Showroom Cinema to host free Virtual Reality (VR) open day

Many people will have entered 2024 with the aim of “New Year, New Me” – but what if you could put on a Virtual Reality (VR) headset and immediatelybe someone else, instantly seeing the world from a different perspective? Sheffield audiences will have the opportunity to experience this for themselves at Showroom Cinema’s VR Open Day on 20 January. Best of all, it’s completely free.

As part of an innovative new scheme, Showroom Cinema partnered with StoryFutures in 2023 to become one of a handful of cinemas across the UK to take part in a VR pilot scheme, ‘StoryFuturesXperience’. Since the partnership was announced, staff from across Showroom’s teams have taken part in training on the technology and the experiences, which are now being offered to the public.

Following a successful pilot event in October 2023 as part of Black History Month, in which audiences could virtually become Muhammad Ali as he prepared for the legendary1974 Rumble in the Jungle clash, January’s ‘Open Day’ will offer the opportunity to try out five new experiences.

Offering virtual experiences about art, music, the environment, and history, the experiences on offer will be ‘History of a Painting’, ‘Drop in the Ocean’, ‘Life Cycles’, ‘Get Punked!’ and ‘The Museum of Imagined Futures’.The titles have been selected to offer experiences with something for audiences of all ages and for anyone new to VR.

Taking place in Workstation’s Creative Lounge, the five experiences will be set out so that audiences can try all five in order, learning about the technology as they go along, or they can just head to the experiences they want to try the most.

For the adventurous VR-curious wanting to try all five, the experiences have been ordered to induct newcomers with passive experiences and controls that will gradually advance in complexity, so you can learn as you go. Each VR station will feature a dedicated host to help audiences with the technology and to make sure that attendees comfortable and safe.

For anyone taken by the technology, Showroom Cinema will be offering more VR experiences throughout 2024, including a permanent station in the Showroom Workstation reception with different VR experiences each month from February.

Showroom’s VR Open Day will take place Saturday 20 January, 10am-4pm in The Creative Lounge. The event is free to attend, tickets are not required, and experiences will be assigned on a first come, first served basis.

Virtual Reality Open Day