Friday, March 31, 6:30–7:30 p.m.
The Potter’s House
1658 Columbia Road NW
Washington, D.C. 20009
Free and open to the public
What does creativity look like in today’s digital landscape? Join us for a roundtable with new media strategists from across Washington, D.C.’s most prominent museums to discuss just that and what it means for the future of social media and web design.
Our featured speakers are Effie Kapsalis, chief of content and communications strategy at the Smithsonian Institution Archives; Emily Haight, digital editorial assistant at the National Museum of Women in the Arts; and Tatum Walker, associate director of digital strategy at Ford’s Theatre Society, in conversation with Angelica Aboulhosn, public affairs specialist at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Don’t miss this opportunity to explore today’s latest web and social media work within museums—the projects that are engaging audiences in new and imaginative ways. Learn how you can foster that same creativity with your next digital project.
This event is one in a series of Sounding Board public programs produced by the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary of promoting cultural exploration, exchange, and equity.
About the Speakers
Effie Kapsalis, chief of content and communications strategy at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, strives to enable participatory cultural heritage and inclusive storytelling in order to make history accessible to everyone. She led the earliest crowdsourcing initiatives at the Smithsonian that opened the doors to their collections and resources, and helped to create the institutional policy to enable wider public participation across the Smithsonian’s museums, research centers, libraries, archives, and zoo. While participating in the Smithsonian’s Emerging Leaders Development Program, she conducted critical research demonstrating the benefits of open cultural heritage, which was released at SXSW 2016.
Emily Haight, digital editorial assistant at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, supports the digital engagement and publications departments in her hybrid position. With previous experience in museum education and development, she knows the importance of online engagement and looks for creative ways to share the museum’s mission with a broader digital audience. As the museum’s cross-departmental social media team manager, she leads strategy meetings for social media campaigns and works to create, aggregate, and share content across platforms.
Tatum Walker is the associate director of digital strategy at Ford’s Theatre Society. She has worked in museums ranging in size and subject, including the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, the Michigan State University Museum, and Detroit Institute of Arts. Her work has focused on service design, museum pedagogy, and digital interpretation. In her current position she focuses on digital strategy and guiding Ford’s Theatre through a digital transformation.
Angelica Aboulhosn (moderator), public affairs specialist at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, performs a range of media, public relations, and marketing functions to broaden awareness, enhance programming, and gain public support for the organization’s mission and programs. Prior to working at the Smithsonian, she worked as a digital strategist at the Brookings Institution and Edelman DC, where she helped to move the needle on museum marketing in the digital age. She holds an MA in communications from Johns Hopkins University and volunteers as a docent at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.
Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Women in the Arts
