After 25 years, MOR will replace its longstanding Museum Ball with a new benefit event to fill the February time slot. A Night in Pompeii! will take place on Saturday, February 13th from 5:30pm-10:30pm.
The new event is a tribute to the Museum’s upcoming Summer Blockbuster Exhibit, “Leisure and Luxury in the Age of Nero: The Villas of Oplontis Near Pompeii.” The exhibit artifacts have never left Italy before, and MOR will be one of only three Museums in the country to host the exhibit. Museum of the Rockies will also be the only venue west of the Mississippi River. A Night in Pompeii! promises to be a completely different event from the Museum Ball, as MOR transforms its lobby, main and back galleries into a street scene from that last night in Pompeii. Vendors of food and merchandise (Silent Auction items) will line the gallery halls as guests enjoy delicacies, fine spirits, and dance to live music. Ticket prices have been lowered to attract an expanded audience. The theme for the event is “Party like there’s no tomorrow!” A fitting notion considering the coming eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Guests will be encouraged to wear appropriate costumes from 79AD when Pompeii was a bustling community of luxury residences and merchants, but come-as-you-are is also appropriate party attire. Through Live, Silent and Dutch Auctions, A Night in Pompeii! will raise funds to benefit Museum of the Rockies and its Opening Doors for Montana Schoolchildren fund. Every year the fund ensures free access to MOR and all of its exhibits for K-12 public, private, tribal, and homeschool students. In 2014, some 10,000 schoolchildren visited the Museum at no cost.
A Night in Pompeii! will be the first in MOR’s new February Night at the Museum Benefit Event series. Every year, a new benefit event will be fashioned to highlight upcoming exhibits or current social themes. The Museum will be keeping its guests in suspense regarding upcoming benefit events by not releasing theme details until late in the year. Sponsors for A Night in Pompeii! are Resource Site Services, Hilton Garden Inn, Ressler Chevrolet, Cloud Peak Energy and NorthWestern Energy Community Works.
Tickets are still available to A Night in Pompeii! and are $100 for MOR members, $115 for non-members. Sponsorship opportunities are also still available. Tickets and Sponsorships can be purchased by calling 406-994-1998, e-mailing events@montana.edu, or online at museumoftherockies.org/.
Museum of the Rockies is both a college-level division of Montana State University and an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit institution. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, MOR is one of just 776 museums to hold this distinction from the more than 17,500 museums nationwide. The Museum is also a Smithsonian Institution affiliate and a federal repository for fossils. Using the past and present, Museum of the Rockies inspires life-long learning in science, history, culture, and art; advances knowledge through collections, research and discovery; and presents engaging, vibrant exhibits and programming. MOR brings the world to Montana and Montana to the world. For more information, visit museumoftherockies.org/ or call 406-994-2652. •
