VIP Experiences

For questions regarding add-on experiences for your events, contact the Museum Rentals Manager, Maria Cardeño at maria.cardeno@naturalsciences.org.

Museum Educators

an educator engages with patrons at a learning station

Enhance your special event with educators! Entertain your guests with programs on everything from dinosaurs and whales to spiders and snakes. Programs can also be offered in Spanish.

Programs can be tailored to your special occasion or check out one of our popular programs:

  • Meet the Animals: This fun program provides participants with a close-up encounter with a variety of animals, including arthropods, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds.
  • Team Building Scavenger Hunt: Are you looking for a fun team-building activity? A scavenger hunt is the perfect way to get your people to work together. Staff will develop the hunt and facilitate this activity with your group for its entire duration. The top three winning teams receive prizes!
  • Docents and Exhibit Interpretation: Knowledgeable docents bring our exceptional exhibits to life! They can interpret any exhibit for your event. Popular choices are the Snake Wall (NEC 3), Acrocanthasaurus (NEC 3) and Stumpy the Whale (NRC 1).
  • Private Tours: Get insider information on the Museum and its exhibits with a special tour guide. Guides will take guests on a journey through the exhibits where they will share information not found on the panels and will provide context and history of our 142-year-old Museum! Tours are limited to 10 guests per tour.

Paleontology

Dueling Dinosaurs

Activate Dueling Dinosaurs

Lab staffed and active (3 hours): Visitors can explore the entire Dueling Dinosaurs exhibition including entering the flex space and interacting directly with paleontology staff. Opportunity to interact with lab scientists, learn about their research, and get close to the Dueling Dinosaurs fossils.

  • General experience ($500): includes paleontology staff members interacting with visitors.
  • Premium experience ($800): includes one lead researcher on the Dueling Dinosaurs project to discuss the latest findings: Dr. Lindsay Zanno, Eric Lund, Dr. Jennifer Anné, or Lisa Herzog.

Behind-the-scenes tours of the paleontology labs and world-class fossil collections

Private Group Tours with Paleontologists ($200 per tour) typically 1 hour, 15-20 individuals per group, can include one or two of the following spaces: Paleontology Research Lab, SECU DinoLab, Paleontology Research Collections.

Special opportunities with our paleontologists

Presentation about the Dueling Dinosaurs project or new dinosaur discoveries on-site at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

  • Eric Lund, SECU DinoLab Manager ($300)
  • Dr. Jennifer Anné, SECU DinoLab Assistant Manager ($300)
  • Lisa Herzog, Paleontology Operations Manager ($300)
  • Dr. Lindsay Zanno, Head of Paleontology, President of the Jurassic Foundation, speaker for National Geographic Live ($500)
  • NCSU early career paleontologists ($100)

Presentation about the Dueling Dinosaurs project or new dinosaur discoveries at an offsite location.

  • Eric Lund, SECU DinoLab Manager ($500)
  • Dr. Jennifer Anné, SECU DinoLab Assistant Manager ($500)
  • Lisa Herzog, Paleontology Operations Manager ($500)
  • Dr. Lindsay Zanno, Head of Paleontology, President of the Jurassic Foundation, speaker for National Geographic Live ($1,000)
  • NCSU early career paleontologists ($200)

Opportunities subject to availability. Please contact Maria Cardeno at maria.cardeno@naturalsciences.org if you’re interested in adding one of these experiences to your rental.

Special Exhibitions

Journey to Space

Journey to Space: November 2, 2024 – April 27, 2025

Experience an out of this world exhibit with Journey to Space. Learn more about how astronauts live and work in the vast unknown as well as the processes needed to travel and what the future holds for space exploration.

Journey to Space is a fun and engaging supplement to your private event.

Your VIP Experience includes:

  • Four-hour Museum rental from 6pm to 10pm*
  • Full access to all the mind-blowing permanent exhibits in the Nature Exploration Center, second floor
  • Private admission to the Special Exhibition Gallery**
  • A limited number of tables and chairs

Add a cocktail reception featuring custom, chef-prepared dining options from award-winning Rocky Top Catering for an additional fee.

*Upgrade your experience to include an extra hour (additional fees apply)

**Tickets to the gallery are included for up to 200 guests. Additional fees for groups larger than 200.

Coming Soon: Blue Whales, June 21, 2025 – January 11, 2026

For questions regarding rentals, please visit Rental Events Inquiries.