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Galas and Galleries at Southern Museums

Hotel banquet rooms and convention centers are appropriate for many meetings, but sometimes planners are looking for venues that are more memorable. Whether for an off-site evening or an entire day-long event, a museum can provide the perfect setting for an experience that is both unique and special.

In addition to their one-of-a-kind atmospheres, museums often have modern facilities ideal for meetings like auditoriums, breakout rooms, and A/V and food and beverage services. Here are five museums in the Southeast perfect for your next unforgettable event.

Booth Western Art Museum

Cartersville, Georgia

The largest permanent exhibition space for Western art in the world is located not in Dallas or Denver but surprisingly in a city of 25,000 on the edge of the Atlanta metro area. Opened in 2003, the Smithsonian-affiliated Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, covers 120,000 square feet. In addition to works by classic Western artists such as Frederic Remington and Charles Bierstadt, the museum houses movie posters; presidential portraits and letters; contemporary, Civil War and Indigenous art and illustrations; stagecoaches; and an interactive hands-on gallery for children.

“It’s really a unique and inspiring setting,” said Morgan Huntington, the museum’s director of marketing. “The galleries and meeting spaces are an impressive environment.”

Guests can wander the sculpture-studded grounds and the museum exhibits before repairing to the intimate private dining room or one of the two ballrooms, which can be combined to accommodate up to 240 people total. The Booth Theatre seats up to 140, and the cafe and patio can seat 64 or 75 for a standing reception. The grand atrium and sculpture hall are available as an add-on to other events.

Audiovisual equipment includes microphones, a podium, and access to projection screens. In-house catering is available, but planners may also choose from a preferred vendor list.

boothmuseum.org

History Museum of Mobile

Mobile, Alabama

Once Mobile, Alabama’s city hall, the History Museum of Mobile is a stately institution and the perfect location to learn about the city’s diverse and rich history. More than 20,000 square feet of exhibit space interpret Mobile’s history from pre-Colonial contact to its present role as a modern port city.

The iconic marble lobby has a grand staircase, atrium and historic murals dating to the 1930s. Capacity is 225 standing or 125 seated at tables. The elegant Hearin-Chandler Auditorium is ideal for workshops, board meetings or small conferences, with a capacity of 250 standing or 200 in theater seating. The picturesque courtyard provides an atmospheric outdoor charm and accommodates 120 standing or 75 seated at tables, and the museum classroom can hold 75 standing or 65 at tables. The Charlotte Room accommodates 50 standing or 30 seated.

Meeting planners can share Mobile’s heritage with their guests by opening the galleries throughout the museum during your event. The museum’s private events calendar is often completely booked (and they do not hold events during the Mardi Gras season), so plan well in advance to secure space at this venue.

historymuseumofmobile.com

Two Mississippi Museums

Jackson, Mississippi

Sixteen galleries in two interconnected museums in Jackson, Mississippi, tell the many stories of the state, from the Indigenous peoples who lived there thousands of years ago to the men and women who gave birth to the Civil Rights Movement.

“The state history museum was located in the Old State Capitol until 2005 and Hurricane Katrina,” said Michael Morris, direct of the Two Mississippi Museums. “Our Civil Rights museum is an effort that started on the campus of [Jackson’s] Tougaloo College. In 2009, the state legislature and the governor made the decision to bring both of these projects under one roof. Today we have a facility that’s about 220,000 square feet that includes two museums, a cafe and store, and about 8,000 square feet of special exhibit space on the second floor. We cover the whole swath of all 15,000 years of Mississippi’s history, starting with the Native American experience.”

The museums’ combined collections contain more than 20,000 artifacts.

“On display, just in our museum of history alone, you’re going to see about 1,500 artifacts. The first artifact that you’ll see when you go in the museum is a 25-foot canoe called the Swan Lake Canoe that was found by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1989. If you look closely at it, you can really see the ingenuity, the creativity of the Native Americans that made it.”

Groups can gather in nine event spaces, including the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium, which seats about 350 comfortably or 250 at tables. The Nancy and Ray Neilsen Hall of History, a long hallway with dramatic floor-to-ceiling windows, is also popular for receptions of up to 400. Trustmark Commons has a capacity of 150.

Full A/V is available, and catering is available on-site or through licensed caterers.

2mm.mdah.ms.gov

Hunter Museum of American Art

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Sitting atop a limestone bluff overlooking the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Hunter Museum of American Art’s buildings include a 1905 Classical Revival mansion, a 1970s structure and a 2005 contemporary addition. Opened in 1952, the museum has a collection of more than 3,000 works.

“The Hunter Museum was built in three different stages over 100 years, so it’s pretty unique,” said Amber Goodman, the museum’s special events manager. “We’ve got quite a collection. American art is our main focus; not necessarily that it’s only American artists, but it is artists, both European and American, who have worked here in the States.”

The collection ranges from the Colonial period to the present day, encompassing painting, sculpture, contemporary studio glass and crafts. Private events can accommodate up to 1,200 guests, according to Goodman.

“It requires activating all of our spaces, including our terrace,” she said. “Because you can’t bring food or drinks into the galleries. But we can accommodate 1,200.” 

The total square footage of event space is more than 15,000, and spaces include the 1,400 square foot auditorium, the 2,400-square-foot lobby and multiple terraces. Full in-house A/V is available, as well as catering from approved vendors.

huntermuseum.org

International African American Museum

Charleston, South Carolina

Completed just a few months before the beginning of the American Revolution, Gadsden’s Wharf in Charleston, South Carolina, played a very significant role in the history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to North America. Tens of thousands of Africans stolen from their homes landed at this wharf in Charleston, leaving a legacy of death, brutality and disease. Opened on that site in 2023, the International African American Museum tells unvarnished stories of trauma and triumph and examines how the resistance and resilience of these people and their descendants have shaped the world.

Framed by a gateway to the Atlantic Ocean, the museum is surrounded by the 2.3-acre African Ancestors Memorial Garden. Permanent exhibitions feature more than 150 historical objects, more than 30 works of art, nearly 50 films and digital interactive experiences that bring history to life.

Indoors, the museum can accommodate 115 seated or 215 for receptions. The outdoor West Yard has a capacity of 420 in theater-style, 300 seated, and 700 for receptions. There is in-house A/V, and local vendors are available for catering.

iaamuseum.org