One of the things we are really excited about with the launch of 1stfans is giving these new members something they can really get into. Each month this will include a new event in-person at each Target First Saturday and a new event online via the 1stfans Twitter Art Feed.
Originally, we were thinking about using Twitter as a way to connect with 1stfans and send updates, but it just seemed lame. We couldn’t imagine tweeting about the same old stuff and, hey, we already do that on the Brooklyn Museum Twitter feed, so why in the world would we do it twice? When you follow someone on Twitter, it’s often because they have really interesting things to say, so if we were going to utilize Twitter, we wanted to offer a benefit of membership that 1stfans might really dig and find worthwhile enough to follow.
With that, here comes the 1stfans Twitter Art Feed. Each month, Will and I will be working with Eugenie Tsai to feature the work of a contemporary artist on the feed and the content of each month’s tweets will be up to the artist who is featured. We are intrigued to discover how each artist will work with Twitter, so it should be a new surprise for all of us every month.
In addition to artists that we invite to work with our feed, we will also be selecting artists from an open call. If you are an artist who’s just as fascinated with Twitter as we are, submit your idea and you might get featured for 1stfans to see. Interested? You can enter the open call by filling out this form. We look forward to seeing your ideas.
Will is going to announce the first featured artist in a few weeks, so stay tuned!
Shelley Bernstein is the former Vice Director of Digital Engagement & Technology at the Brooklyn Museum where she spearheaded digital projects with public participation at their center. In the most recent example—ASK Brooklyn Museum—visitors ask questions using their mobile devices and experts answer in real time. She organized three award-winning projects—Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition, Split Second: Indian Paintings, GO: a community-curated open studio project—which enabled the public to participate in the exhibition process.
Shelley was named one of the 40 Under 40 in Crain's New York Business and her work on the Museum's digital strategy has been featured in the New York Times.
In 2016, Shelley joined the staff at the Barnes Foundation as the Deputy Director of Digital Initiatives and Chief Experience Officer.