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The Neon Museum unveiled the most significant upgrade ever to the visitor experience in its North Gallery, home of its popular 360-degree audiovisual show, “Brilliant!” The improvements within the newly reimagined North Gallery are focused on enhancing the educational experience offered in the space and include a new “Las Vegas Luminaries” mural, the next iteration of the museum’s immersive show titled “Brilliant! Jackpot,” new educational components, and customer feedback options.
“With the reimagination of the North Gallery, we wanted to create an experience that enhanced the museum’s popular ‘Brilliant!’ show, which has been upgraded to Brilliant! Jackpot’ with more music and new video,” Aaron Berger, executive director of The Neon Museum, said. “The North Gallery now helps raise awareness about unique individuals who have shaped Las Vegas culturally. We also added interactive educational elements that allow visitors to take a deeper dive into the history highlighted in the show as well as the science of neon signs. Ultimately, our goal is to make the North Gallery a comprehensive and unforgettable experience.”
As part of the reimagined space, The Neon Museum worked with local artists to add the “Las Vegas Luminaries” mural on the area’s south wall to pay tribute to the diverse communities and lesser-known individuals who have significantly impacted Las Vegas cultural history. As a freestanding work of public art, the mural is viewable 24/7 for free; a ticket to the show or museum is not required.
The mural serves as an iconic entryway for “Brilliant!,” a 360-degree immersive show that underwent its most significant update yet to its music and video presentation as part of the North Gallery’s reimagination. The new iteration of the show, entitled “Brilliant! Jackpot,” includes an expanded playlist and remastered historical video.
“Brilliant! Jackpot”
The show now plays a selection of 54 songs spread across various timelines. The music is so iconic, many songs from of the 54-song playlist will be available via Spotify on The Neon Museum’s Playlist. The expanded playlist also emphasizes diversity with 56 percent of the music performed by women, LGBTQ artists and musicians of color.
“Renamed ‘Brilliant! Jackpot,’ guests hit the jackpot with its incomparable combination of technology, video, and music to create a breathtaking multisensory experience that highlights the art and history of Las Vegas,” Berger added, noting the expanded playlist will offer slightly varied experiences with different versions featuring unique visuals and music reflective of different eras of Las Vegas history.
The entry into North Gallery also includes two new educational elements. “Brilliant!’s” creator, Craig Winslow, virtually greets guests on a 65-inch monitor to explain how he uses technology used to create the show that brings non-operational neon signs back to life. He discusses a process he calls augmented restoration to digitally trace every sign, bulb by bulb, tube by tube, to bring them back to life. The artwork is then projected back onto the signs creating 360 degrees of light and sound transporting guests back into vintage Las Vegas.
Guests also learn about the science behind neon signs via a new docent-led demonstration of using a neon tester on a neon N sign to see if the gas tubes are fully intact. The current from the device sends a charge to the gas still trapped inside the sign to reilluminate the sign.
Upon exiting “Brilliant! Jackpot,” guests can provide feedback on their experience and learn more about the signs in the show via a new LED-lit wall display. The wall also provides a unique photo opportunity as people can now “see” through the wall into the North Gallery as a new 29-foot-long by 6-foot-high vinyl wrap presents a visual representation of the show.
Tickets to “Brilliant! Jackpot” are available online for $23 per person or $19 for local residents. The show runs 25 minutes in length every evening (show times vary).
ABOUT THE NEON MUSEUM
Founded in 1996, The Neon Museum is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, studying, and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts and cultural enrichment. It has been ranked No. 1 in Las Vegas Weekly’s list of “Twenty Greatest Attractions in Las Vegas History,” Nevada’s “Best Museum” by MSN, one of the 10 best museums in Las Vegas by USA Today’s 10best.com, “One of the Top 10 Coolest Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do” by Forbes.com, one of the “Top 10 Historic Spots in Las Vegas” by Vegas.com; one of “15 Most Fascinating Museums in the U.S.” by VacationIdea.com; and earns a consistent 4.5 out of 5 rating on TripAdvisor.
On its 2.27-acre campus, The Neon Museum has an outdoor exhibition space known as the Neon Boneyard (“boneyard” is traditionally the name for an area where items no longer in use are stored); the North Gallery, home to the immersive audiovisual experience “Brilliant!” which uses technology to re-illuminate more than 40 non-operational signs; the Boulevard Gallery outdoor exhibit and event space; and its visitors’ center inside the former La Concha Motel lobby. The museum collection also includes nine restored signs installed as public art in downtown Las Vegas.
Public education, outreach, research, and arts preservation represent a selection of the museum’s ongoing projects. For more information, including tour schedules and tickets, visit www.neonmuseum.org. Also follow @NeonMuseum on Facebook and Twitter and @theneonmuseumlasvegas on Instagram.
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