Blackpool’s museum of fun and entertainment, Showtown, will open its doors to the public in March 2024. An exciting new addition to the seaside town, Showtown will celebrate the history, legacy, and future of Blackpool’s rich entertainment heritage. It will cover the circus, magic shows, dancing, the celebrated illuminations, and more.
It aims to attract over 200,000 visitors each year with its six interactive, fun and family-friendly galleries. The museum will also make a positive contribution to Blackpool’s economy through job creation and tourism.
Elizabeth Moss is the chief executive of the Blackpool Heritage and Museum Trust, the charity that will operate Showtown. Moss joins the Showtown team from her role as CEO at Heritage Trust for the North West. She was previously COO at Lakeland Arts. Speaking about her appointment in August 2023, Moss said:
“This is such an exciting time to join the Showtown team. The establishment of our charity, the Blackpool Heritage and Museum Trust, also known as Showtown, is an important step and provides a great platform from which we will be able to share the full breadth of Blackpool’s rich heritage with residents and visitors alike.
“Not only that, Showtown will also offer a centre for research, learning and education which will contribute to the wider understanding and appreciation of this great town.”
Experience in the cultural & heritage sectors
Moss has been involved with the visitor economy and cultural heritage for almost 30 years, she tells blooloop:
“My first real introduction to attractions management was running the fabulous Wigan Pier complex in the late nineties. This was a very Northern visitor interaction piece where we had live actors bringing the story alive. It was a real trailblazer. It introduced me to the delights of the North of England, which is quirky, curious, and very different from the rest of the UK, I think.”
She then had an opportunity to run Holker Hall, a large stately home in southern Cumbria:
“It was a contrast, coming from a town centre environment to an incredibly rural one, attracting very different audiences.”
It was, in a way, a baptism of fire. She was faced with the grim reality of the Foot and Mouth crisis in the early Noughties, as well as becoming deeply involved with the visitor economy of a highly competitive environment in the rural economy of the Lake District and Cumbria:
“I took some time out but then came back into the visitor economy, working for the Lake District National Park. That introduced me to the joys of embedding a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the park. During that time, I took on the role of COO for Lakeland Arts, an arts and heritage trust based in Cumbria.
“We opened a new museum called Windermere Jetty, the Museum of Boats, Steam, and Stories. It was the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s largest project investment at that time. It really embedded me in opening a large museum.”
She and her team were faced with – and contrived to overcome – several challenges. This included funding, inclement weather, and the floods of Storm Desmond, which compromised the site five weeks after spades first went into the ground, forcing a project redesign.
Blackpool, the showtown of the UK
It is this, along with meeting the architectural challenges of a new build within a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the logistical and operational challenges around collections management, visitor experience, learning, engagement and working to not only Lottery Foundation principles but also those of Arts Council England and numerous other funders that make her uniquely suited to her current role.
Describing the project’s opportunities, she says:
“It combines the thrills, excitement and groundbreaking work of Wigan Pier back in the day, with an environment that is commercially challenging, but one where museums and galleries can add an incredible amount, through the social investment and social value that they bring. And it’s truly celebrating the thrills of the town of Blackpool. It puts Blackpool back in the spotlight for so many positive reasons.”
Blackpool, she adds, was the showtown of the UK:
“It has launched so many amazing artists, whether through performance, through circus, magic, or dance. There’s something truly incredible about this town. This museum will really put it on the map for very positive reasons.”
The idea behind Blackpool’s Showtown Museum
The idea for Showtown Museum originated, she explains, with Blackpool Council’s heritage team:
“It curated and held an incredible collection, which was very much under wraps, not really spoken about. This collection comprised ephemera from the days of performance, going right back to the birth of the resort town. There was also costume, and the original lighting design from the illuminations, from the circus under the tower. That was an absolute spectacle back in the day.”
The town, aware the collection should be part of Blackpool’s storytelling, decided a new museum was the best way to display the collection.
“The stories needed to be celebrated in true Blackpool style,” Moss explains:
“It needed to be something special and groundbreaking, putting this collection, the stories, the performers, the residents and the producers, into the spotlight, demonstrating what can be achieved. My predecessors had applied for grants through the National Lottery and the Coastal Communities Fund to stimulate an additional development grant. That took it forward to what has now become almost an £18 million project in totality.”
Curiosity & expoloration
Showtown has, she says, has been designed for curiosity and inquisitiveness.
“As you go through, it is very much a character-led presentation. It is driven by a range of interactions. You have the opportunity, as a visitor, to explore further into what goes on behind the scenes. As you enter the attraction, you are immediately brought to the seafront: the Golden Mile.
“You are welcomed by characters. They might not necessarily be actual characters from the town’s past. You then go through a series of galleries. These include The Big Top, looking behind the scenes at circus. There is also Better with the Lights On, where you come to understand the design of the illuminations, their power, and what they have meant to the history of the town.”
“We take you through a series of 38 AV interactives. There are soundbites and photography from visitors back in the early 1900s, performers’ costumes from wartime and beyond, and interactives that cover costume design, big bands, Strictly Come Dancing, or that enable you to switch Showtown’s illuminations on.”
It’s all presented in a bright, bold manner:
“You can delve deeper through our visitor interactive,” she comments. “It’s an app that is available to all visitors, which adds additional, layered content. If you want to delve deeper into the big band performers of the 1940s and 50s, or if you want to delve deeper into behind-the-scenes at the circus, you can do that whilst on-site through our visitor app. The app also enables an accessible route for those that with additional accessibility needs.”
Blackpool and beyond: Showtown to draw in visitors
Concerning the target audience, she says:
“I would love to say it’s everybody, but it’s almost everybody. We are playing to the audiences that come to Blackpool.
“We are looking, typically, at a domestic audience from the UK. It’s a combination of those that are already coming to Blackpool – those coming for short breaks within the extended season, from Easter to the beginning of January, and we are also looking to enhance the number of visits from the cultural tourist visitors that might already be coming into the northwest of England, visiting Manchester, Liverpool, Cumbia or Lancaster. We want to draw them in through the cultural concept of the museum.”
The museum will be free to Blackpool residents and to Blackpool schools.
Moss highlights an important focus for the museum’s establishment:
“From an educational perspective, it’s a resource for those fascinated by performance. It’s also a way of giving back to those performers who are still connected to Blackpool. For instance, the Magicians’ Network. It’s about giving back to that community and affording them a broader engagement opportunity, as well. It relates to the circus family, as well, and the Little People network: it’s about supporting those communities as we move forward in terms of accessibility and ethical values.”
Education & activities
The evolution of understanding is an interesting historical perspective, she observes:
“It’s about putting a different lens on what was regarded as a ‘curiosity’, and discovering the stories behind that, what they actually meant, and what they mean now to society. The storytelling that we will do over time, through temporary exhibitions, but also through outreach work, and through our learning studio, will be vast. We will be taking some very specific deep dives into that, over the coming years.”
Showtown will also offer a centre for research, learning and education.
“In our learning studio, schools or extracurricular visitors can enjoy a series of talks,” Moss explains. “We also have activities like Showtots. Blackpool parents & carers of children under 4 years old are helping the museum come up with ideas for our young family sessions.”
“Then we also have activities like Let’s Dance, where teach dance through the years, thematic circus skills, and various activities. We’ll do more and more online as well, as we develop. Our learning and engagement team have been working for the past six years to engage our communities of interest, from connecting through Heritage open days to being involved in dance, circus, or in the inner sanctum of the Magic Circle.”
Exploring Blackpool’s rich heritage
Significant elements of Blackpool have been a part of people’s front rooms for generations, she comments:
“It launched the careers of so many performers. For example, Kenn Dodd, Keith Harris and Orville, magicians like Paul Daniels – people who became major names. They were all launched by Blackpool.
“It will be incredible when people walk through the museum. I think many people will be surprised at the impact Blackpool had on certain performers. Everybody will have their favourites, but there are really personal deep touch-points.”
Blackpool, she points out, thrived during wartime:
“It was having some of its richest and most productive years. Performers were still coming here, and the GIs were based around Blackpool. It was one of the few towns that wasn’t bombed during the war. It was still an incredible performance environment during that time.”
Funding for Showtown
The Showtown project has funding from Blackpool Council, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Northern Powerhouse Fund, The Wolfson Foundation, the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund, the Coastal Communities Fund, the Esmee Fairburn Foundation and the Pilgrim Trust.
There is funding from some specific trusts as well, Moss explains. For example, The Victoria Wood Foundation, and the Ken Dodd Foundation: “There is a real blend of investors. In terms of how we will then continue to generate revenue once we are open, it is that classic mix of revenue through ticket sales, and secondary spend as well.”
“We will be launching both our membership and subscription offer very shortly and will establish how we will platform that in terms of patrons, benefactors and major supporters over the years. We envisage that Showtown will compete well and enhance the thriving amusement offer that is within Blackpool. It will benefit, too, from the fact that it will be applying for registration as an accredited museum.
“As we formed as a heritage and museum charity for Blackpool, we will also continue to draw down specific grant opportunities.”
Blackpool’s Showtown: an ‘Amuseum’
Throughout her career, Moss has developed keen insights into emerging trends in the sector. She comments:
“I think it is genuinely exciting that we are, effectively, a hybrid entity,” she says. “We are a museum, but we are referring to ourselves as an ‘Amuseum’. We are breaking ground in the way in which we are presenting stories.”
“I think that is a critically important characteristic of how museums are post-pandemic and a product of what we have learned through that process. We are in a peculiar, curious visitor economy environment here in Blackpool. This is borne out through what is happening across the north of England in terms of how people are making their bookings and in terms of how people are choosing to spend their time, both as day visitors and as staying visitors.
“We are acutely aware of the importance of ensuring that we are available for online bookings on demand, that we are correctly priced for our audiences, and that we are making those free offers, as well.”
The advancement of tech and AI is something else she identifies as fascinating in museums and attractions:
“The museum will be utilising that where we can, and also future-proofing as we move forward,” she explains. “We are here to stay. We want to make sure that we are giving our public that beautiful blend of 2 and 3D interaction. But we also want them to be able to go away and still continue to interact with us and with our growing stories.”
Accessibility and stories for all
Finally:
“The other area that I am proud of, and that we will continue to build on, is around embracing accessibility. It’s genuinely about being available and providing curiosity to everybody. It doesn’t matter where you come from, or what you stand for. There is a story for you here, and we should be telling that and making that available to everybody.
“Environmental access is a piece of this. I want our charity to be working towards being a B Corp-type organisation. We should be thinking in the round about who we are, what we’re doing, and also how we are doing it. We have 38 AV interactives in the gallery. So, we need to factor this into our environmental credentials and building management system. It’s a real balance, so we need to be giving back, and offsetting.
“That all combines with that social value that we want to give. Our role is as a museum of fun and entertainment for Blackpool. So, we want to ensure that we are giving that connection, that social value, to individuals within the Blackpool environment and further afield.
“We have a connection with each and every individual in Blackpool. It really matters to us.”
Showtown will open in March 2024, with tickets going on sale from Autumn 2023.
Top image copyright Casson Mann
