Brush up on the UK’s Smaller Museums and Art Galleries with Art Pass Unbooked Platform

Art Fund, the UK’s national charity for art, will launch Art Pass Unbooked, a new online platform designed by MullenLowe Profero, part of MullenLowe Group UK.

This smart new online tool uses ticketing data to help local museums and galleries attract visitors and help culture seekers get back into the habit of making spontaneous visits. With social distancing measures in place tickets are in high demand with many of the big name museums being booked out ahead of time, particularly for key timeslots. 

MullenLowe Profero worked with Art Fund to solve the problem, while also feeding people’s passion for something new. The big museums may be booked up, but for those smaller museums that do have availability it’s possible they will be struggling to attract audiences after the pandemic. MullenLowe Profero has made it possible for experience-hungry visitors to find and book these lesser well-known spots, finding new local favourites along the way.

Art Pass Unbooked has been developed using Art Tickets data, Art Fund’s free ticket management system collaboratively designed by museums for museums to make selling tickets simple.

Open to everyone, with or without a National Art Pass, Art Pass Unbooked ensures spontaneous outings remain on the cards while providing enhanced visibility to the nation’s less well-known museums and galleries as they recover post lockdown.

Art Fund’s National Art Pass offers members free or reduced-price entry to hundreds of museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK as well as 50% off major exhibitions (including those at Tate, the V&A and the British Museum). Many of the destinations available through Art Pass Unbooked offer free or reduced-price entry with a National Art Pass.

Media is being handled by Mediahub, also part of MullenLowe Group UK.

You can find Art Pass Unbooked here.

Carolyn Young, director of marketing at Art Fund, said: “Given the huge rise in staycations this year, Art Pass Unbooked is an inspired idea to give the public a hassle-free way to find and visit local museums and galleries, shining a spotlight on less-well known venues around the UK. The project was only possible because Museums have been collaborating in the last few years on developing their own combined ticketing platform Art Tickets, through Art Fund. MullenLowe developed a fantastic tool to harness the power of that data for the benefit of visitors and museums alike, at a time when they need it the most.”

Rowan Kisby, strategy director at MullenLowe Profero said: “It’s always exciting when an idea like this comes along: one that actively delivers on the brand’s purpose while helping fix a real, pressing problem for real people. And you can always tell it’s a great idea when everyone pulls out the stops to make it happen in such a short time frame. From agency to client to build partner, the team have really rallied to bring Art Pass Unbooked to life without compromise, despite the fast turnaround, and it’s a credit to them all.”

Rachel Wells, executive creative director at MullenLowe Profero said: “We’re really excited to launch ‘Unbooked’ with ArtFund – as the UK started to open up, we noticed that many big exhibitions and galleries were rapidly selling out and ticket availability was hard to find as everyone eagerly got back to soaking up art and culture. Not only will the website help to solve booking frustration, but really importantly it will help to support museums and galleries that have been so badly impacted since the pandemic; directing visitors to destinations with availability, even at short notice, to maximise ticket sale opportunities”