Digital Outreach and Advocacy

Visitors snap photos in the collection galleries during NMWA’s International Women’s Day Celebration in March

Virtual Museum #5WomenArtists

In spring 2020, the digital engagement department led NMWA’s shift to online programming during the temporary closure due to COVID-19. Working crossdepartmentally, digital staff facilitated the creation of NMWA @ Home, a virtual hub that showcased the museum’s online offerings—many created in the first weeks of the pandemic:

Storytime with Women in the Arts video series features children’s books authored or illustrated by women.

NMWA Coloring Pages feature favorite artworks from the collection.

Four online exhibitions and more in process present art to visitors who are unable to attend in person. In March, the fifth year of the museum’s acclaimed social media campaign #5WomenArtists kicked off with a special focus on women artists who address social issues. Despite coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, the campaign was a success:

675 cultural institutions and nearly 5,129 individuals participated; participants were located across 35 countries and 49 U.S. states, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico.

4,092 Instagram posts and 9,568 tweets were shared using the hashtag.

11 museums took over the @WomenInTheArts account in March to highlight women artists in their collections and exhibitions.

Social Media Engagement

On April 1, NMWA organized the museum community for a mass social media action to thank frontline healthcare workers. On Twitter, 956 contributors generated 1,389 tweets that reached 13,834,577 people. On Instagram, 183 contributors generated 189 posts that cumulatively received 28,542 likes and reached 2,719,852 people. Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook engagement remains a key way for the museum to expand our audience and champion women in the arts.

In 2020, NMWA reached more than 57,000 followers on Twitter (a 10% increase over 2019), 100,000 on Instagram (a 54% increase over 2019), and 55,800 on Facebook (a 7% increase over 2019).

An Instagram post wishing artist Audrey Niffenegger a happy birthday was the most liked post, garnering 4,717 likes.

A Twitter post for #MeanGirlsDay (pictured left), honoring the popular 2004 film with memes and other activities, was the most popular, garnering 4,400 likes

#MuseumsThankHealthHeroes

and 1,100 retweets.

Fun Fact During the fiscal year, there were 1,324,721 visitors to nmwa.org.

Looking Forward

With the win of the Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Social Media Account (Instagram) in May, and the launch of the new https://nmwa.org website in June, NMWA ended 2020 on a strong digital note, amplifying our mission, programs, and collection in times of limited in-person visitorship.