging options we came up with a shortlist of ways in which we could display over 70 pieces of fine art on the walls of The White Space. Having a handful of ways of hanging the artwork was great; however none of these were affordable as they all involved some level of reinstatement of the venue walls post event. Driven by the charity we knew that we had to look at solutions that would be both affordable and involve no post event care. Discreet hanging rails were installed a week before the event by a local supplier which fitted the brief perfectly and are still in place within the venue today and are not even noticeable. 

• There were going to be a number of dogs present at the event.

Whilst all of our venues are dog friendly at all times there are a number of things to consider when hosting an event for 200 guests and around 30 dogs. The artwork needed to be high enough to avoid being damaged by any dogs (Great Danes!), noise levels also needed to be considered and kept to a level suitable for animals. As these dogs were the reason for the event and many were rescue dogs from the charities we knew that we had to give them a great environment to feel safe in and also enjoy the event. We provided water bowls, food stations and rest stations for the dogs and opened up the space's courtyard to the dogs that needed some fresh air. 

• This was the first time that the two charities had come together to produce the event so there was no event formula. 

Having a proven event template can make the planning of an event within a new venue smoother and quicker, however as this was the first time the two charities had joined together for this event we had to curate the event based on their exacting requirements. We ensured that we had open communication between both parties and ran all amendments to the event past both event managers to ensure that there were no last minute changes. 

• The event had to be both an art exhibition and an evening networking reception.

Working with the in-house tech, we positioned all of the house lighting on the artwork to illuminate it perfectly under warm white light and then used the event lighting on both the stage and central parts of the room. The staging and DJ were placed in prominent positions away from the artwork but the music levels were kept at a suitable volume. We achieved the event sweet spot through careful event management and pre-planning which made the on the night operation seamless. 

• Catering

Working with the onsite catering team, we created delicious centre piece canapes that were served on interactive props. this was supplemented by our champagne, beer, wine & soft drink tray service.  

 

Testimonials

I would sincerely like to thank you all for the fantastic effort you all put into the event on Friday, your professionalism and expertise throughout the entire process was outstanding.
Dilaram Kitchlew
Bon Jardin

Thank you all so much for your help and support - we're all so pleased with how it went
Eleanor Brampton
Wild at Heart Foundation