I inherited two things from my father: the dimple in my chin and the compulsion to share interesting news stories with everyone I know. Yes, I’m that person flooding your inbox and Facebook wall with “thought you might like this” messages containing links on everything from the running barefoot trend to a retrospective of Michelle Obama’s hairstyles.

Here‘s a fun blog post that Matt just sent to me. (And boy, we sure do love our gummi candy ’round here.) I wonder if we could install a Gummi Bear Chandelier?

Browsing headlines this morning, I came across a few museum-related articles I thought I might share with you:

Museum Attendance Up: The American Association of Museums released a report Friday that said, “A majority of American museums report an increase in attendance 2009, in many cases despite a significant decline in funding.”

Modern Art Collector Ernst Beyeler Dies: Ernst Beyeler, 88, whose early eye for undervalued Picassos and Impressionists helped him assemble one of Europe’s most famous art collections, died Feb. 25 at his home near Basel, Switzerland. No cause of death was reported.

Sex Club Opens at Vienna Art Museum: In the name of art, an Austrian landmark is encouraging visitors to confront their sexual inhibitions by having them walk through a swingers club to reach one of Gustav Klimt‘s masterpieces.

Any headlines catch your eye over the weekend? Please share!

Filed under: Art, Current Events, Design

We challenged America to submit to be the IMA’s next top blogger and America answered.  Over the course of the next month, we’ll post the finalists in the IMA’s “So You Think You Can Blog” contest. After we’ve posted all five entries, we’ll let our blog readers vote for the winner. This week: Meet Crystal Hammon.

If I want to become part of the IMA’s blogging team (and I do), I’m supposed to write something about myself and the best anecdote or experience I had at the museum.

What is best? Best for you to read or best for me to have? I don’t know. It’s all been good. So I’ll just give you my top five experiences and let you decide what’s best. Let’s save the boring bio stuff for the end. I’ll try not to make it too boring, yet totally true. Have you noticed how easily people brag/exaggerate in their online bios? Everybody is a guru of something. Not me. But we’ll talk about that later. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Musings

We challenged America to submit to be the IMA’s next top blogger and America answered.  Over the course of the next month, we’ll post the finalists in the IMA’s “So You Think You Can Blog” contest. After we’ve posted all five entries, we’ll let our blog readers vote for the winner. First up: Meet Jessica Hancock.

Tell Us A Little About Yourself:

Well, hello!  My name is Jessica Hancock and you’ve asked me to tell you a little about myself.  This is always a struggle as it’s easier to do in person, but the point of a “blogger” is to be as electronically-concise and as catchy as possible.  So, here goes…

I was born and raised in an Indianapolis suburb boasting mansions and cornfields, which did suit me well until I realized the world was a bigger place. Yep, it really is.  I convinced myself to pick up and study abroad in Londontown where my cultural education was based solely on gallery-hopping, pint-gulping and boarding cheap airlines to other countries, all while scraping the bottom of my bank account to mere pennies. ‘Twas a time! Fast forward through college, I am now a fundraiser by occupational trade and love being involved in the local community.  I’m stoked to say that, at the ripe age of 27, I proudly serve on two local Boards – Bicycle Indiana and more recently, I was invited to serve on the Earth House Collective Board.  How do I spend my time, you ask?  Easy. Picture me attending a smattering of as many live concerts as possible, traveling traveling traveling, monthly volunteering at the IMA, drinking copious amounts of black tea with cream & sugar, riding my bikes aimlessly through the streets of Indy and dallying about my new house.  I became a home owner this summer!  I count my blessings daily and never have forgotten where I came from [ahem, the sticks of Boone County]. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Musings

Thank you to all who applied to be the IMA’s new blogger. We had nearly 2 dozen submissions and there wasn’t a bad one in the entire lot. It was exciting to read everyone’s stories and profiles, and very difficult to narrow down to a final list. The blog committee a.k.a. part of The Social Media Committee of Excellence a.k.a. Daniel Incandela, Kate Franzman, and I each voted for our top 5 picks and tallied the votes.

This is a crown, but not the actual crown that the winning blogger will receive.

And the Nominees Are… Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Guest Bloggers, Marketing

Filed under: Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Musings