download the 2008-2009 annual report - Norman Rockwell Museum

communications continuedPortfolio, exhibition opening invitations and other exhibition-related materials,Programs & Events brochures, monthly e-newsletters and e-cards, posters andflyers, Museum store materials, and other marketing collateral as needed. Most ofthe Museum’s photography and video needs were also handled in-house.In the spring, the department worked with curatorial staff to produce a catalogue toaccompany the Museum’s retrospective exhibition, The Fantastical Faces of PeterRockwell: A Sculptor’s Retrospective. The catalogue served to document notableworks and phases of Peter Rockwell’s 50-year career, and to offer perspectiveson his life and art.Museum 2.0In 2009, the Museum deepened its commitment to engaging its many constituenciesonline. A relaunch of the homepage of its Web site in January was followedby a strategic redeployment of communications staff to form a new media group,working with a Web consultant under the umbrella of the Museum’s Education andVisitor Experience Department. The new media group began content migration,programming, and design toward the relaunch of the Museum’s site on a new, moreflexible and interactive platform later in the year. Communications and new mediastaff also worked closely with curatorial staff to prepare ProjectNORMANfor its online public debut in the fall of 2009. The Museum intensified its use ofsocial media, including Facebook and YouTube, to create and deepen relationshipswith disparate audiences online. Further “Museum 2.0” initiatives will bepursued in the coming year.Communications staff made adistinctive contribution to thevisitor experience both online andin the galleries through in-housevideo production capabilities.Staff produced two majorvideos in 2008-09—ConservingRockwell’s United Nationsand The Fantastical Faces ofPeter Rockwell: A Sculptor’sRetrospective, both to accompanytheir respective exhibitions—as well as an array of video clips of interviews,lectures, and art demonstrations. More than 40 videos are now available onthe Museum’s YouTube site. In the spring, the Museum forged a partnershipwith the Indianapolis Art Museum, creator of ArtBabble, the Web’s first art videocommunity. Norman Rockwell Museum videos are available for viewing bymembers of that community, together with videos by an elite group of museumsand arts organizations nationwide.sales & marketingIn early 2009, the Museum put itself in the vanguard of its field’s marketingpractices by creating a group focused exclusively on the sale and marketing of theMuseum’s tours, packages, and collaborations; store merchandise; and ancillaryservices. The Museum redeployed professional staff and resources to comprisea new Sales and Marketing Department, housed within the Education and VisitorExperience Department to foster close collaboration with programming andvisitor services staff. The creation of this new department constitutes a strategicand assertive response to the economic downturn, as well as a recognition of thenew realities museums face in competing with proliferating digital entertainmentsto engage audiences.Collaboration And Cross PromotionThe Museum took a leadership position within the Berkshireregion in fostering collaboration with other cultural institutions.In August 2008, the Museum launched the AmericanIcons program, a joint ticking promotion with Chesterwood,Hancock Shaker Village, and the Mount, with generous participationof the Berkshire Eagle as a media sponsor. Offeredin Pick Three and Pick Four options, the program allowed visitorsto purchase a discounted ticket at any site for use at theother partner sites. Norman Rockwell Museum took the leadin developing a mutli-pronged marketing campaign targetedto group tour companies and leisure travel markets. All fourpartner organizations, the Berkshire Visitors Bureau, the RedLion Inn, and other members of the cultural tourism sectorundertook promotion. In addition to ticket sales, the Museumgarnered great good will from its visitors and the Berkshirebusiness and cultural communities. The program was successfullyrelaunched in May 2009 with the addition of a PickTwo option that proved popular with visitors. American Iconsis on track to run from May through October each year—aninnovative new feature of the Berkshires’ cultural landscape.Frelinghuysen MorrisHouse & StudioThe success of American Icons sparked other partnerships.The Museum collaborated with Mass MoCA to create a jointticket pairing Norman Rockwell with Sol LeWitt, the focus ofa permanent exhibition Mass MoCA unveiled in the fall, withthe theme Two Views: One Ticket. The Museum also enteredinto joint ticketing partnerships with the Clark and VentfortHall, both of which debuted this spring. The reinstallation of Norman Rockwell’sstudio in May provided the opportunity for a promotional collaboration withChesterwood and the Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio around the themeof artists’ studios.28 29