Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog

Based on the title of this post, expect a lot of different things from me today.  Yesterday, in the midst of figuring out a post topic, I turned to Facebook & Twitter for topic suggestions.  Some people responded with some thoughtful concepts, so I want to address those in some ways.  “Woody Woodpecker” isn’t just being used as a clever title to get you to read my entry.  Keep reading, its relevant.  And I wanted to start with a quick shout out to On the Cusp, who just launched a new design for their site.   I like it and I think you will too.   Check out the new look and learn what’s going on in the local Indianapolis arts scene.

The NEW On the Cusp

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For me, Penrod is the culmination of the year’s major activities.  Once Penrod is put to bed, Security is coasting toward the end of the year.  Sure, we just had the 125th anniversary gala (I left before the auction ended), but it was just another party to us.  We’ve done a hundred parties – smile, keep drinks out of the galleries, corral Freiman’s group on the 2nd floor – same old, same old.  I’m talking about the heavy lifting.

The end of the Roman Art exhibit started the year for us.  As usual, visitors waited till the last weekend to come see the show.  The line looped completely through all the first floor galleries.  We kept the visitors occupied and relatively happy while they waited two hours to see the show.
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We have a bit of celebratory news today! The IMA has recently picked up several distinctions worth mentioning.

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.

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With the launch of the new IMA Blog, there will be more authors contributing posts, and I am among them. You should expect to find a lot of opinions, a touch (okay, a lot) of sarcasm and the occassional soap box to provoke your witty and well-written comments. Struggling to find a compelling topic for my inaugural post, I have searched long and hard and decided to pontificate on the expansive YouTube-iverse.

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On Monday morning there were rumors of lines out the door. There were tales of children dressed in gladiator costumes. There was even mention of hundreds of adults walking around with laurel wreaths on their heads. Can this be true? The visitors are coming! The visitors are coming!

I had no doubt that we would get a crowd opening weekend. However, I am surprised at the enthusiasm the visitors have for the exhibition. For art that is over 2,000 years old, it still has an impressive fan base. It’s been really great to see the reaction people have had to the marketing campaign, but more importantly, it has been really nice to see the reaction people have had to the exhibition. People really love it. And the entire IMA staff is breathing a collective sigh of relief after opening weekend. Read the rest of this entry »