British Music Experience

The BME at The O2
Passenger Baggage Hall, Cunard Building soon to be the BME, Liverpool

After a 5-year run at The O2, London, the British Music Experience (BME) is moving to the iconic Cunard Building, Liverpool. The BME, UK's

British Music Experience Logo

Museum of Popular Music, was initially opened in March 2009 and featured a retrospective look at the British music industry since 1945.[1] The Museum closed at The O2 on 30 April 2014 and announced it was looking for a new home. On 10 September 2015 it was confirmed that the new home for the British Music Experience would be Liverpool. Opening Easter 2016 in the Cunard Building on Liverpool's iconic waterfront.

Spearheaded by music mogul Harvey Goldsmith, initially designed by Land Design Studio[2] and funded by The O2 owners AEG, BME was created to fill a gap in the UK Heritage sector for Rock and Pop Music.[3] The British Music Experience is set up as a charitable trust and was funded by £9.5m worth of investment from AEG.[4] It's move to Liverpool is being partially funded through a £2.6m RGF investment.

The British Music Experience is the UK’s Museum of Popular Music – a place where visitors can relive the moments that helped put British music on the map. Housed for 5 years under the iconic roof of The O2 in London, the BME has made its mark as the centre for everyone who wants to celebrate the rich history of British popular music. The British Music Experience and the City of Liverpool recently announced its relocation to the iconic Grade II listed Cunard Building on the shores of the Mersey.

In addition to an unrivalled collection of music artefacts and memorabilia, which includes some of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust costumes and the original handwritten lyrics to ‘Blue Monday’, the Museum also covers the impact that British music had on the culture, fashion, art and politics of the time. It reminds us that British music has at times defined and celebrated what it means to be British, challenged the status quo and given voice to the dispossessed.

Using the Museum’s interactive approach visitors can trace these historic and era defining moments and experience what it might have felt like to be part of these great moments. For those visitors interested in some good old rock ‘n’ roll fun, they can jam in the interactive studio, learn how to Vogue in the dance booth, and flick through virtual record collections.

With an amazing archive of iconic images and footage, over 600 items of rare artist and music memorabilia and an interactive studio, visitors can immerse themselves in the history of British music, which created some of the world's most influential artists.

The experience ends like most museums in the gift shop. The shop provides a range of desirable music and pop-culture related products in an engaging space to foster memories of music history with the visitor. From rock heritage merchandise to drumstick pencils, the shop offers a range of price points and trendy retro music heritage merchandise, including a curated selection of vinyl records. The BME will also have a cafe overlooking the Mersey.

Additionally, the BME hosts Learning and Public Programmes together with our temporary exhibitions to further enrich the museum experience and reach through a range of events; from educational workshops for school children, to master classes and gigs hosted by industry experts. Finally, the Museum offers a unique and engaging venue for corporate events, using the content to tie to almost any pop culture brand.

The British Music Experience is a registered not-for-profit charity with the purpose of advancing the education and appreciation of the art, history and science of music in Britain (registered charity no.1125752).

Galleries

The 1945-62 gallery at the British Music Experience, London.

The history of popular music in the UK is told through a narrative divided up into galleries with common components. The zones effectively work together to provide a timeline of the British popular music story from 1945 until the present day. They are not broken down into convenient decades but represent actual moments of change that occurred so frequently over the 70-year duration of our narrative. Within those moments of change genres evolve.

There is an interactive timeline in each of the galleries. Each of these has a projected maxtrix of events with a foreground interface that provides access to in depth digital material. The user is be able to scan and select across the whole timeline to select an event which reveals magazine style headlines, images and movies.

Major interactive exhibits which can be found in the museum's galleries include:

Hey DJ Interactive Exhibit at the BME London

Many of these interactive exhibits have been developed by specialist software suppliers[6] Clay Interactive Ltd, iso design and Studio Simple with consultation from a curatorial team including Robert Santelli,[7] who worked on other major music exhibits such as The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio and The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.[8] The initial BME curator Paul Lilley, with Sarah Clark and Laura Bailey, were responsible for the extensive number of artefacts and exhibits on view and the rest of the BME content team was made up of music consultants Rob Dickins, David Roberts and Mark Ellen.

Artefacts and Memorabilia

The BME has an extensive collection of rock and pop artefacts used to curate the rich history of popular British music alongside a social and political backdrop.

The collection is the only comprehensive collection that charts the rise of British Popular Music from its roots in jazz to the present day.

Highlights of some of the artefacts that can be found at the British Music Experience include:[4][9]

Interactive Instrument Studio

The instrument studio allows visitors to play a wide range of musical instruments including electric guitars and drums, and even mix a music track. Here you can engage with an onscreen lesson from say KT Tunstall on how to finger the chords of her favourite hit song. Following this you can play along with her video of the track. Users of this space do not need any previous skills.

Learning & Public Programmes

The BME regularly hosts learning & public programmes and temporary exhibitions to delve deeper into a band’s artistry or music trends and movements. Past events and exhibitions include:

Bon Jovi: Master class/gig

The Faces: Master class/gig

Emile Sande: Master class

Frank Turner: Master class

Imogen Heap: Master class

Rudimental: Master class

Daniel Kramer: Photographs Of Bob Dylan

Rip This Joint: The Rolling Stones 1972. Photographs by Jim Marshall

Messenger: Bob Marley Exhibition

Rated R: Rihanna Exhibition

BME offers a menu of interactive workshops and seminars for schools tied to key stage objectives in the National Curriculum including subjects such as geography, ICT, citizenship, careers, design and pop culture.

References

  1. ↑ BME Website
  2. ↑ Sennheiser Sounds Right Note at The British Music Experience, Sennheiser, November 2008
  3. ↑ Harvey Goldsmith
  4. 1 2 BME's hall of fame to honour British legends of music, Times Online, 4 March 2009
  5. ↑ British Music Experience will rock your world, Wharf, March 2009
  6. ↑ Land Design Studio unveils music experience at The O2, mad.co.uk, February 2009
  7. ↑ British Music Experience to Rock The O2, realwire, 3 March 2009
  8. ↑ Times Online, January 2008
  9. ↑ Learn to play guitar with Macca at the O2 music hall of fame, thisislondon, 4 March 2009
  10. ↑ Amy Winehouse Myspace blog
  11. ↑ The View open British Music Experience at London's O2 Arena, NME, March 2009

External links

Coordinates: 51°30′14″N 0°00′10″E / 51.5038°N 0.0029°E / 51.5038; 0.0029

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