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Rental Events Inquiries

Looking for a memorable place to host a meeting, corporate party, wedding reception or other special occasion?

Imagine conversing among dinosaurs and mingling amid live animals as you enjoy a special evening at the largest natural science museum in the Southeast. Your guests will enjoy relaxing among the Museum’s spectacular exhibits, which include a dramatic two-story waterfall, a scenic mountain cove, a variety of live animals, fascinating whale skeletons and impressive dinosaurs. With a variety of spaces available at the Museum, rental clients can host evening events for up to 2,300 guests.

By choosing one or more of the Museum’s one-of-a-kind spaces, you not only select a unique and beautiful location for your special event, you also help support important exhibits, research and educational programs.

To schedule a Virtual or In-Person Site Visit, please call our Rental Office at 919.707.9406.



Nature Exploration Center

First Floor

  • Coastal North Carolina — While islands move and hurricanes blow, the daily lives of tiny shrimp and great whales go on. Look in on sea creatures from salt marshes to the Atlantic’s great depths.
  • North Carolina’s Natural Treasures — Emeralds, Venus flytraps, tiger beetles, giant fossil shark teeth and a scarlet tanager are a few of the state’s natural treasures on display.
  • WRAL 3D Theater — A state-of-the-art presentation area with a variety of media amenities. View presentations on a high-definition broadcast system by projector or video. Available in the evening only.

Second Floor

  • Special Exhibition Gallery — This lofty space is rented with the second floor. VIP Experiences. Due to the many special exhibitions we host, availability is limited.
  • Mountains to the Sea — Walk through North Carolina’s natural habitats in this two-story diorama, complete with native plants, live animals and a mountain waterfall.

Third Floor

  • Prehistoric North Carolina — A giant ground sloth, dinosaurs and a host of prehistoric creatures inhabit six ancient environments.

Fourth Floor

  • Acro Café — Dine beneath the stars and against the ever-changing backdrop of the Living Conservatory, which is filled with live butterflies and tropical plants.
  • Living Conservatory — Live plants, butterflies, a tarantula and a two-toed sloth inhabit a re-created dry topical forest.
  • Arthropod Zoo — Become acquainted with venomous spiders, hordes of termites, scuttling centipedes, mysterious mantises and gigantic cockroaches.

Fifth Floor

  • Board Room and Bicentennial Terrace — Raleigh spreads out beneath you as you stand on the Bicentennial Terrace. Rooftop views of the State Legislative Building and State Capitol lend an elegant tone. It’s a great daytime meeting space for groups of up to eighteen guests.

Nature Research Center

First Floor

Includes access to the SECU Daily Planet Theater, a unique three-story theater with a 45x45-foot HD screen and multi-channel surround sound. Other exhibits include “Our Changing Ocean,” a 10,000-gallon aquarium containing a variety of native fishes; and "Dueling Dinosaurs," an exhibit exploring the Cretaceous ecosystem and modern paleontology methods. For an extra fee, enter the SECU DinoLab to see the specimens themselves — remarkably preserved skeletons of a 67-million-year-old tyrannosaur and Triceratops.

Second Floor

Comes with a view of the SECU Daily Planet Theater from the 2nd floor balcony plus exhibits ranging from “WRAL Storm Central,” where you can use meteorological data to make your own weather forecast, to “Diversity of Life,” which looks at how