The IMA is searching for its next blogger and we want you! Interested in sharing your thoughts about the IMA from an “outsider’s” perspective? Not afraid to muse publicly about the museum’s programs and exhibitions? Able to attend IMA events and willing to submit 300-600 words once a month? Then you could be the blogger for the job.

Here’s how it works:*

Step 1: Email your responses to the question below to web@imamuseum.org.  Be sure to include “Hey IMA – I Wanna Blog” in the subject line.

Name:
Email:
Tell us a little about yourself:
Tell us a story. We want to know how good your yarn-spinning skills are, so give your best anecdote involving an experience you’ve had at the museum.
Why should you be an IMA blogger?

Step 2: We’ll select the top finalists and post their responses to the IMA blog during the month of January.

Step 3: In February, we’ll take it to America for a vote. Yep, that’s right! We’re gonna let the  IMA blog’s readers decide who they want to read.

Step 4: The new IMA blogger is crowned. (and, yes, if you will wear it, we will give you an actual crown.) He or she will receive a dual membership to the IMA (so you can bring a friend whenever you want), two complimentary tickets to select public programs during 2010, and a monthly opportunity to blog.

*Rules and restrictions may apply. We just haven’t written them yet nor sent them to our lawyers.

KINDA BIG ANNOUNCEMENT #2: @IMAMUSEUM

Image Courtesy of Twitter.com

The IMA will launch on Twitter on January 1, 2010. @imamuseum will be a resource for breaking news, IMA factoids, museum musings, and more. In addition to a way for us to communicate with you, we hope you will use it as a direct link to the IMA – Don’t be shy…We want you to feel  free to DM, RT or @ us anytime.

Oh, and even though we’re not starting until January 1, you can go ahead and FOLLOW US NOW!

Maybe CT Scan of the Week is more accurate. But we all know what a mummy-scan means… To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum opened this past weekend, highlighting ancient Egyptian art from the Brooklyn Museum!

This summer, I was at the IMA leading up to the debut of the website, and now during the exhibition opening. It has been really exciting to see all of the planning and thought that goes into making a website entertaining and informational for the online visitor.

The works of art in the exhibition detail Egyptian beliefs of afterlife, including where you go, what happens, and what you need. The IMA web team has tried to highlight a variety of the objects that are in the exhibit on the website with an online gallery, an interactive mummy-scan, and an interactive timeline of the objects, showing the works from Brooklyn contrasted with works from the IMA’s collection.

The Nugget Factory also filmed and produced videos with Brooklyn’s conservator (below) and curator, which are featured on the website, as well as being played in the gallery. New videos will be going onto the website throughout the run of the exhibition

There is also a page from the TLF Flickr set, featuring pictures of people around the Indianapolis community and their answers to the question, What can’t you live or die without? Check out some of the hilarious answers. I don’t think my picture is up yet, but I think my choice is black mascara and my cat Osiris. That surely will get me some bonus points with the green guy.

I also got to be a part of a very unique event the IMA hosted this past Saturday. Despi and Daniel decided to preview the digital content of the TLF site, as well as some other aspects of the advertisement and design, to the other museums who will be hosting this traveling show at a later date.

I think there was generally a lot of excitement about what they would be able to do for their own exhibitions with access to content like this. It’s also a great way to show a wide variety of audiences and professionals in the field the type of work that is done here, increasing the renown and reputation (and notoriety?) of the staff at IMA. I don’t know if anything like this has happened before, but I think it’s brilliant.

The IMA is also hosting a handful of events in celebration of the TLF exhibition, which will be the meat of your bullet list this week.

• Friday July 18th, starting at 6pm, is an afterlife Double Feature with Performance Immortal, a dance show by NoExit Performance, inspired by the To Live Forever exhibit, and after that, Summer Nights features The Mummy.
• August 9th at 11am and 14th at 7pm join us for the tour Immortality in Art, a look at To Live Forever and immortality in cultures throughout the IMA’s galleries.
• Thursday, August 28th at 6:30pm is Deciphering Egyptian Art, a lecture on some of the forms seen in the To Live Forever exhibition.
• You can always check out programs and events for classes, tours and lectures on the IMA calendar.
• Some ancient Egyptians painted their coffins yellow in imitation of the gilded coffins of royalty.
• The Nile river flows North through Egypt, and is 4135 miles long.

Enjoy poking around the website and let us know what’s thrilling you to death.