Get started

Cultural venues & museums

Museum event rental software for cultural venues, from inquiry to event day

You rent out your galleries, your auditorium, or your terrace after hours, under collection care and security rules. Joinways receives your inquiries, offers only the slots the institution allows, and puts your rules on every BEO.

Start your free trialWatch the demo

30-day free trial, no credit card. From $69 per venue per month, unlimited users.

Illustration of a museum gallery rented for a private event at dusk, at a venue using Joinways
Rated 5.0/5 on G2
  • DayOff
  • Snapdragon Stadium
  • Shaner
  • Daymaker
  • Lenny Boy Brewing Co.
  • Queens Museum
Where it breaks

Every private event has to clear the institution's rules, and you carry them alone

Before you reply, you check the exhibition schedule, the space's capacity, and the caterer, then you wait for sign-off from collections and security. Meanwhile, the client is comparing other venues. Here's where it breaks down.

Illustration: a museum gallery at closing time, gloved hands setting a protective barrier around a plinth while a banquet table is set

  1. The inquiry lands in the general inbox, between a group booking and a press message, and waits for someone to forward it to you

    With Joinways

    You connect the private events inbox, or forward the address that receives them to Joinways. Every inquiry is read with its date, guest count, and requested space

  2. A date looks free while the gallery is closed for an install, or the event starts before visitors have left

    With Joinways

    Each space has its rental hours and named closures ("Exhibition install", "Exhibition de-install"). An event outside them is flagged, or blocked if you choose

  3. Collections and security each sign off by email, and nobody can see where the event stands

    With Joinways

    The event stays on hold and moves through your stages ("Collections approval", "Security approval"). Those teams follow it with the Read-only role, without changing anything

  4. Capacities, approved caterers, and restrictions near the artwork get explained again to the client and every vendor, event after event

    With Joinways

    Your rules open every BEO, in a client version and a team version. Each space has its capacity by layout, and a guest count that's too high is flagged

  5. The invoice has to go to the company, its agency, or its foundation, with the reference their accounting team requires

    With Joinways

    The proposal goes to the client, another company (agency, foundation), or the booking platform, with the purchase order number. The signature confirms the event

Related product pages: Clients

In Joinways

The product, screen by screen

Illustration: product mock-up with fictional example data (names, venues, and amounts are invented).

In practice

What you can check during the trial

On your own inquiries, alongside your current tools.

Last year's gala as a starting point

You duplicate the previous edition's event: spaces, timeline, and proposal start from what was done.

Who has read the BEO

Security, the caterer, and the production team each get a personal link. You see who has read which version, and what has changed since.

30 days

Free trial, alongside your tools

The full Pro plan, unlimited users, with 3 e-signatures included. No credit card.

Use cases

Your formats, and what Joinways does for each

After-hours events, under the venue's rules.

  1. Cocktail receptions and galas

    Setup after visitors leave, seated or standing capacity depending on the gallery, an approved caterer: the BEO brings it all together for security and the caterer.

  2. Talks and meetings in the auditorium

    Theater layout, tech booth, attendee check-in: the proposal covers the rental and services, and the BEO covers the timeline.

  3. Donor evenings and shoots

    Sponsorship-related evenings are tracked on the company's account, year after year. Shoots put their allowed areas and access points on the BEO.

Go further: Inquiries · Proposals & e-signature

Buyer's guide

How to choose museum event rental software

Your private events go through the institution's rules. Five points to check so the software applies them, and what Joinways does.

  1. Rental inquiries come out of the general inbox

    Your inquiries arrive mixed in with group bookings and press messages. Check that the tool can isolate private events without changing your public address. With Joinways, you connect the private events inbox, or forward the address that receives them to Joinways. Every inquiry is read with its date, guest count, and requested space.

  2. The exhibition calendar closes spaces

    A gallery being installed shouldn't look available. See whether the software handles closures per space, and rental hours separate from opening hours. In Joinways, each space has its rental hours and named closures, for specific dates or a time range. An event outside them is flagged, or blocked if you choose.

  3. Internal approvals are visible stages

    Collections, security, leadership: each one signs off before the event is confirmed. Check that those approvals are tracked in the tool, without giving everyone the right to edit a proposal. In Joinways, the event moves through your own stages, like "Collections approval". Those teams follow along with the Read-only role, without changing anything.

  4. Your rules go out with every BEO

    Capacities, approved caterers, no-go zones near the artwork: these rules have to reach every vendor. Check that the software puts them at the top of the document by default. In Joinways, the venue's rules open every BEO, in a client version and a team version. Each space has its capacity by layout, and a guest count that's too high is flagged.

  5. The invoice follows the buyer's rules

    The payer is often the company, its agency, or its foundation, with a purchase order. Check that proposals and invoices accept another recipient and a reference. Joinways addresses the proposal to the client or another company, with the purchase order number, and the signature confirms the event. Joinways doesn't handle ticketing, which stays in your tool.

Frequently asked questions

The essentials: running private events at a cultural venue

You sell cocktail receptions, galas, talks, donor evenings, and shoots to companies, agencies, and foundations. Inquiries land in the institution's general inbox, mixed in with everything else. Every evening goes through collections and security before it's confirmed. Joinways, event venue management software, pulls these inquiries out of the general inbox and puts what collections and security must approve in one file.
  • An inbox for private event inquiries only, separate from the institution's general address
  • Hours and closures per space: a gallery being installed doesn't show as free, and an event outside the allowed slots is flagged
  • Your own stages before confirmation, for example "Collections approval" and "Security approval"
  • A BEO that opens with your rules: capacities, approved caterers, restricted areas
  • The proposal addressed to the company, its agency, or its foundation, with the purchase order number their accounts team asks for

What is museum event rental software?

It's the tool that follows every space rental at a museum or cultural venue, from inquiry to invoice. It offers only the allowed slots for each space, accounts for exhibition closures, and carries your collection care rules on the BEO.

Does Joinways replace my ticketing system?

No. Ticketing, tours, and groups stay in your ticketing tool. Joinways handles private events: inquiries, the space calendar, proposals, signature, invoices, and the BEO.

How do I block a gallery during an install?

You add a closure to that space, for specific dates or a time range, with a name. It shows on the calendar and when an event is created. Your other spaces stay available.

Can collections and security follow along without editing proposals?

Yes. The Read-only role gives access to the calendar and events, without changing anything. You can also send them the BEO through a personal link, without an account.

How do I require my approved caterers?

You list them in the venue's rules, which open every BEO. The chosen caterer is recorded on the event and receives their version of the BEO. If they bill the client directly, your proposal covers only the rental and your own services.

Do museum event rental inquiries from booking platforms come into Joinways?

Yes. Booking platforms notify your museum or cultural venue by email, and Joinways reads those emails in the connected inbox. The date, guest count, company, and stated budget are picked up. The inquiry joins your other event rental inquiries, in the same inbox.

What software manages museum event rentals?

Joinways manages private events for museums, theaters, foundations, and art centers: inquiries, allowed slots per space, internal approvals, proposals, signature, invoices, and the BEO. It runs alongside your ticketing system and your programming tool, which keep tours and the cultural season.

How much does museum event rental software cost?

Joinways is billed per venue, by the number of spaces you rent out. Billed annually, it's $69 a month for 1 to 5 spaces, $119 for 6 to 12, and $199 for 13 to 25, before tax. You only set up the spaces you rent: galleries, auditorium, terrace. Users are unlimited, collections and security teams included.

Does Joinways handle event staffing?

Partly. The BEO has a Staff section for the event: who works it, their role, and their call time, including positions that aren't filled yet. Joinways doesn't build work schedules, run payroll, or manage staff contracts: those stay in your HR tools.

Can an international company read the museum event rental proposal in its language?

Yes. You write the event rental proposal once, in your institution's language. When an international company or agency opens it online in another language, it sees the title, lines, and terms translated. Your museum-specific terms, such as conservation rules, are translated with the rest. The original prevails: the signed PDF stays in your own language.

Can I track what private events bring in?

Yes. Reports show signed revenue, win rate by source, and how full each space is, with closures taken out. You see what rentals bring in, next to ticketing and donations tracked elsewhere. Invoices can flow to Pennylane or be issued in QuickBooks.

What's the difference between ticketing software and event rental software?

Ticketing software sells individual admissions, for tours, exhibitions, or performances. Event rental software sells a whole space to a company, an agency, or a foundation, through a proposal, with a contract and a BEO. Joinways does the second and leaves the first to your ticketing system.

Pricing is public: from $69 per venue per month depending on venue size, with a 30-day free trial. See pricing

Related solutions

YesplanUnique & unusual venuesVenue booking calendar

More solutions

Corporate events & offsitesParties & private eventsManage incoming inquiriesEvent venue CRM

Related resources

Unusual and atypical venues: how to turn your difference into a commercial argument that convertsSustainable events: turn sustainability pressure into a sales advantageVenue fam trips and open days: how to get agencies and buyers on siteBlog

Your private events,
from inquiry to event day

Connect your venue's inbox and see your open inquiries. 30-day free trial, no credit card.

Start your free trialWatch the demo