eastside Archives - Page 4 of 4

There is just under one month left to see the earth in a free exhibition at Millennium Point. To celebrate a fantastic first month, Millennium Point’s CEO Abbie Vlahakis caught up with the Artist behind Gaia, Luke Jerram to chat more about the piece and his inspirations behind it.

Gaia will be at Millennium Point until the 28^th March. The free to attend event requires no booking and is open everyday to the public until 11pm. Hundreds of people from across Birmingham and the wider region have marvelled at the breath-taking earth artwork, which combines NASA satellite imagery with an awe-inspiring soundtrack to invoke a sense of profound love for the earth.

‘A long-term relationship with Millennium Point’

This isn’t the first time Luke Jerram’s work has visited Millennium Point – in 2005 120 guests packed into Thinktank Science Museum for a mass experimental concert that lasted throughout the night. Then again in 2017, Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon visited Thinktank which was accompanied by a musical composition created award-winning composer Dan Jones.

Gaia and Millennium Point

We wanted everyone to have a memorable time at Millennium Point during Gaia. That’s why, along with the breath-taking Gaia, we unveiled an exciting events programme.

We had date night sorted with a special Valentine’s screening of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet with prosecco. Guests enjoyed their drinks while gazing at Gaia before their film started.

There was plenty of fun for families too, with a series of special film screenings during February half-term. On Friday 25^th February, we got ready to go ‘under the sea’ and enjoyed Disney classic The Little Mermaid on the big screen. And on Saturday 26^th February, youngsters watched an adventure of a lifetime with a screening of fan favourite Moana.

Moana film screening

The fun didn’t stop there, throughout half-term, Millennium Point, in partnership with Thinktank Science Museum ran a series of interactive drop-in sessions for families and children, hosted under Gaia. From fun-filled experiments and activities to demonstrations and performances, the programme highlighted the fascinating world of environmental science and the actions we can all take to help protect the planet.

For a quiet getaway, Maria Widdows guided yoga sessions under Gaia. We joined her as she led a grounding, balancing yoga practice. The sessions were enjoyed were enjoyed by yoga enthusiasts as well as newbies to the practice.

And lastly, on coming up on Saturday 19^th March, visitors can see the world in a whole new light, as they enjoy Silent Disco under Gaia. Millennium Point have teamed up with silent disco experts Silent Noize, to give visitors the best night of music from rock, indie, and power ballads to RnB, hip-hop and old skool classics.

An unimaginable view amongst the stars, all from the comfort of Earth

Gaia will be at Millennium Point until 28^th March for all to see. It’s free to attend, with no booking necessary. Plan your visit now and don’t miss out, we can’t wait to see you!

Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint. Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands.

Free your mind, relax and experience the magic beneath Luke Jerram’s spectacular Gaia display.

After popular demand, we are pleased to announce that we’ve added more dates for Yoga under Gaia. Take a break and enjoy free yoga with Maria Widdows under the breath-taking Gaia. Join her as she leads a grounding, balancing yoga practice, where no experience is needed.

The sessions will be taking place on the following dates:

Monday 28^th February at 12:00pm and 1:15pm (45 minutes)
Monday 7^th March at 6:45pm (75 minutes)
Monday 21^st March at 6:45pm (75 minutes)

Have an open mind, take a breath, and connect back to Mother Earth. Spaces can be booked now by visiting Maria’s website.

A magical view of earth in the heart of Birmingham

Created from detailed NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface and measuring seven metres in diameter, Gaia invites guests to appreciate the beauty and majesty of our planet on an awe-inspiring scale. The spectacular artwork is 1.8 million times smaller than the Earth, with each centimetre of the sculpture depicting 18km of the Earth’s surface.

The installation is on display in Millennium Point’s impressive Atrium, suspended from above and slowly revolving, giving visitors the chance to view the Earth from every angle as never before. The artwork is also accompanied by a specially created surround sound composition by BAFTA award-winning composer Dan Jones.

If you can’t make the yoga, why not visit us another time to see the spectacular earth sculpture. Gaia is completely free to attend and requires no booking. Simply visit Millennium Point during our opening hours of 8am to 11pm. For more information please click here.

Share your experience with us on social media with hashtag #EarthArtWork and #MillenniumPoint.

We are delighted to announce a new special offer with 20% off all room hire rates.

This fantastic offer will apply for any events confirmed by 28^th February and taking place before 31^st December 2022.

Millennium Point is an award-winning iconic landmark and a unique venue in the heart of Birmingham. With 17 versatile event spaces to choose from, Millennium Point is the place to go to put your event on the map.

That’s not all, you widen your CSR every time you book with Millennium Point. Commercial profits from our multi-award-winning events business and landmark public building go towards our award-winning charitable trust. The Millennium Point Charitable Trust reached a landmark £30m in STEM support to organisations across the West Midlands over the last seven years – including £4.98m in the last year alone.

About our event spaces

Millennium Point boasts 17 fully flexible spaces which are suitable for almost any event. We have a mix of public with high footfall and private spaces including small meeting rooms right up to a 354-seat giant screen auditorium. Spaces range from state of the art to simple to suit your budget and requirements.

Our goal is to make your event a winner with several packages to best suit your needs.

Choose our outstanding hospitality services and add-ons when planning your event. We understand that all events are unique, that’s why we offer bespoke catering and packages, all delivered with quality customer service.

Lastly, maximise the reach and impact of your event at Millennium Point with one of our hybrid events packages. Our award-winning venue prides itself on being forward-thinking and always looking ahead for new and exciting ways to enhance our clients’ event experience.

Find more about our amazing event spaces here.

Have an event in mind? Let’s talk

To redeem, contact our friendly team about our special discount and any event enquiries by emailing [email protected] or call 0121 202 2200.

T & C’s

Subject to availability for events confirmed by 28^th Feb 2022 and taking place before 31^st December 2022
Available for new bookings only
Not available in conjunction with any other offers
Quote Events20 when booking

With Christmas Day just over a month away, we just can’t stop talking about our spectacular 39ft tree! That’s why we’ve put together some fir-tastic facts together about our decorations.

The Christmas tree is based in our event space Atrium for everyone to enjoy as soon as they walk into our landmark building.

It’s starting to look a lot like CHRISTMAS

The tree built was put together by Christmas experts The Christmas Decorators. It takes a team of 5 installers and a team of 7 decorators, to prepare the branches and baubles. The Christmas tree takes around 10 hours to complete. With good reason too as there are over 21,000 lights and 1,500 baubles to set up!

Where do you even get a 39ft tree from you ask? We’ll let you in on a secret, it’s not actually a real tree! The Christmas tree is made up of a metal frame with each individual branch attached separately each with their own power source.

As far as we know we are the biggest indoor tree in Birmingham at 12 metres tall. It’s also accompanied by two nutcrackers and a (currently) nameless bear giving visitors lot of opportunities to snap a festive selfie.

Excited to share the Christmas Tree with everyone

We wanted everyone to enjoy our Christmas Tree, and with last year, we realise how important this Christmas is. In November we invited our industry friends and colleagues to have a catch up at our festive meet-up under our Christmas Tree. The event was well received by everyone, and we enjoyed catching up after a long time away from face to face events.

Feel Christmas all around you with themed wine and Love Actually

Love Actually with Wine event

Feel the love this Christmas with a screening and themed wine tasting experience of the seminal 2003 festive rom com, Love Actually. Millennium Point have once again teamed up with movie geeks The Wine Events Company for a fun and unique wine tasting. This festive event will include five themed wines and a very big screen, all for the price of £31.95 (plus fees). The event takes place on Sunday 5th December at 5pm. Tickets can be purchased by clicking below.

Imagine, your event and our Christmas tree

With 17 versatile event spaces to choose from, make Millennium Point your venue of choice this Christmas. Contact our friendly events team on 0121 202 2200 or click below to explore our award-winning event spaces.

On Friday 3^rd December St Basils hosted their big sleepout at Millennium Point with the aim to raise funds to help end youth homelessness. The event previously hosted at Birmingham Cathedral moved to versatile event venue Millennium Point. Approximately 300 people joined up to do the sleepout to fundraise for the charity.

Due to last year and the pandemic, 2020’s sleepout was cancelled. Usually, the event raises over £100,000 so the organisers hope that this year’s is the bigger than ever. The event tries to appeal not only to the adventurous nature of people. But also, to their willingness to support young people with additional challenges of homelessness through these difficult times.

Homelessness shouldn’t be part of growing up

St Basils work with young people ages 16-25 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, to enable them to find and keep a home, grow their confidence, develop their skills, increase opportunities, and prevent homelessness.

During April 2020 – March 2021, St Basils has been able to provide 3,860 young people with advice and support, 590 young people stayed with them every night. Not only this 92% of young people that stayed with St Basils moved on in a planned positive way.

A wealth of support to make the event a success

The event was also supported by projects and companies that made the evening a success.

Langar Aid, a project that that focuses on fighting hunger worldwide and provides vital food and water in emergencies, supplied curry and samosas to guests to warm up. The Band of the West Midlands Fire Service rose spirits by providing some tunes in a festive way. Salvation Army Cradley Heath knitted hats for the outreach team to give out, Campanile Hotels also donated thermal hats.

A team from Squire Patton Boggs, a global law firm, had the important role of handing out the cardboard boxes to guests. The boxes were kindly provided by the packaging manufactures Schumacher.

And of course, everyone that helped raise money and took part in sleeping rough for one night, so young people don’t have to.

As a charity ourselves, we were thrilled to be involved

Supporting young people improves the chances they have for their future. Helping provide a safe space, education and resources allows them to build better foundations for later life. As a strong supporter for education for STEM, Millennium Point wanted to take part.

A team from Millennium Point including CEO Abbie Vlahakis took part in the sleepout to help raise money for the life-changing charity St Basils.

So far Millennium Point have raised over £1,500, however we’re not finished yet! There’s still time to donate.

Couldn’t make it to the sleepout? You can still make a difference

It costs £5 a day to support a young person and keep them at a St Basils project. Supporters can make a one-off donation here. Help change a young person’s life for the better today.

Want to book an event space with Millennium Point?

The multi-award-winning Millennium Point has 17 versatile event spaces to choose from and an excellent events team to help you with your event.

For further information about the event, charity, or venue you can get in contact with our team.