On the roof of the IMA

I’ve been so lucky to work on some ground breaking digital projects that have helped place the IMA on a global map – the IMA (or the Indianapolis in IMA) is now more than ‘south Chicago’ or a ‘suburb of Chicago’. It’s been especially rewarding to see how well perceived the museum is in places likes NYC and overseas. I’m glad I could help with that.

This is more than just a going away announcement. My favorite part of the job has been the projects and travel, so with that in mind, I thought I would write a couple of top-5 lists, in no particular order.

PROJECTS

Roman Art from the Louvre Webisodes – 11 short HD videos, on location in Paris and Rome, hours and hours of footage and interviews, award winning, blend of education, marketing and an authentic voice, funny, edgy and I got a private showing of the Mona Lisa. It’s a project I never thought would happen…but it did. And – a perfect example of what can happen if an organization is willing to trust staff. My favorite video below…

The IMA Blog – Produces more digital content than any other IMA project, features the perspectives from a variety of departments including technology, education, curatorial and conservation, some pretty cool guest bloggers that have included Dan Wheldon, Adrianne Curry and author Patrick Smith. It’s one of the best out there.

Nature Holds My Camera – What happens when a museum (especially Director and CEO Maxwell Anderson) allows staff from education and new media to develop a major exhibition? Well, success for one. Fun, second. And the opportunity to work with video artist Sam Easterson, animals, great exhibition design, interactivity and the chance for a museum to reveal it’s fun side.

ArtBabble – it’s been called the YouTube for arts. It’s also been one of the biggest projects I’ve ever worked on; from actually producing videos, to developing the site, to the branding, to the content, to the partner relations, to the marketing. Babble On. Award winning and got me a quote in my favorite newspaper, The Guardian.

Play Art Loud - ArtBabble

Video, Video, Video – Ok, it’s not one project, but it’s been four years of hard work and evolution. When it comes down to it, my colleagues Dan Dark and Danny Beyer have turned the IMA into one of the world’s leading museum video producers. Not bad. Videos range from marketing trailers, to kind-of-boring lectures, to engaging artist interviews, interpretive and educational pieces and major documentaries. One of my favorite videos below.

Those are just 5 projects. It does not include 2 major web redesigns, an iPod Touch tour, the Davis LAB gallery space, exhibition web sites, podcasts, Flickr projects, marketing campaigns, side blogs, creative solutions and so on (I didn’t want to bore you).

TRAVEL

Before I list 5, let me say that this is almost impossible. I love traveling and every destination, so don’t hold me to just these 5.

Martha’s Vineyard – yes, I once actually went there for work for a weekend-long meeting to discuss a major educational project. A summer meeting on Martha’s Vineyard? Yes please.

House on MV

Havana, Cuba – yeah I got in. It’s a stunning country and a place I would visit again in a heartbeat. It triggered my love for good rum, cigars and cuban music.  Here’s some video I shot (and actually edited!).

Walla Walla, Washington – it might just be the name. It might be the gorgeous 4 hour drive from Seattle. I don’t really care. It’s a beautiful area filled with vineyards. Call it the Tuscany of NW.

Lovely Walla Walla

Singapore – exotic, hot, AMAZING food, beautiful people – you name it. I was lucky to travel with my best friend Despi Ross and also snuck in a trip to Malaysia. I also got stuck in Japan on the way back. Why, thank you.

Hindu temple in Singapore

London, England – it’s where my heart is and it was a dream come true to visit on business (and then visit my family). I would move to London in a heart beat – if they could afford me. Pubs, football, amazing clouds and the britishness – I’ll queue up for that!

Millenium Bridge

So, 5 destinations. It doesn’t include New York City, Tijuana, Rome, Atlanta, Paris, Madrid, Wellington, Sydney, Toronto and much more. I’ve loved them all and it’s been a real honor to visit them.

In a couple of weeks, I’ll begin my next professional challenge as a Producer, Online Media and Strategies at the IMS, where I’ll be responsible for developing Online Media strategies including Social Media for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights Series. It’s an amazing opportunity for me both personally and professionally, I have a million ideas for this new position and a lot to learn.

Who knows what the next five years will be like?

So, the first of this series focuses on the blog Stuck at the Airport by Harriet Baskas.  I’m a travel junkie and absolutely adore airports. I wasn’t lucky enough to travel through JFK and see the Eero Saarinen TWA terminal during its heyday, but I would have truly appreciated it. To provide a little background, I’ve been fortunate to travel frequently. My favorite airport is Singapore’s Changi and as an Indianapolis resident, I started the the IND Flickr group. Through my work at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, I convinced Patrick Smith, author of Ask the Pilot, to write a beautiful, compelling blog post, The Jetliner as Art. I love airports, traveling and planes.

The beautiful sterile Changi

But enough about me.

I stumbled upon Harriet’s work in the first half of 2009 through some general research about airports and travel. I immediately became a fan of her blog and the many travel, airport and airline related articles she crafts. As it often happens in the online world, we exchanged e-mails, blog comments, and tweets. I remember thinking how cool it was that I could easily connect with someone that I respected. Harriet is a wonderful commentator on the state of modern travel, specifically the culture of airports, airline industry, quirky happenings and the latest in TSA occurrences. Beyond that, Harriet is a pretty big fan of museums, a talented and award winning radio producer, contributor to USA Today & MSNBC, author and much more.  It’s not often I meet someone who shares my passions – travel, airports, airlines, museums and so on. And she’s an expert!

Stuck at the Airport

After some communication, Harriet featured me in one her blog posts – Airport fans: yes, there are some – which made me feel pretty chuffed. Harriet and Stuck at the Airport made this series, because she’s an example of intelligent internet publishing. Harriet is not only active on her blog, online publications and other sites, but synthesizes her content through Twitter (@hbaskas) in a way that is engaging and interesting. Her multiple online methods of communication are fully integrated and connected to reveal her content, her stories. So many people fail at this.

Travel is one of the most rewarding things we can do in life. It’s inspiring, challenging, sometimes life-changing and hard work. Travel helps us understand this world and the beauty of cultural diversity. Harriet has created the perfect job.  So the next time you are planning a trip, in the midst of traveling or stuck at the airport, check out Harriet’s work. She’s totally worth it.

Stuck at the Airport

Her column on USA Today

Her column on MSNBC

And, as part of this “May I present to you…” series, I plan on always asking a series of questions. So here goes -

What drives you? Personally, generally?  General curiosity, mostly.  Oh.. and coffee. That’s what led me to traveling around to visit unusual and offbeat museums for a long running series of radio stories and for books. And that’s what got me stuck at the airport that one day when I decided there needed to be a guide to all the other things (besides waiting) to do at airports.

….Thank you to Harriet for participating in the very first, May I present to you…., series. Stay tuned for the next installment, and if you have someone you think I need to feature, please let me know.