With an arts scene that ranges from the traditional to the cutting edge, New England is home to one of the nation’s richest and most diverse assortments of venues and activities with a creative twist. Everything from a party with street artists to a festive night with the Boston Pops or an elegant soiree in a Vanderbilt mansion can be incorporated into the meetings agenda.
Painting Parties
For local DMCs, New England, especially Boston, is a giant canvas for creating events where artwork takes center stage during team-building sessions and gala events alike. At Best of Boston, Catherine Chaulet, senior vice president of events, says it’s important to not have preconceived notions of what can and cannot be done.
“A lot of people think of Boston as a very staid and traditional place, but it’s not that at all,” she says. “Boston is moving in a modern and more forward direction.”
As an example, she points to Epicenter, a LEED-certified facility in South Boston that serves as headquarters for Artists for Humanity, a group providing arts programs for inner city youth. The space features studios, classrooms and a 5,000-square-foot main gallery with a soaring ceiling and mezzanine exhibition areas.
“We used Epicenter for a client who wanted something modern and reflecting corporate social responsibility,” Chaulet says. “The client is committed to strengthening neighborhoods. We hired artists through Artists for Humanity, including graffiti and performance artists. The attendees were surrounded by live art—it was a departure from the traditional and very experiential.”
Another forward-thinking venue is Boston’s new Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), which offers not only a stellar collection of contemporary artwork by international artists but also a waterfront setting with views of Boston’s harbor and skyline. Available function spaces include a lobby bounded by soaring glass walls; Waterfront Cafe by Wolfgang Puck, which offers both indoor and outdoor dining spaces; and a 325-seat theater equipped for meetings and new product launches.
“It’s a real showcase for contemporary art, which we really didn’t have before, so this is very much needed,” says Courtney Church, partner in Boston-based Corinthian Events, which is among local DMCs that frequently use ICA for receptions and dinners.
On the more traditional side, Boston’s stately Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) is a venue with a lot of versatility for events with an arts theme. Church likes to use the museum as a setting for a Fresh Paint Auction, where attendees can bid on paintings created right before their eyes.
“We bring in four artists and have them paint a still life, using their own interpretations—the paintings are about 50 percent done beforehand,” she says. “The guests get to see the artists finish their work and then have the opportunity to bid on the paintings. This is usually built around a reception with food stations.”
Best of Boston has used the MFA’s Koch Gallery for elegant dinners designed to mirror the priceless art on the walls.
“We matched the table linens and centerpieces to harmonize with the paintings, and we had menus depicting copies of the paintings, with the story behind them on the back,” Chaulet says. “And we brought in four singers from the Boston Opera to sing arias during the dinner. The room really came alive.”
Both DMCs also recommend Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, housed in a villa designed after a 15th century Venetian palace where three galleries of paintings, sculpture, tapestries and decorative arts surround a flower-filled courtyard. The museum can accommodate groups of up to 250 for receptions and up to 100 for a seated dinner, usually preceded by a cocktail hour in the Spanish Cloister, where the focus is on El Jaleo, John Singer Sargent’s painting of a flamenco dancer.
“We can include a flamenco performance, where at one point a dancer will strike the exact pose depicted in the painting,” Chaulet says.
Great Performances
The performing arts can also lend their sparkle to events, including evenings with the Boston Pops, which, if the budget allows, can be hired for private concerts at Boston’s Symphony Hall. Group ticketing for scheduled Boston Pops concerts is another option.
“The Boston Pops is always a surefire winner; they’re part of what people come to Boston for,” Church says. “It takes a lot of advance planning to feature them during a meeting, but it’s well worth it.”
Also popular is the Blue Man Group, a multimedia theatrical troupe that gives regularly scheduled performances at Boston’s Charles Playhouse. The shows, which combine comedy with music and other theatrics, are also available for corporate events.
Among Boston’s most spectacular theaters is Citi Performing Arts Center, with its opulent Grand Lobby modeled after the Palace of Versailles and 3,600-seat Wang Theater.
“It has the largest stage in New England and is a beautiful facility,” Church says of the venue. “When you need a big stage for something like a car show, it fills the bill.”
Night at the Museum
While Boston has New England’s greatest concentration of art museums, other stellar examples can be found throughout the region. In many cases, the museums offer historic architecture that almost rivals the works on display.
Just north of Boston in Salem, Mass., the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) is renowned for its 854,000 works of art and architecture housed in beautifully restored exhibition galleries. The large museum campus includes such spaces as the glass-roofed Atrium, frequently used for seated dinners of up to 400 people; the East Indian Marine Hall, a grand banquet hall with arched windows; the Cotting-Smith Assembly House, a circa-1782 building with an intimate atmosphere for small groups; and the gold-leafed Phillips Library Reading Room.
The Wadsworth Antheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Conn., where the collection includes works by Picasso, Monet, Dali, Whistler, O’Keefe and Wyeth, is another versatile venue. Avery Court, adorned with a skylight, an Italian fountain and contemporary artworks, is popular for large receptions and seated dinners, while the Hartford Courant Room is frequently used for presentations and luncheons for 50 people or less.
The Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, N.H., is known for its collection of European and American paintings as well as the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Zimmerman House. Groups can take over the entire museum or use such spaces as a 180-seat auditorium or an assortment of seminar rooms.
Spread over 400 acres, the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vt., features three venues, including the 400-seat Arkell Pavilion, which is the setting for scheduled concerts by headline performers as well as for private events. Others are the Yester House, a 1917 Georgian Revival mansion with elegant function spaces, and the Wilson Museum, a modern exhibition space that displays the center’s international collection of art.
Farther north, the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vt., is filled with treasures ranging from American folk art to French Impressionist paintings housed in 18th and 19th century buildings relocated from all over New York and New England.
During evening hours, all or some of the museum’s 39 historic buildings are available for special events that can combine a dinner or reception with special tours of various exhibits. The museum grounds can accommodate large-scale events with tents.
In Portland, Maine, the Portland Museum of Art comprises a cluster of architecturally significant buildings housing a respected collection of European art as well as works by Andrew Wyeth, best known for such Maine-inspired paintings as Christina’s World. Function spaces at the museum include the spacious Great Hall, the intimate Glass Gallery, a boardroom and an auditorium.
Treasure Houses
When it comes to appreciating art and architecture in the grand manner, nothing quite compares to the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, R.I. Newport Hospitality, a local DMC, arranges tours for small groups of 25 or less to some sites not normally open to the public such as the National Museum of American Illustration, which offers a private collection of American artwork by the likes of Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish housed in a circa-1898 mansion designed in the style of a French chateau.
“We’ll combine this with a visit to Rough Point, the home of Doris Duke, because both places have superb art and artifacts,” says Cheryl Twist, director of sales for Newport Hospitality. “We also like to take groups to the Redwood Library, which is the oldest lending library in the U.S. and has a great collection of 160,000 rare books, plus 17th and 18th century portraits.”
A number of Newport’s historic mansions are available for events, including Marble House, built for Alva Vanderbilt between 1888 and 1892 as her “temple for the arts.” Along with opulent rooms filled with priceless treasures, the mansion features the Chinese Tea House, a popular spot for dinners and receptions for 75 people or less. In addition, actors dressed in Gilded Age or Gatsby-era garb can be part of the festivities at the mansions.
“These are terrific venues, not just for big receptions and parties, but for corporate meetings as well,” says John Rodman, director of marketing for the Preservation Society of Newport, which oversees event operations for nearly a dozen area mansions. “These are special environments, and we can bring in all the equipment you need for a board meeting or other type of meeting. If you want to get people thinking outside the box, you need to get their bodies outside the box.”
For More Info
CONNECTICUT
Coastal Fairfield CVB 203.853.7770 www.coastalct.com
Greater Hartford CVB 860.728.6789 www.enjoyhartford.com
Greater New Haven CVB 203.777.8550 www.newhavencvb.org
Mystic Country Connecticut 860.444.2206 www.northwestct.com
Northwest Connecticut CVB 203.597.9527 www.litchfieldhills.com
MAINE
Bar Harbor COC 207.288.5103 www.barharbormaine.com
CVB of Greater Portland 207.772.4994 www.visitportland.com
MASSACHUSETTS
Berkshire Visitors Bureau 413.743.4500 www.berkshires.org
Cape Cod COC 508.362.3225 www.capecodchamber.org
Central Massachusetts CVB 508.755.7400 www.centralmass.org
Greater Boston CVB 617.536.4100 www.bostonusa.com
Greater Merrimack Valley CVB 978.459.6150 www.merrimackvalley.org
Greater Springfield CVB 413.787.1548 www.valleyvisitor.com
North of Boston CVB 978.977.7760 www.northofboston.org
Plymouth County CVB 508.747.0100 www.seeplymouth.com
Southeastern Massachusetts CVB 508.997.1250 www.bristol-county.org
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Manchester Area CVB 603.666.6600 www.manchestercvb.com
Mount Washington Valley COC and Visitor’s Bureau 603.356.5701 www.mtwashingtonvalley.org
New Hampshire Tourism Network and Meeting Sites 603.694.3333 www.nhmeetingsites.com
White Mountains Attractions Visitors Bureau 603.745.8720 www.visitwhitemountains.com
RHODE ISLAND
Newport County CVB 401.849.8048 www.gonewport.com
Providence Warwick CVB 401.456.0200 www.pwcvb.com
VERMONT
Lake Champlain Regional COC/Vermont Convention Bureau 802.863.3489 www.vermont.org
