12 Wet and Wild Ideas From a Mermaid Museum

For its new series Siren, Freeform built a multi-sensory experience devoted to the mysterious sea creatures.

April 4, 2018

To celebrate the premiere of its new drama about somewhat scary mermaids called Siren, Freeform teamed up with lifestyle media company Popsugar to create an immersive “Mermaid Museum.”

Open to the public from March 22 to 25, the free ticketed event, held at the new Goya Studios in Los Angeles, explored the mythological creatures with multi-sensory experiences, including a live mermaid, a recreation of a fishing shop from the television series, photo setups, and a ball pit room. Popsugar's experiential marketing manager Kaitlyn Viola tasked April Luca and Los Angeles-based event agency Gold Sky Productions with producing the underwater world.

"The idea for all of the activations and decor came from the creative team imagining what we would do all day if we were mermaids," Luca joked.

Throughout the five-day pop-up event, the museum saw more than 4,600 attendees, including celebrity guests such as Lauren Bushnell, Ashley Greene, Brandi Cyrus, and Nastia Liukin.

The museum’s main attraction was a 50,000-pound tank containing a live mermaid. The 4,800 gallons of water were donated to TreePeople to be used to water the facility’s landscape at the end of the exhibition’s run.

Photo: Joe Kohen

Open to the public from March 22 to 25, Freeform’s Mermaid Museum explored the mermaid folklore that’s featured in the Disney-owned network’s new series.

Photo: Joe Kohen

In addition to donating the tank water, Freeform also donated to Heal the Bay to help keep Los Angeles’ coastal waters and watersheds clean.

Photo: Joe Kohen

A 360-degree animated underwater projection room with a ball pit and soundscape submerged visitors into underwater life.

Photo: Joe Kohen

A photo-op included an underwater garden complete with seaweed, anemones, and a column of air bubbles. When shared on social media, the image was turned sideways so attendees looked as if they were swimming with mermaids.

Photo: Joe Kohen

Guests could send out a “message in a bottle” at this display.

Photo: Joe Kohen

At the Bristol Cove Mermaid Shop activation, which featured authentic props from the show’s set, actors debated with visitors over whether mermaids are real, and shared rumored sightings and local gossip. Before entering the museum, guests were asked if they were skeptics or true believers.

Photo: Joe Kohen