Elisabet Ney Museum Wins the 2022 Gold TAMMIE Award of Excellence in Digital and Electronic Communications

Austin Parks and Recreation's Elisabet Ney Museum received the Gold TAMMIE 2022 Award of Excellence in Digital and Electronic Communications for the social media campaign behind the Suffrage Now exhibit. The Texas Association of Museums Media Innovation & Excellence Awards or TAMMIES for short, are designed to showcase museums that are doing innovative things with media and technology. 

The Elisabet Ney Museum is housed in the trailblazing German sculptor's 1892 and 1902 home and studio in the historic Austin neighborhood of Hyde Park. "Suffrage Now: A 19th Amendment Centennial Exhibition," was conceived to celebrate and comment upon the Centennial of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment. “Suffrage Now” opened on August 6, 2020, the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Right Amendment which opened the doors for universal suffrage in the U.S.

The Elisabet Ney Museum's staff had made plans for an invitational installation series of works created by Austin and Texas women artists, but with the COVID-19 pandemic closing the museum to visitors, they had to quickly pivot. As opposed to a physical exhibition, staff curated its first entirely online exhibition. For this exhibit, the museum launched its very first nationwide call, asking for women photographers to submit contemporary photographs that speak to the Centennial. Out of hundreds of submissions, 22 were chosen by a diverse and estimable jury of seven photographers, photo editors, and educators, and were presented in the online exhibition, featuring testimonials and often video of the photographers discussing their work – along with the meaning of the centennial to them.

Through its six-month run, thousands of visitors flocked to the site from all over the world. A topical, moderated video conversation series was made available online as well. The photos also were used in a vigorous and innovative social media campaign to encourage voter registration and voting in advance of the 2020 Presidential election. Photos from the exhibition were used with commentary from the photographers and links to their sites with hashtags such as #suffragenow, #suffragette, #vote2020, #democracy, #womenphotographer, #19thAmendment, #womensupportingwomen, and so on.

The social media campaign was in keeping with the Elisabet Ney Museum’s mission, "to preserve the memory and legacy of Elisabet Ney for education, historical, and artistic purposes." As a highly influential and indeed formative Texas Suffragist, her activities helped lead to the ratification of the 19th Amendment in Texas and elsewhere, even though she passed before she ever had an opportunity to vote. Vigorous and effective legislative appeals were formulated in meetings at her home and studio, and future leaders were inspired by her work and dedication.

About the Texas Association of Museums
Texas Association of Museums (TAM) is a nonprofit organization established for educational purposes, to provide a network among museums, to improve the level of professionalism within the museum community, to encourage the use and enjoyment of museums by all Texans, to serve as an information clearinghouse for and about museums, and to serve as a liaison between museums and museums-related agencies and organizations. For more information, visit TexasMuseums.org.