IMC Deck

The Block Museum of Art Digital Strategy Case Study

Lindsay Bosch,

Associate Director, Marketing, Communication and Digital Strategy Education

Northwestern, SoC '04

SAIC, MA Art History & Theory

Career Art Institute of Chicago

University of Pennsylvania, Executive Program in Arts & Culture Strategy

Northwestern, Medill, Integrated Marketing & Communications, ‘22

Video Data Bank

ABC-Clio Educational Publishing

American Library Association

The Block!

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The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University is an engine that drives questioning, experimentation, and collaboration across fields of study, with visual arts at the center.

OUR MISSION

We do this by activating art’s power as a form of insight, research, and knowledge creation that makes human experience visible and material.

Fueled by diverse perspectives and ways of knowing, we create shared encounters with art and with one another to deepen understandings of the world and our place within it.

Fuel

My job is to activate our unique identity.

The Block’s integrated marketing, communications, and content strategy seeks to “fuel, strengthen, and share The Block’s particular model of a campus art museum.”

• Drive attendance in person and online • Expand audiences, deepen engagement • Elevate resources which help us connect and communicate our work

Share • Build reputation locally and nationally • Drive awareness of our program and impact • Elevate our work, and that of our students, faculty and partners

Strengthen • Create and distribute platforms for our work • Expand capacity to reach audiences through documentation and dissemination • Align with Northwestern goals and messaging

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How we get there…

• Website • Videos (Promo & Edu.) • Blog Stories • Teaching Material & Resources • Email Strategy • Publications & Print

• Media & Influencers • News & Reviews • Interviews • Press Events

• Social Mentions • Partnerships • Word-of-Mouth • Presentations • Student Ambassadors

Earned Media

Owned Content

Shared

Paid

Stories

Promotions

• Digital Advertising • Social Media Ads • Print Ads (Art & culture) • Local Chicago • Out of Home 5

The Problem: “What’s On?”

Deeper Storytelling in Digital One of our historical challenges has been consistency of brand message – clear storytelling across the arc of exhibitions. Our exhibition program is part of a more complex story. Our content and communications leverage all of our assets •

Collection - 6,000 works, recently digitized

•

Exhibition Program – Rich history of exhibitions

•

Staff –30 professionals with expertise

•

Cinema – Renowned media arts program

•

Students –Docents, Inters, Fellows past & present

•

Publications –expand scholarship, engage in reflection

•

Campus Partnerships – Robust network across NU

•

National & International Partnerships – Strong ties peers worldwide

•

Faculty – teaching case studies throughout NU

•

Engagement Program – Large public archive

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Content Pillars

TOP STORY THEMES : Museum Areas of Programmatic Focus and Points of Difference Global Perspectives

Interdisciplinary Connections – Art as Research

SECONDARY THEMES:

Museum Areas of Leadership and Reputation

Elevating Teaching & Learning at Northwestern Impacting Student Experience Showcasing Northwestern Faculty Research

Contemporary Issues & Ideas

New Art Histories

Celebrating Staff Expertise and Excellence Sharing Behind-the-Scenes and Museum Best Practices

BLOCK DIGITAL AUDIENCE The Block Museum digital content reaches multiple museum audiences.

The museum considers delivery platform and content pillars appropriate to each audience, and recognizes potential for digital to reach multiple constituencies globally and locally simultaneously.

NU Students

NU Alumni

NU Faculty and Staff

Peer Universities

Academic Art Museums

Chicago/ Evanston cultural community

Artists & Scholars

Art world

Meeting audiences where they are…

Considering Who is our audience? What is our objective?

Our Communications do not only drive attendance but offer a way to experience & engage The Block’s work itself.

Channel

Objective

Audience

Content

Website

Inform Audiences and Visitors – Aggregate all offerings

People who have decided to visit museum, or interact

Jumping off point for information about the museum – “front door” to other content

“Stories” Blog

Advance Content Pillars

Content-affiliated audiences

Video, Audio, PDF, Articles on all content pillars

Newsletter

Inform loyal audience, invite participation

Loyal audience, ”members”

Mix of News, Event Invitations and content.

NU Now/ Press Releases

Reputational Growth

External Press, University Stakeholders

High level stories about museum leadership

Facebook

Invite participation, disseminate our stories

‘general audience’ skewing local

Links of interest from our peers, photos, blog links

Twitter

Disseminate our stories, participate in peer conversations

‘general audience’ skewing influencers & press

Short text with links – conversation with other institutions

Instagram

Engagement with audiences and influencers

‘general audience’ skewing student & art world

Great images of collection and engagement, snappy text

LinkedIn

Showcase Block Professional Reputation

Other museums and education sector professionals

Block institutional news, “thought leadership”

Special Project Apps

Grow specialized knowledge in content area

Students and teachers

Project specific information

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Beyond Storytelling: Embracing a Museum-Wide Digital Strategy

THE BLOCK MUSEUM OF ART DIGITAL STRATEGY STATEMENT The Block Museum of Art digital strategy supports and strengthens the museum’s existing mission, vision, and strategic plan through embracing digital engagement and outreach as a core activity of its work.

The Block aspires to use digital platforms and channels to: 1.

extend its commitment as a resource for interdisciplinary teaching, learning and research at Northwestern and beyond;

2.

showcase, cultivate, and catalyze thought provoking discussions about art and its relevance to contemporary life;

3.

provide free, rich, and accessible arts and culture experiences for existing and new audiences.

The Block commits to broadly accessible digital projects as a crucial public dimension of its work, its pedagogical process, and the museum experience.

It seeks to pursue digital plans that extend its reach and increase its impact, and to develop digital capabilities and goals across all departments of organization.

WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE? Case Study: One Book One Northwestern

Our Context:

Expansive Teaching Goal and a Hidden Collection • Northwestern University’s free art museum • 25 staff, 5,000 square feet of display • Only collecting since 1998 • 2020 digitized collection of 6,400 objects • Focus traditionally on special exhibitions -no permanent collection galleries

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How can we leverage an unexhibited collection to drive organization-wide teaching, learning, and engagement?

We were seeking a strategic, achievable digital project that would...

Build institutional identity beyond exhibitions

Prove collection relevance to our audiences

Increase awareness of digitized collection as a resource Create a process that is replicable for a small staff with limited capacity

Our Solution: Building Collection Content Around Northwestern’s “One Book” Program One Book One Northwestern is a communitywide reading program hosted by the Office of the President. It aims to engage the campus in a common conversation centered on a carefully chosen, thought-provoking book.

Annual theme

Crossdisciplinary goal

Expansive interest outside campus and alumni

Conversational topics

Capacious ideas

Year-long duration

Our Process:

What can be routinized?

• Select 10 to 12 works that are in some way in dialogue with the theme • Curatorial team of two writes 250 to 500 words on each work • Produced PDF booklet and download package, in a replicable template • Annual social promotion campaign

Simple PDF Book Design

4 years running!

10 Artworks – A Year of Digital Content!

10to 12 “One Book” Objects Selected Annually

Curatorial produces short essays for each ~ 200 words

Communications produces PDF Download Booklet

PDF Resource offered as museum blog announcement

PDF cross promoted all year

by One Book Office

Printed Booklet distributed onsite at museum front desk

PDF offered Direct on Issuu education account

Essays Become interpretation within E-museum Record

PDF Offered on Museum Website

Selections become Bloomberg Connects Online Exhibition

Selections become basis for quarterly Zoom Art Talks

Essays become social content throughout the year

Video Edited into Instagram Reels

Talks become evergreen recorded content

Video Reposted as Museum Blog “Collection Spotlights”

Promoted Live event included on museum engagement calendar

Video Called out as Items in Museum Newsletter

Bloomberg exhibition promoted to national audiences

Video Embedded in E-museum record

Project Goal:

Drive to Users Collection Search Interpretation in the content record greatly increases time on site “One Book” packages become our highest viewed sections of collection record Content views doubled YoY over last four years

Project Goal: Evergreen Collection Content Short videos shared to social

Longer videos embedded in Collection Record

3 or 4 annual online public programs are promoted in museum calendar. These focus on single works from package and draw ~200 live attendees

These online talks are recorded and edited down

Blog Post

Project Goal: Access & National Reputation Content presented as online exhibition through Bloomberg and advertised to staff and national alumni base – audience who often cannot visit in person.

App showcased onsite offering language translation and audio accessibility of texts.

Project Goal:

Showcase Collection Relevance to Institutional Outcomes “The One Book One Northwestern readings help unify the campus around a theme, and the artworks from The Block’s collection help expand the focus by bringing in multiple perspectives and histories."

Modest Institutional Investment…

Big Impact Internally: • Increased cross-departmental orientation for building digital collections projects outside of the structure of exhibitions • Moving towards KPIs that take into account digital engagement in its own right – not as a driver to inperson attendance Externally • Engagement in this project has grown knowledge and perception of our collection and role as a campus leader • Success has justified institutional investment in digital collections work and donor investment in the growing collection as a teaching & learning tool

Keep in Touch @nublockmuseum

lindsay.bosch@northwest ern.edu