Museon - Omniversum: Joint Forces for a Better Tomorrow

Starting this year, science and culture museum Museon and movie theatre Omniversum joined forces to make a greater level of impact. Their latest presentation is One Planet, an impact centre for sustainable development, showing how we can create a more sustainable future. Their expositions address the United Nation’s seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other relevant themes in society, such as food and fashion. The interactive museum attracts audiences young and old but it also offers something above and beyond. One Planet is a pioneer as a sustainable event space. We sat down with Iris van den Akker, commercial director at Museon-Omniversum, and Juliette Suurland, their business event manager who ensures the venue's unique value proposition, to talk about the steps they are taking to reduce their ecological footprint.

Museon-Omniversum’s clients are sure to have the most environmentally friendly experience possible when organising their events. The venue boasts a Gold Green Key certificate, which has recently been renewed and exemplifies their commitment to sustainability. This certificate is a voluntary eco-label award that less than 5,000 venues around the world hold. But what makes this venue so special? Juliette explained that they “offer facilities for different groups of people to be able to organise their events in a sustainable way, but then we also offer them the opportunity to take a look at our expositions. That is what we are most proud of: being able to connect the events with the expositions to hopefully inspire the people that walk through our door.”

The overall goal of One Planet is to translate what industry experts say about sustainable development and make it more mainstream. At the One Planet Dome, you can watch films that show the beauty of nature. One Planet Expo is an interactive exposition addressing the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. One Planet NOW! shows visitors small ways in which they can make a change. With the interactiveness of the expositions, they hope to make sustainability more tangible. The government sees these efforts and supports Museon-Omniversum with their educational program for school children. “I think that is fundamental. Children are our future and the fact that governments acknowledge this and provide subsidies is fantastic,” Iris said.

Sustainable development is an ongoing process and Museon-Omniversum is challenging itself everyday to build sustainable practices. Their standard operating procedures are adjusted and examined in order to provide events that can be even more sustainable. A great example of this is their in-house catering offering only vegetarian options. Food is a topic beyond their catering, with an interactive exhibit that challenges visitors with eating crickets. In the One Planet exhibits, people can learn and experience a potential sustainable future of food by tasting crickets. Iris talks about the importance of being aware of changes the organisation can make and celebrating every success.

These changes are not for the short term, to learn recognition or to be part of a trend. Iris sees these changes as essential to future business success. She stated that “if you don't look at sustainable development [now], you almost are a thief of your own future.” It is important to not look at just the costs associated with sustainable changes but the opportunities that these changes can bring. Iris spoke about the business opportunities that arise from the creating a hybrid event which can help strengthen ties with international colleagues all while being sustainable.

Iris brought attention to the passion and ambition that Museon-Omniversum has to become as sustainable as possible. Their clients expect the best, which challenges them to be better every day. As an organisation, they are now working on finding a way to measure the impact of their sustainable development, though one thing is for sure according to Iris: “We hope to inspire the people that visit One Planet to change their behaviour towards sustainability. That is the impact we are already making.”

Has Museon-Omniversum’s journey to sustainability piqued your interest or would you like to host your next event at this unique venue? Be sure to pay a visit to their website or contact us at The Hague Convention Bureau to help make your next event a success.