Event production at Barcelona's Maritime Museum

In short: Novelty Spain, a Barcelona-based technical AV event production company and part of Groupe Novelty, delivered the full audiovisual production (lighting, sound, video and live direction) for a corporate gala dinner for 670 guests in the Sala Marqués de Comillas at Barcelona's Maritime Museum on 9 June 2026, organised by MCI Spain thanks to its Production department.

Bringing your corporate events to Barcelona means choosing a venue your guests will never forget. But a landmark building only delivers if the event production does too. For this private corporate event for 670 guests at the Maritime Museum of Barcelona (Museu Marítim), held on 9 June 2026 and organised by MCI Spain thanks to its Production department, Novelty Spain acted as the local AV partner that turned a medieval shipyard into an immersive gala experience.

We handled the full audiovisual design and installation: event lighting, sound equipment, video and live direction.

Event key facts

Date: 9 June 2026.
Venue: Sala Marqués de Comillas, Maritime Museum of Barcelona (Drassanes Reials).
Guests: 670.
Event type: private corporate gala dinner.
Sector: corporate.
Client: MCI Spain (event organised by its Production department).
Technical AV production: Novelty Spain (lighting, sound, video and live direction).
Technical highlights: central circular stage, 12 x 136" screens, wireless architectural lighting and an L-Acoustics sound system.

The challenge: museum events in a heritage venue abroad

When you produce an event in another country, you rarely get to walk the venue more than once. Heritage venues add another layer: no drilling, no fixing to the walls, limited power and strict rules to protect the building.

Get it wrong and the venue works against you: screens blocking the architecture, sound that fades at the back tables, a stunning hall left in the dark. Your guests travelled to Barcelona for something special, and that is what is at stake.

The answer is a local technical partner who knows the city's venues and designs the production around the space from day one. That is exactly what our technical AV for any space service is built for, from hotels and exhibition centres to museums.

A guest journey through Barcelona's Maritime Museum

The evening was designed as a journey through several spaces of the Drassanes Reials, the Royal Shipyards and one of the finest Gothic civil buildings still standing in Europe:

Welcome drinks by the ship: guests were greeted with a first drink in the hall that houses the museum's ship.
Tapas in the courtyard: with live guitarists setting a Mediterranean mood.
The reveal of the Sala Marqués de Comillas: the museum's 1,700 m² hypostyle hall, where the gala dinner took place.

Novelty Spain also provided lighting and sound in the welcome areas, so every transition felt seamless and the story of the night never dropped.

A circular stage at the heart of the experience

The dinner featured welcome and keynote speeches, a closing address, a live string performance and a flamenco show, the kind of local touch international guests remember.

Everything happened on a circular stage in the centre of the room. It brings every table equally close to the action, but it demands more from the tech: lighting, sound and video must work in 360 degrees, with no dead zones. For more ideas, see our guide to stage design lighting techniques.

Event screens and live video direction: 12 x 136" screens

To make sure no guest missed a moment, we installed 12 screens of 136 inches around the room, serving two purposes:

Corporate content: the company's message ran alongside every moment of the evening.
Live video direction: speeches and performances were shown on screen in real time thanks to our live streaming and broadcast capabilities, using Panasonic AW-UE150 PTZ cameras with their AW-RP150 controller and a Panasonic AK-UC3300 studio camera.

All signals ran through an Analog Way Zenith 200 switcher, moving seamlessly between corporate content and live feeds.

The result: a historic hall transformed into an immersive environment, while keeping the intimacy of the central stage.

Event lighting that celebrates the architecture

The hall had a star of its own: its columns and arches. So we designed wireless lighting to highlight the architecture without running cables across a heritage building.

Around the dinner area, wireless Chauvet WellFit uplighters brought out the columns and arches, while wireless Cameo Zenit B200 wash lights guided guests through the entrance and access areas. On stage, Ayrton Rivale Profile and Stradale Profile moving heads, together with Astera AX9 PowerPAR fixtures, shaped each scene from an Avolites Tiger Touch II console.

Additional lighting washed the ceiling, creating different textures and moods as the night moved from arrival to dinner to the flamenco finale.

Architectural lighting is a signature of premium events, as in our Biotherm event at Espacio Xavier Corberó.

Sound equipment for every moment of the night

One room, three very different audio needs: clear speech for the addresses, live music for the strings and flamenco, and background music throughout the dinner.

Novelty Spain designed a sound system for the performances that reached all 670 guests with clarity, while still letting conversation flow at the tables. At its core was an L-Acoustics SYVA system with Kiva II, X8 and SB18 and SB15m subwoofers, run from a Soundcraft Vi1 console.

Speeches and strings were captured with Shure Axient Digital wireless systems and DPA 4099 microphones. In the welcome areas and courtyard, wireless Sowa Tour 6 speakers and Meyer Sound ULTRA-X20 delivered sound without a single cable run.

Equipment used at the gala dinner

Sound: L-Acoustics SYVA and SYVA Low, Kiva II, X8, SB18 and SB15m · Soundcraft Vi1 · Yamaha TF1 · Shure Axient Digital · DPA 4099 · Sowa Tour 6 · Meyer Sound ULTRA-X20.
Lighting: Ayrton Rivale Profile · Ayrton Stradale Profile · Astera AX9 PowerPAR · Chauvet WellFit · Cameo Zenit B200 · Avolites Tiger Touch II.
Video and live direction: 12 x 136" screens · Analog Way Zenith 200 · Panasonic AW-UE150 · Panasonic AW-RP150 · Panasonic AK-UC3300.

Five keys to producing a gala dinner at a Barcelona heritage venue

Book a local AV partner early: one site visit, power checks and venue rules sorted before you design. Our guide to a successful audiovisual inspection visit walks you through it step by step.
Go wireless wherever possible: less cabling, less impact on the building and faster load-in.
Think 360 degrees: with a central stage, every table is the front row.
Let screens serve the room: bring the action closer without hiding the architecture.
One technical partner for everything: lighting, sound and video coordinated from the first drawing to load-out.

Why Novelty Spain is your AV partner in Barcelona

With over 40 years of experience, our own 8,000 m² warehouse and over 13,000 pieces of equipment, Novelty Spain supports international agencies and corporate planners with end-to-end event production: from audiovisual consulting to event staging and rigging. Our clients rate us 4.9/5.

That experience in audiovisual services for events shows in projects such as MWC 2026 at Fira Barcelona, KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026 and the Biotherm event at Espacio Xavier Corberó.

Bringing a gala dinner or corporate event to Barcelona? Tell us about your project and we will design the technical production your venue deserves.

FAQs

Which event production company can deliver AV for gala dinners at unique venues in Barcelona?

Novelty Spain is a Barcelona-based technical AV event production company, part of Groupe Novelty. It has produced events at venues such as the Maritime Museum of Barcelona, Espacio Xavier Corberó and Fira Barcelona, with its own lighting, sound, video and live direction teams.

Can you host corporate events at Barcelona's Maritime Museum?

Yes. The Sala Marqués de Comillas (Sala Gran) is a 1,700 m² hypostyle hall that, according to the museum, seats up to 920 guests for a banquet. Novelty Spain produced a 670-guest gala dinner there in June 2026.

Can you deliver full AV production in a museum without damaging the building?

Yes. We use free-standing structures, wireless lighting and minimal cabling, always following the venue's rules. At Barcelona's Maritime Museum we highlighted columns and arches without touching the architecture.

Why use a circular stage for a gala dinner?

It brings the action equally close to every table and creates a more immersive experience. Lighting, sound and screens must be designed in 360 degrees so no guest faces away.

How many screens does a gala dinner for 670 guests need?

It depends on the room and the table layout. For this event we installed 12 screens of 136" around the hall so every guest could follow the speeches and performances live.

How far in advance should I book a local AV partner for an event in Barcelona?

Ideally when you choose the venue, or at least 2 to 3 months before the event, so the site visit (see our AV inspection guide) and a tailored technical design can happen before you finalise the run of show.

Event production at Barcelona's Maritime Museum: an immersive gala dinner for 670 guests