Organisations turn to Virtual Tours during COVID-19

Amid the UK’s lockdown, museums, galleries, and zoos are turning to virtual tours to entertain us. 

Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo broke the internet with their live stream on the 27th March. They streamed video on their Facebook page, showing the virtual audience how the animals are cared for, as well as sharing interesting facts about different animals. There was such anticipation for the event generated through PR and news outlets, that the night before it was trending on Twitter. As a result, ‘the zoo's Facebook following, already the biggest of all UK zoos, increased by an incredible 46% in just 24 hours.’

The National Gallery

The National Gallery collaborated with Google Street view for their virtual tour. The National Gallery is home to some of the greats – from early Renaissance painting to extravagant Baroque masters – and now you can leisurely view iconic works from your sofa. Plus, you can avoid all those pesky group tours. ?

Tate Modern

In this pre-recorded virtual tour, the director of the Tate Modern, Frances Morris takes you around the gallery, showing you works by Carl Andre, Louise Bourgeois and many more. There are also some surprise guests that pop up along the way. 

The National Theatre 

The National Theatre is inviting people to join them every Thursday on Youtube to stream some of their live productions. Each production is available for one week, so you have plenty of time to watch from the comfort of your own home. 

The Southbank Centre

The Southbank Centre is staying connected with weekly online culture fixes. Through podcasts and their social channels, the centre brings us the latest on cultural goings-on. So far they have produced podcasts with Louis Theroux and Hilary Mantel, as well as reminiscing on social through archive imagery of previous Hayward Gallery exhibitions.

The UK’s cultural sector is one of our great global calling cards, and thanks to the initiative of cultural institutions we can now support them from the comfort of our own home.