Meetings, seminars, galas and wedding receptions for 12 to 750 guests can be held across eight rentable spaces at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The largest room, Bonnie & John Buhler Hall, seats 350 for dinner and holds 750 for a standing reception, while the smallest, a dining room at the top of the Israel Asper Tower of Hope, takes 12.
Seminars and company events
The museum rents its spaces for meetings, workshops, training sessions, presentations, lectures, panel discussions and corporate receptions. The Manitoba Teachers' Society Classrooms A, B and C have vaulted ceilings, movable whiteboard walls and their own lobby. One classroom takes 60 people and two take 120, while all three together seat 180 theatre style or 150 for dinner. For board meetings, the glass-walled Senator Nancy Ruth Boardroom seats 20. Larger conferences and keynote sessions move to Buhler Hall, which seats 500 theatre style under high ceilings between concrete and glass ramps.
Weddings and receptions
Wedding packages cover both ceremony and reception. One common format starts with a ceremony for up to 80 on the Level 6 terrace under the glass Cloud, followed by a seated reception for up to 80 in the Stuart Clark Garden of Contemplation on Level 3. The garden alone takes 200 for a ceremony, and Buhler Hall on Level 1 seats 350 for a reception with a stage and dance floor. Packages include three planning meetings, a dress rehearsal, onsite coordination, standard furniture setup and teardown, a private change room and event security. Doors can open from 5:30 p.m. Audiovisual equipment is not included in any space, so couples bring their own AV and DJ providers. Flower petals, confetti, glitter, helium balloons, taper candles, bubbles and fog are not allowed in the building.
Rooms and capacities
Buhler Hall takes 350 for dinner, 500 theatre style and 750 for a reception. The Garden of Contemplation, an atrium with basalt columns and plants, takes 80 for dinner, 150 for a reception and 200 for a ceremony. The Carolyn Sifton Foundation Terrace, a large terrace with city views, takes 50 for dinner, 80 for a ceremony and 100 for a reception. Bistro Boréal, the museum restaurant, takes 60 for dinner and 90 for a reception. The PCL and Kathy & Ross Grieve Family Terrace, a triangular terrace above the atrium, takes 20 for dinner and 40 standing. The Tower of Hope seats 12 for a private dinner with a 360-degree view over the city.
Catering
WOW Catering is the exclusive in-house caterer, so all food is prepared and served by its team. Guests whose religious or cultural dietary rules it cannot meet are asked to raise this early with the event and catering coordinators. There is no list of preferred vendors: outside suppliers for decor, furniture or AV are welcome, and the museum can suggest companies that have worked on site before.
History and setting
The museum opened to the public on September 20, 2014, the first Canadian national museum built outside the national capital region. Its building was designed by Albuquerque architect Antoine Predock after an international competition launched in 2003. Inside, more than 770 meters of alabaster-clad ramps climb between the galleries, the Garden of Contemplation takes its basalt columns from the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland as a model, and the Tower of Hope rises 100 meters above the ground. The site lies where the Red and Assiniboine rivers meet, a gathering place for thousands of years.
Getting there
The address is 85 Israel Asper Way, beside The Forks in downtown Winnipeg. An accessible drop-off entrance has four parking stalls, and paid parking is available in lots facing the museum, in The Forks parkade and on the street. Hosts can arrange to cover guest parking through their event coordinator. All entrances are step-free, washrooms are gender-inclusive, and each event level has a large accessible washroom. Site visits are by appointment.
