Tag Archives: hiring

Venues for events

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The Floating Cinema
This is one of London’s top 8 coolest art venues in 2013, the floating cinema is now available for private venue hire offering a unique event space for product launches, corporate away days, film shoots and special occasions.

This intimate venue has a capacity of 12 passengers when cruising and 20 people standing while static. The Floating Cinema is a purpose-built wide beam barge with a flexible ‘whitespace’ auditorium that offers a unique and original experience for guests. The space can be easily reconfigured to accommodate meetings and team building sessions. As a cinema it offers state of the art high-spec lighting and surround-sound facilities, a fully equipped cinema auditorium space and a stunning central viewing deck from which guests can enjoy a new perspective of London’s most iconic views.

Beach Blanket Babylon
Is a decadent venue in trendy Shoreditch perfect for exclusive events and celebrations with an impressive capacity of up to 800 people. The venue has a number of opulent event spaces on offer that lend themselves perfectly to stylish corporate networking events, cocktail receptions, corporate event dinners, gala events, conferences and fashion shows.

The Champagne Lounge is ideal for private parties of up to 300 guests with rich wooden surrounds, decadent mood lighting and unique decorations. The Gallery offers a versatile self-contained space, with rustic wooden floors and white walls it is the perfect blank canvas for conferences and exhibitions and can hold up to 175 guests. The Mezzanine and The Bar are both gorgeous spaces; The Mezzanine elegantly holds up to 70 guests while the vibrant cosmopolitan bar holds up to 250 guests.
To complete the look and enhance the atmosphere Red Masque entertainment have a few Swing and Jazz bands on our books from London to provide standout musical entertainment that will.

The Warner Bros Studio in London
Home to Harry Potter film sets – offers an exciting event space not just for fans of the Harry Potter franchise. Corporate event organisers can choose to host exclusive dinners and award ceremonies in the Great Hall, sip cocktails and tankards of butter beer in the Three Broomsticks, and host networking events in Dagon Alley.

What better entertainment to accompany a corporate event in the place where Harry Potter was filmed than a string quartet that will create an atmospheric setting fit for the Harry Potter films and could even play the film franchise’s iconic theme tune!

Russian party ideas

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If you want to have a Russian themed event, here are some great entertainment ideas for your party..

Cossack Dancers

Perhaps the most obvious option for your event, book Cossack dancers for a fabulously Russian experience! Able to perform a choreographed performance that is guaranteed to have guests thinking that they too can accomplish this most difficult of dances, they are the most sought after Russian entertainment act. Oh and don’t try to copy what you see; the dancers only make it look easy because they are professionals!

Ballet Performance

If you had to list famous Russian or Russian entertainment, we feel that Tchaikovsky would be quite high up on your list. Whether you prefer Swan Lake or The Nutcracker is immaterial because ballet dancers can perform both! How better to pay homage Russia than by enjoying a bespoke five to ten minute performance of a ballet in a stunning venue?

Moscow State Circus

Okay, we aren’t advising that you book the entire Moscow State Circus but many excellent circus performers are Russian and we can highly recommend booking an aerial silk artist, aerial hoop artist, an acrobat, etc. Booking circus acts always ensure shocked faces and a roar of applause so you can’t go wrong!

CSI

Okay, so this one is a bit of a joke entry due to the links between the UK and Russia in the news over the past six months or so! That being said, booking CSI is a great idea if you are looking for a team building activity that is also great fun. Climb into your Silent Witness-style jumpsuit, learn how to search for fingerprints and solve the crime! Unlike any other form of entertainment that we put out, booking CSI is a must!

Visual effects

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As with most corporate events, your décor should be key. Your venue needs to wow your guests from the moment they walk in, creating a special and uniquely defined space for your event. Two highly contrasting themes are high tech interactive and natural materials, enabling your company to show off its tech prowess, or boost its eco credentials.

You could extend the theme beyond décor and food into acoustic musical acts, for a more ‘natural’ sound.

Take lighting to the next level and illuminate your event to create spectacle and visual interest. Any venue can be transformed with clever and creative use of lighting even on the more limited of budgets.

Use lighting to throw unusual shadows, to colour tables rather than using flowers, and use wireless technology to alter lighting states to reflect the various stages of your event. Look for party bands and DJ’S with their own light shows, hire function bands that provide their own lighting, and artists that use light in imaginative ways.

For larger corporate events, book artists that have a strong visual impact enhanced by theatrical style lighting, such as dance troupes, ballet dancers or aerial artists.

Choose musicians that blend performances with tech, such as our interactive VJ’S, or a live DJ. Get
your guests interacting with each other playing giant games with your very own theme.

Find ways to make your entertainment a pleasure for everyone by choosing acts that blend superb musicianship with accessible humour, such as a comedy string quartet. Or present musical acts with an international flavour, such as 1920s swing band just make people smile!

Enjoy your party without having to host

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Organising a party can be stressful enough, then if you have to play host, you don’t really get to enjoy it.

There are a whole host of staff that you could hire for your event from Red Masque Directory that will make any event you had in mind run smoothly and add a bit of class, to really make you relax and enjoy the event that you have organised.

Good caterers make it look easy whilst all your guests are enjoying themselves the champagne keeps flowing. Finger food is always available and most importantly at the end of your event everything is clean and tidy for you.

Cocktail bartenders are also a must to have at events. Charming, dressed to impress, whichever way you would like your bartender to be we think we have just about every cocktail bartender advertised on our Red Masque directory.

Canapé girls can be used for Adult themed evenings, family entertainment and children’s parties so they are not stereotyped to just one event. Their colourful costumes and special props means they will adapt to any event very well.

Party butlers are probably for the ladies where they could be serving champagne naked from the waist up or leaving little to the imagination wearing just an apron for modesty. Now that ladies would be a great addition to a Hen party!!

Professional butlers can be hired also for very grand corporate event entertainment where professionalism will be shown at all times, it’s just up to you what sort of butler you require.

Promotional staff and you have a launch party to organise. You could have a gym opening and you could hire a team of fitness coaches are motivating your guests. Or how about a fashion show where a team of catwalk models could be just the thing to make your evening a success!!

Hiring can take alot of stress away, why shouldn’t you enjoy your party that you’ve organised? Let you and your guests remember what a great time you’ve all had and not you remembering how rushed off your feet you were!!

Event magic

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Magic is undoubtedly an ancient art. The earliest reported magic trick (the ‘cup and balls’ trick) is almost 5,000 years old (2,700 BC) by Dedi in ancient Egypt. The same trick was performed over 2,000 years ago in ancient Rome.

The cup and ball trick has been used for centuries since by street hustlers to con people out of money. In fact, throughout time magic has often been used to trick people into believing that the magician held some other kind of ‘power’, such as great gambling skill, the ability to make mechanical objects that are ‘alive’, or the possession of almost miraculous skills at lock-picking, psychic abilities or psychological ‘mind-reading’.

Another example of an ancient magic trick is the ‘Indian rope trick’. The trick is performed outside. The magician throws a rope up into the air. The rope surprising stays standing up, reaching up into the air. The Magician’s boy assistant then climbs up the rope and apparently disappears into thin air at the top. The magician then climbs up the rope and also disappears. The audience hear them argue, then the limbs of the boy all fall down to the ground. The magician comes back down, places the boy’s limbs into a basket, and the live boy climbs back out.

Recent researchers have claimed that the magician hypnotised all the audience at once, and performed the trick at dusk, with the low sun in the eyes, near a tree with low-hanging branches, which could have held the top of the rope up.

A lot of ancient magic came out of tricks used to cheat people at gambling. Playing cards have long been used in magic tricks. Although their exact origin is a mystery, it’s widely believed that playing cards were invented in China. They then arrived in Europe, via Egypt, around the late 13th Century. The four suits of this pack were different to the ones we have today, they were polo sticks, coins, swords, and cups. The modern design originated in France in 1480.

The best modern example of the use of magic tricks to fool the public into believing that the performer has some amazing mind-reading skills. Sometimes, however, they act like they are not a magician but are genuine mind-readers, using advanced psychological, or even psychic techniques.

Whilst we should admire the ingenuity and skill of magicians who put on honestly described performances, we believe we should remain alert to those who claim additional powers when in fact they are just using the traditional effects of trickery

Ideas to surprise your guests

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It’s fair to say that despite what we in the industry try to do, many people roll their eyes at having to go to certain events. The mind numbing drudgery of chatting to people you don’t know, the leaning in to read the name tag at a networking do, and the fact that the food can often be unappealing or cliche.

It’s time to change all that by sourcing some top notch entertainment for your event. Whether you’re organising a corporate event, an awards show, or a private party, event entertainment is a great way to keep your guests…entertained!

1. Event Walls

An event wall? If used correctly you will get great reactions by simply putting up an event wall that adds style and character to your event. Whether it’s used to promote your brand or simply look stylish, a bespoke event wall can help your event stand out as soon as your guests arrive. This could also be a great place for attendees to take selfies and ‘red carpet-like’ images of themselves.

2. Living Topiary

With a Living Topiary on hand, your event will really spring to life. What at first appears to be human-shaped hedges, are in fact hedge-shaped humans. They can happily walk around your venue, waving, hugging and generally putting a smile on the faces of your guests. A unique novelty act!

3. Silhouette Artist

Strolling acts are perfect for making sure that nobody misses the fun by coming to you! There are various types of wandering acts including magicians and caricaturists. Silhouette artists gets a great reaction as it’s generally something attendees have never experienced. A form of art extremely popular at the beginning of the twentieth century, guests have their profile cut into paper and stuck onto a card for them to take home. This is a perfect momento your guests can take to remember all the fun they had at your event!

4. Edible Mist Orbs

Many parties make do with basic nibbles, whilst catering companies serve up dishes that unfortunately we’ve all tried before. Change things up with edible mist orbs, allowing your guests to literally taste the air! Pop a straw in your mouth, breathe in the air from the orb, and see what flavour you get. Mint? Apple? Cheesecake? It could be one of many different flavours. The best bit thing about these are you can even put in a request for a bespoke flavour to be made!

Making the right choice

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Red Masque will help you filter available options. You can get several options when thinking of hiring party bands, singers, musicians, comedians and other artists. You may be confused especially when you don’t know any of the artists in person. You can save yourself the trouble by ensuring that Red Masque only advertises the very best and whatever choice you make will always be the right one.

We understand exactly what you want. You are able to contact various artists of your choosing and meet if you so wish to choose suitable music or songs for your event.

With a reliable entertainment directory, you can get suitable price for hiring a band. You can also get the right price for other artists you may want to hire.

You can save enough time and energy when you engage a good entertainment directory in most cases, we have taken care of the brain work you would have carried out, and have the best unique and highly acclaimed artists in the business.

To locate us, you have to come online; which is the first step. There are several agencies offering unique services on the internet, but you need to consider some factors when looking for the right agency. You have to compare several agencies before making your choice. You can look on the reviews. Or you can also arrange a private interview with each artist. This will help you make the right choice.

Beach Blanket Babylon

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Is a decadent venue in trendy Shoreditch perfect for exclusive events and celebrations with an impressive capacity of up to 800 people. The venue has a number of opulent event spaces on offer that lend themselves perfectly to stylish corporate networking events, cocktail receptions, corporate event dinners, gala events, conferences and fashion shows.

The Champagne Lounge is ideal for private parties of up to 300 guests with rich wooden surrounds, decadent mood lighting and unique decorations. The Gallery offers a versatile self-contained space, with rustic wooden floors and white walls it is the perfect blank canvas for conferences and exhibitions and can hold up to 175 guests. The Mezzanine and The Bar are both gorgeous spaces; The Mezzanine elegantly holds up to 70 guests while the vibrant cosmopolitan bar holds up to 250 guests.

To complete the look and enhance the atmosphere Red Masque entertainment have a few Swing and Jazz bands on our books from London provide standout musical entertainment that will.

The Floating Cinema
This is one of London’s top 8 coolest art venues in 2013, the floating cinema is now available for private hire offering a unique event space for product launches, corporate away days, film shoots and special occasions.

This intimate venue has a capacity of 12 passengers when cruising and 20 people standing while static. The Floating Cinema is a purpose-built wide beam barge with a flexible ‘whitespace’ auditorium that offers a unique and original experience for guests. The space can be easily reconfigured to accommodate meetings and team building sessions. As a cinema it offers state of the art high-spec lighting and surround-sound facilities, a fully equipped cinema auditorium space and a stunning central viewing deck from which guests can enjoy a new perspective of London’s most iconic views.

The Warner Bros Studio in London
Home to Harry Potter film sets – offers an exciting event space not just for fans of the Harry Potter franchise. Corporate event organisers can choose to host exclusive dinners and award ceremonies in the Great Hall, sip cocktails and tankards of butter beer in the Three Broomsticks, and host networking events in Dagon Alley.

What better entertainment to accompany a corporate event in the place where Harry Potter was filmed than a string quartet that will create an atmospheric setting fit for the Harry Potter films and could even play the film franchise’s iconic theme tune!

The right music for every occasion

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We constantly consume music, whether we are aware of it or not, and we will end up in situations where we participate in subconscious listening every day.

We mostly think of music as pure entertainment, but marketers have been using it to influence our behaviour for decades. It’s a particularly prolific strategy in consumer goods industries, but the principles can easily be applied to the event industry.

This could be at the supermarket, with music playing over the loudspeakers, during TV ads or programmes, where music often sits in the background to augment a mood. It could also be at an event or conference, where there is either a live band or background music being played in the venue. All of this subconscious or inactive listening has an impact on how we behave.

Using the right type of music can potentially be very profitable, and as such there’s been a lot of research into exactly how different types of music affects behaviour within a specific environment. Certain types of music can make us move through a space faster, linger longer, change our perception of queue times or makes us spend more.

Unsurprisingly, fast paced music makes people move faster, and so does loud music. Slow music generally makes people slow down. It might be basic, but it’s an important factor in creating a specific mood for an event. Do you want people to be energised and buzzing, or relaxed and laid-back?

So if you’re putting on a race or sporting event, you’ll want to increase the volume and get some dance or rock music blasting out to energise your participants. However, if you’re running an exhibition and want people to linger and chat at stalls, you’ll probably want to opt for slower, softer sounds to keep the pace steady and encourage more conversations.

If you like to listen to music, like most of us, you will have experienced how it can impact your mood. This is something the media and marketers know how to take full advantage of. In addition to our emotional reactions, they also play on the associations we attach to different types of music.

Classical music might be thought of as sophisticated and classy, while Jazz might be thought of as artistic and refined. When putting these general assumptions to the test, several experiments show that playing specific music can impact perceptions too. For example, classical music can temporarily increase the perceived value of an item. In these situations, people projected some of the associations they had with classical music, e.g. sophistication, onto the item itself.

So for your next conference, maybe you want to welcome attendees with a spot of classical music, or introduce your keynote speaker with it playing in the background, inferring sophistication and intelligence on everyone in the room as well as your speakers.

Throwing a Cocktail Party

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Hosting a cocktail party for your next corporate event is a great way to switch it up from the usual mingling at the water cooler. Not sure where to start?

If you have a proper space, like a big hall of some sort, it’s ideal to throw your cocktail party at work. However, if you don’t, it’s time to search for an alternative party venue. How many guests are you expecting? Ask yourself how many people work for your company and double that number, so that each person gets a +1. Now, it’s important to keep in mind that not everyone will attend. But, this will give you an idea of the maximum number of people you can expect to attend, so that you can plan accordingly.

When you’re choosing your event venue, it’s also important to consider how formal you would like this event to be and if you’ll be having a theme. Granted, you can decorate most spaces to dress them up as much as you’d like. But if, for instance, you’re hosting a saloon-themed cocktail party, you might opt for renting out a bar or other rustic space over a sleek, modern ballroom.

It’s important to let the party-goers know if this event is formal or themed. That way, each guest can come dressed to the nines, in character, or business casual – however you see fit! Customised invitations are a great way to introduce your event’s theme or dress and ask for an RSVP.

Chances are, your chosen party venue for the event will need a decorative touch to set the mood or fit your party’s theme. You can ask for volunteers to help decorate prior to the event, or rely on a Party Decorator to put their expertise to work.

You can’t have a cocktail party without the cocktails! This is a crucial part to throwing a successful cocktail party. Decide if you’ll be having a full bar or a cocktail menu with limited selections.

Obviously a limited selection makes purchasing alcohol much easier, as you can plan your cocktail menu, determine how many drinks can be made from each bottle, and stock up accordingly. Hire a Professional Bartender and talk to them about your guest list and your preferences. They should be able to help you get a better idea of what to purchase. If you’re hosting a themed cocktail party, or want to have company-centric cocktails, ask your bartender to help create a special menu just for your party! Together, you can create the perfect list of cocktails to celebrate all of the hard work your company does.

Hire a Caterer to make and pass out hors d’oeuvres, or to set up a buffet table at your party. That way, guests will be able to eat as little or as much as they’d like throughout the event, while they mix and mingle with their co-workers.

Whether or not you’re planning on having entertainment, chances are you’ll need to rely on rentals to pull off your party. Whether it’s tables, chairs, glassware, or other practical goods, make sure you have plenty of places for your guests to sit and chat, eat delicious hors d’oeuvres, and set down their drinks. Most catering teams will provide waiters to circle the room and collect empty glasses and plates. But it’s important to make sure your bases are covered so that your event is as clean and professional as possible.

Live entertainment is a great addition to any cocktail party. Depending on the nature or theme of your event, you might consider a String Quartet, Jazz Band, Cover Band, DJ, or other musical entertainment. Think about what types of musical entertainment would complement your party’s theme and keep spirits high!