The Museum Is The Message: Channeling Chrysler’s Many Voices into One

–Tori Walker, 2021 Communications Intern

I am a rising senior at Virginia Tech majoring in Communication Science and Social Inquiry, minoring in Professional and Technical Writing, and studying Marketing Management as a concentration. While all of these subjects sound like a mouthful, they complement each other quite effortlessly. I have a background in student journalism as I’ve worked for our independent, student-run newspaper since I was a freshman in 2018, and my extracurricular activities usually involve editing, writing, design, and digital media. While I’m still narrowing down my map of potential career paths, being able to practice what I’ve learned in the classroom and newsroom while dusting off an old love for art has made my summer at the Chrysler Museum of Art more than ideal.

Self-portrait photo in front of Gene Davis’s Black Rhythm located in the Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful exhibition, July 12, 2021.

A part of me has always wanted to work in an arts institution. Despite not choosing a major in art history or museum studies, my past endeavors in dance and occasional acrylic painting remind me of how important these forms of nonverbal expression were to my own personal growth. Those memories surely guided me toward internship opportunities at the Museum. Being one of the only interns here without course knowledge in the museum field was initially intimidating, yet the gaps in experience have become advantageous in the work I do with the Museum’s communications department. The first thing I noticed as I dove into projects here was that I could bring a visitor’s perspective and assure that we are communicating to audiences with varying prior knowledge of museums, masterpieces, art techniques, history, and everything in between.

I’m fascinated not only by the human communication process, but also the mediums with which we communicate and how they transform over time. Little did I know before I began my internship that the communication processes within a museum are, within themselves, quite complex. The communications department works with docents, gallery hosts, educators, curators, and others to create enriching experiences for visitors. During my time at the Chrysler, we produced gallery labels, social media content, magazines, visitor guides, sidewalk banners, advertisements, and more to help maintain the Museum’s brand through messages that are consistent, intentional, and mission-driven.

I worked closely with my supervisor Beatriz Lange, the Museum’s Communications and Media Planner, as well as other staff members who make up the communications department: Megan Frost, Cassie Rangel, DeAnne Williams, Desi Mihaylov, Michael Berlucchi, and Meredith Gray. By collaborating with these individuals who hold their own department responsibilities, I have been exposed to several facets of Chrysler communications: traditional media, content editing, graphic and exhibition design, advertising, external community relations, and social media management.

Within traditional media production, I helped copy edit the summer 2021 magazine, visitor guides, and Perry Glass Studio informational pamphlets. These projects allowed me to edit and analyze content that is new to me, learn more about the printing process, and study the Museum’s “voice” and language style. Furthermore, since our internship period crossed over with the preparation and opening of the summer exhibition, Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful, I was able to help compile text for temporary and ongoing advertisements that promote the exhibition. What I love about this sector of our marketing efforts is that print media still very much lives and breathes at the Museum. Flipping through a magazine, holding a visitor guide, walking past a banner, or using a museum map can enhance the visitor experience just by offering tangibility and a keepsake.

Early version of the Chrysler Museum’s Summer 2021 Magazine, May 26, 2021.

On the digital side, I have drafted social media posts for the Museum’s Instagram and Facebook accounts regarding several exhibitions, including Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful and Clear As Crystal: Colorless Glass from the Chrysler Collection. I also created social media content about the Portrait of Francesco Bollani conservation project and two art camps held by the Museum’s education department.

I also studied the analytics and insights behind our social media channels. Recording our April, May, and June social media reports has allowed me to understand what types of audiences interact with our online content every day. Once these reports were finalized, I constructed a dashboard through Tableau, an interactive data visualization software that includes visually appealing and comprehensive displays of how certain posts performed online.

I have fortunately been invited to shadow Beatriz at several interactive marketing experiences throughout the summer, including a photo and video shoot for the Perry Glass Studio and a promotional video project for the Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful exhibition. Witnessing how someone in her position plans, coordinates, and directs multimedia content production has helped me understand the several crucial steps of building ad campaigns. Whether the digital content captured from these projects sits on the front of a Studio class pamphlet or lives as a spot on WHRO-TV, its purpose is to reach different audiences through diverse mediums that all fit the Museum’s unique brand. Furthermore, an opportunity to be on the other side of the camera came toward the end of my internship. Despite my beginner photography skills, I was able to capture artistic, collaborative, and enlightening moments of the education department’s Alma Thomas-inspired professional development program.

Echard Wheeler taking photos of Matt Jacob, the Perry Glass Studio’s resident neon instructor, holding a neon letter “W,” June 18, 2021.

Video shoot for Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful promotional video with Jeremy Bates Film, July 11, 2021.

The summer intern cohort has been learning how the museum industry functions and evolves over time through discussing relevant research articles, meeting with different Museum departments and leaders, and touring other local museums like the Moses Myers House and the Hermitage Museum and Gardens. These experiences have greatly contributed to our understanding of the past, present and future of the industry and those who contributed to its culmination within and outside the Chrysler community. Likewise, our internships at the Museum have provided us time and space to ask questions about the art community’s striking impact on cities like Norfolk, Virginia.

Mural by Dathan Kane in the Work in Progress: 13 Murals for Right Now exhibition at Hermitage Museum and Gardens, July 6, 2021.

The Chrysler Museum of Art fosters and houses curiosity, creativity, insight, and wonder for diverse audiences who choose to indulge in the stories told here. I’m extremely grateful to have contributed to the listening and telling of these narratives this summer, and I credit my developing interest in career opportunities in public humanities and material culture to this community. With each museum encounter I have from now on, whether it be at the Chrysler or other institutions around the world, I will understand the labor and energy behind each artwork, label, informational sign, exhibition design, marketing tool, and collaborative project. I will soak in the communication that circles around me, whether it is silent or echoing within gallery walls. And I will remain hopeful that I can contribute again to a place like the Chrysler.