Happy New Year! 2010 is shaping up to be a year filled with greatness. As I’ve been working on all of the marketing plans over the last few months, I’ve gotten really fired up about the new year at the IMA. Here are some of the things that I’m most looking forward to (in no particular order):

1. So You Think You Can Blog? – Want to write for the IMA? We’re taking applications now. Deadline is January 15. Check it out.
2. @imamuseum – Yep, we’re on Twitter. We’re starting out slow, but I guarantee there will be some exciting stuff along the way. Around here, it’s all an experiment, so you never know what you’ll find if you follow us.
3. IMA-produced Content Starring YOU – From the makers of ArtBabble, TAP: Sacred Spain, and all things cool at the IMA, comes completely in-house produced television and radio advertising. And the best part – we want you to be in them. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a call for participation in IMA-produced spots.
4. The launch of the new IMA Web site (coming soon!) – The IMA’s brilliant Web team has been working on this for a long time. It’s gonna be amazing!
5. Touch of Evil introduced by Peter Bogdanovich – I love old movies. I adore Orson Welles. Mark this on your calendar as  date night at The Toby.
6. Oldfields Picnics – When the weather gets warm this spring and the flowers begin to bloom on Oldfields estate, I’m looking forward to grabbing lunch at Nourish Café and heading to a bench for a mini break during the work day. I may even take the bocce ball set that I keep in my office and challenge a few passersby (true story).
7. Summer Nights – The schedule is still top secret, but I’ve seen the proposed movies, and let me tell you, this might be the best summer yet.
8. Body Unbound: Contemporary Couture from the IMA’s Collection – I love the IMA’s Textile and Fashion Arts Collection. This exhibition will feature some beautiful, sexy, and iconic pieces created from 1960-2007. Jean-Paul Gaultier and Gianni Versace? Yes, please!
9. 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park – We’ve been working and talking about it for years and now it is only 6 months away. Mark your calendar for June 20 when 100 Acres will open to the public. I’m pretty sure this is going to blow you away.
10. Unexpected Discoveries in the Galleries – Every time I go into the galleries, I discover something new. This is partly due to the fact that the collections often rotate on display and partly due to the fact that every day I have a different perspective that helps me to see new things. Whatever the reason, I’ll be spending a lot of time in the permanent collection in 2010 searching for new favorites.

To give you an overview of what someone who works in museum marketing does , I thought that I’d outline my typical day. In order to do that, I recorded my activities throughout the past Monday. While some of you were relaxing (or partying) on your Columbus Day off, I was hard at work with my fellow colleagues at the IMA.

Image taken from ugotbling.com

COLUMBUS DAY, OCTOBER 12, 2009*

8:27 Arrive at office. Plug in laptop.

8:35 Sip coffee and respond to emails sent over the weekend.

8:50 Research the 100 Acres: Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park for IMA  Magazine article.

9:15 Write interview questions for article to send to Ed Blake, the  landscape architect for 100 Acres.

9:32 Email interview to Ed Blake.

9:37 Discuss signage in Efroymson Family Entrance Pavilion with Marketing Manager.

9:42 Register for Next Audiences Summit.

9:52 Review marketing budgets from last 2 years.

10:22 Read NYT’s article about the Louvre’s attempt to ‘Loosen Up.’

10:34 Get distracted by Jamie Oliver article in NYT’s Mag.

10:39 Review Web site content. Put together work plan to present in the afternoon’s Web team meeting.

11:22 Read Geoff Von Burg’s blog entry.

11:31 Email this week’s TV schedule for Sacred Spain commercials to Max, curator Ronda Kasl, and Nugget Factory.

11:38 Check attendance numbers from the weekend.

11:39 Organize opening weekend debrief meeting for Sacred Spain.

11:45 Polish up communication pieces for potential Winter Nights and Summer Nights media sponsorships.

12:18 LUNCH (Lean Cuisine and Fage Yogurt).

12:38 Watch Gentleman Broncos movie trailer.

12:41 Send movie trailer to Dan Dark.

12:44 Change Twitter name from @IndyArtGirl to @MegLiffick.

12:50 COFFEE.

1:00 Catch up on emails from the morning.

1:30 Web Team!

2:50 Review and edit Group Tours corporate mailer for Sacred Spain.

3:15 Respond to email from Contemporary Curator Lisa Freiman about the prestigious national award that her husband received. Congrats, Ed!!!

3:17 Create an initial inventory of marketing materials that can include media/corporate sponsor recognition during 2010.

4:02 Continue to draft 2010 marketing plan for Public Programs.

4:48 Brainstorm about communication ideas for TAP.

5:21 Respond to remaining emails.

5:42 Leave office. Head to gym.

6:13 Check email while running on treadmill at gym. DANGEROUS!

6:16 Attempt to respond to an email while on treadmill at gym. EVEN MORE DANGEROUS!

8:15 Read IBM’s social media guidelines while watching Will Ferrell on Man Vs. Wild.

8:30 Close laptop. No more work for the day.

*Please note that I have left out some details such as phone conversations, specific email correspondences, bathroom breaks, and Facebook and Twitter checks.

Next up (Oct. 28), I’ll tackle the ginormous topic of branding a museum. Stay tuned.

This winter, the IMA will debut Winter Nights, a counterpart to the IMA’s popular Summer Nights film series. Winter Nights will feature classic films with familiar names. All films will be screened in the IMA’s Tobias Theater (aka The Toby) which will open this fall. (Which means…unlike Summer Nights, the IMA will provide the seats AND climate control.)

Below are some of the films that you will get to see this winter on The Toby’s big screen:

• The Maltese Falcon (dir. John Huston, 1941, 101 mins, B & W)
• La Dolce Vita (dir. Federico Fellini, 1960, 180 mins, B & W)
• The Bank Dick (dir. Edward F. Cline, 1940, 72 mins B & W)
• Blade Runner: The Final Cut (dir. Ridley Scott, 1982, Color)
• The General (dir. Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton, 1927, 75 mins, B & W) with live accompaniment by the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.
• Lolita (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1962, 152 mins, B & W)

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL FOLKS! Back by popular demand – the IMA’s Film Poll. We want to know what you want to see. Polls close on July 18 and at that time the movie that has the most vote in each one of the categories below will be chosen for the 2009 Winter Nights Series. You can vote as often as you like, so vote every 15 minutes, every day or just once. It’s up to you, my friends!

Here are the categories:

AntiWestern/Revisionist Western/Acid Western (January 2)
AntiWestern, Revisionist, Acid. Call ‘em what you will, but these counter-culture Westerns favor realism over romanticisim.

Rough & Tumble Action Epic (January 30)
Nothing beats a great car chase. Except maybe deception, betrayal, gunfights, escapes and explosions. But no, nothing beats a great car chase.

French New Wave (February 6)
In true esprit de francais, New Wave directors snubbed their noses at classical cinema by experimenting with unique editing and narrative styles.