Lates is one of the Museum’s biggest events, staged on the last Wednesday of each month (except December) and themed around a science-related subject. It’s free and attracts around 4,000 visitors over the course of each night.
The average age range of visitors is 18–35, usually young professionals looking for a free, fun and engaging night out.
Why join us?
We offer you the opportunity to run an event with lots of very keen and eager-to-learn adults. In some cases we may be able to offer some financial assistance to help support your event too.
Upcoming themes:
30 January 2019: China
27 February 2019: The Last Tsar
27 March 2019: TBC
24 April 2019: 150th Anniversary of the Periodic Table
29 May 2019: Measurement and Control
26 June 2019: Sexuality
31 July 2019: Apollo Moon Landings
28 August 2019: Intelligence
25 September 2019: Driverless Cars
30 October 2019: Halloween
27 November 2019: London Science City
Please note that we confirm all events for each theme around 4–6 weeks before the event.
What we're looking for
Three different types of events fit into Lates:
1. Talks
- 30 minute talk repeated 2–3 times
- Caters to around 100–360 people over the night
- Introduces people to a concept and enthuses them about it
- Teaches audiences more about a subject they may know a little about
2. Drop-in events
- Run from 18.45–21.30
- Caters to around 400–600 people over the night
- Can be anything from showing off new technology or demonstrating scientific concepts to a performance or an experience
3. Workshops
- Run from 18.45–21.30
- Caters to around 500 people over the night
- Can be something that everyone contributes to create a collective result
- An alternative is a ‘make and take’—something for visitors to create and take away that can be completed in 15–20 mins, makes no mess and is rewarding and aesthetically pleasing
- Can also involve people learning a task, e.g. dance, drumming, knitting, games etc
Things to bear in mind
- Audience interaction: how will you keep your audience engaged?
- Jargon free: our audiences generally have no specific scientific knowledge so technical language must be kept to a minimum
- Humour: Lates visitors always respond very positively to added humour
- Social media: opportunities for our audiences to show their appreciation
- Costs: we have very limited funding but we can offer some assistance
- Resources: as a museum we are sometimes restricted in what we can do
- Health and safety: risk assessments and method statements will be required for most events
