I’ve got exciting news to share from the Mile-High City…The IMA Dashboard received the top prize of gold at the 19th annual AAM Museum and Technology Committee Muse Awards. Just a few hours ago, I was happy to accept the award on behalf of the entire Museum and the amazingly talented IMA Web team that collaborated to produce the site.

The Muse award is the second news story from the IMA’s history-making weekend. The first, of course, was the parade on Saturday. As promised, the weather couldn’t have been better, and the air of Fountain Square was filled with an overwhelming excitement as hundreds of participants marched and hundreds of spectators watched art in the streets of Indianapolis. Check out images from the day by clicking here.

Participants, Spectators, Trailblazers, Protesters, Merry Makers, and Performers – Thank you to everyone who made the day a such an enormous success!

A group of IMA staff (myself not included) attended the Museums and the Web conference in Montreal last week. This conference is an annual gathering for the ever-growing crowd of technology-focused staff in museums around the world. They also host the “Best of the Web” Awards. IMA’s project, Roman Art Webisodes, was picked last week as “Best Podcast.” IMA’s Dashboard picked up an Honourable Mention in the “Professional” category. We are excited that our work has been so well received by our peers.

Also, last week we were notified that Roman Art Webisodes were also chosen as an Official Honoree for the 2008 Webby Awards. A very competitive and widely entered contest, we placed in the top 15 in the Non-Profit/ Educational category for Interactive Advertisting. I was most excited about this competition since last year they honored David Bowie and he is on the judging committee this year. What could be better than winning an award from the same people who gave one to Ziggy Stardust. Needless to say we are delighted.

In other news, the Media and Technology Committee of the American Association of Museums has selected IMA’s Dashboard as the winner of a 2008 MUSE Award.

So who knows what’s next for us! We have entered many other projects in a variety of competitions, so hopefully as spring continues to progress we will have more good news…

While in NYC, Daniel and I worked on many projects, and one of them landed us in a meeting with IMA’s own, Lisa Freiman and the artist-duo Type A. You will definitely be seeing more from those guys, and from us, featuring those guys. Keep an eye out for more on that later this spring.

The Nugget Factory: Danny Beyer, Despi Mayes, Daniel Incandela and Dan Dark (left to right)

In other Nugget News, Daniel and I have been invited to present a paper at the 2008 International Symposium on Electronic Arts in Singapore. So, we will be busy in the coming months writing a paper about Nature Holds My Camera: The Video Art of Sam Easterson that reveals our creative secrets (at least some of them). Then in July, we will make our way to Singapore to present that paper to artists and colleagues. Making the most of our travel to Asia, we plan to make stops in Beijing and Shanghai to develop video content for the upcoming exhibition, Power and Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty, which will open at IMA this fall.

Another nugget, Dan Dark is presenting at this year’s Museums and the Web conference in Montreal, on a panel with representatives from other museums. Similarly, I am working with a couple of other museums to put together a discussion about audio content for this year’s Association of American Museums (AAM) conference in Denver. That one will be another in and out for me…only about 18 hours outside of Indy!

So as you can see, we will be busy spreading the IMA word and soaking in new stuff that will make its way to you through the blog, new videos on YouTube, and no doubt, much more! And in between all of that stuff we will be working on web projects, bringing you IMA event video, working with visiting artists, blogging, updating iTunes U, labeling new photos on Flickr and a hundred other awesome things. With all of this work and excitement we are no doubt going to need a “Nugget Appreciation Day.” Any votes for the date?

P.S. – Keep your eye out for Daniel’s post this week featuring more jaw-dropping, show-stopping Nugget Factory action.