GINA BIXLER

Trained and certified to implement daily and monthly programming, special events, classes, and workshops that engage guests of all ages in inquiry based learning through guided viewing and group discussion of original and replica artifacts and documents, role-play activities, use of multimedia experiences, and participation in hands-on activities. Responsible for a range of other activities essential to museum operation, including greeting and engaging with guests on entry, in exhibition and theater spaces; selling tickets and memberships; overseeing access control, monitoring guest compliance with Museum safety protocols and facilitating entry/egress from theaters and exhibit spaces; responding to questions, and managing complaints.

Responsible for providing hands on support to the Collections department by assisting with the reorganization and inventory of the museum's collection. Tasks included relocating objects within the museum's storage area, processing object locations within the PastPerfect database, updating digital and printed object files as necessary, assisting with inventories of grouped objects, organizing and maintaining the museum's collection of object images, including up-to-date metadata, and assisting in the regular cleaning and maintenance of collections spaces.

Initially responsible for coordinating many aspects of the organization’s daily operations, the role expanded to comprise duties including, but not limited to, assisting with artist and performance management, collaborating on community programs, facilitating institutional advancement, and contributing to the organization’s marketing and web presence. The following addresses core duties.

• Office Administration - Responsible for coordinating the organization’s project management software, maintaining schedules, assisting staff with compilation of data in order to generate reports, maintaining the database with information on contacts, contributions and ticket purchases, organizing digital files, ensuring that organization’s information is current with vendors and consulting vendors for services required by the organization, and purchasing office supplies as needed.
• Artist Services & Performance Management - Responsible for tracking, coordinating, and generating booking contracts, as well as generating artist agreements and production sheets for community engagement performances, updating artists’ press kits for website and formatting bio, photos, and programs for Astral in Concert and Community Classics performances, creating content for Classroom Classics workbook, corresponding with and assisting artists as needed, managing box office at live performances and digital box office, and participating in planning discussions for organization’s direction during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic through the development of its digital presenting arm, Astral Nova.
• Development - Responsible for generating and distributing tax acknowledgment letters for donors, processing the fall and spring fundraising appeals, coordinating the booking of the annual fundraising gala, participating in development meetings, and assisting with the revision of grant narratives.
• Marketing & Web Presence - Responsible for the organization’s social media calendar and updates, as well as assisting with website maintenance, promoting the Astral concert series in digital forums, drafting email blasts via MailChimp and managing the e-blast calendar, participating in marketing tasks, such as coordinating digital ads and the organization’s marketing calendar, and editing content in Adobe Creative Suite.

Responsible for restructuring clerical procedures to fit the changing needs of the organization more efficiently, implementing new electronic database and digital archive, managing web presence, grant and award coordination, generating and mailing content to membership via e-blasts & USPS, renewing member dues, tracking donations and finances, coordinating with outside venues to book meetings and events, facilitating committees and their meetings (virtually & in person), conducting relevant research to maintain institutional knowledge, advancing the organization’s strategic plan, and other miscellaneous tasks.

Privately contracted consultant responsible for curating exhibits, conducting historical research, developing projects, managing archives, designing educational initiatives, grant writing, helping docents refine their public tour presentations, investigating music rights holders and publishers, catalog preparation, and scheduling and supervision of work study interns and volunteers.

Exhibits

• In the Musical Artists’ Hand (Winter 2015) – display exploring the composers, copyists, and conductors of 20th century American music and highlighting their stories through archival, hand- written, primary source documents from the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music.
• Stravinsky & Multiculturalism (Spring/Summer 2016) – curated in partnership with the summer 2016 production at the Mann Center for Performing Arts, this display utilizes Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird as a case study and a catalyst for an examination of multiculturalism in the arts. The exhibit features a mixture of artifacts, facsimiles, and illustrations.
• The Musical World of Don Quixote (Summer/Fall 2016) – curated in partnership with Piffaro: The Renaissance Band’s fall 2016 production of the same name. Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote provides a programmatic framework for a survey of the Spanish Golden Age of literature, painting, music, theater, and architecture. The exhibit features reproductions of period instruments and interactive QR codes linking to musical examples.
• Alma Vieja, Alma Nueva (Winter 2017) – display on the Fleisher Collection’s Cuban Music Project, an initiative of cultural diplomacy endeavoring to return old orchestral works to Cuba and bring new orchestral music to the world. Includes links to digital interactive components specific to the exhibit.
• Philadelphia & the City Beautiful Movement (Spring 2017) – display on the centennial of Philadelphia’s Ben Franklin Parkway, chronicling its roots as the city’s grand thorough fare to its place as the backdrop for some of the most significant cultural events over the last 100 years. It also prominently features the 90th anniversary of the Beaux-Arts inspired Free Library of Philadelphia.
• Bernstein the Conductor (Summer 2017) – display in conjunction with the worldwide celebration of the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birth. Curated in partnership with many Philadelphia organizations such as the National Museum of American Jewish History and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
• Cowell, Cage, Crumb: Pioneers of the Avant Garde Piano (Fall 2017) – digital series featuring narrative, archival correspondence, and musical examples of aforementioned composers done in conjunction with the Barnes Foundation’s contemporary music ensemble.
• 200 Years of the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia (Summer 2019) – Part of the bicentennial celebration of the nation’s oldest existent musical society. An accompanying exhibition was featured at the University of Pennsylvania as well.
• Philadelphia’s Fleisher Family – forthcoming national traveling display demonstrating the significance of the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music, the Fleisher family in the city of Philadelphia, and their impact on the world.

Special Projects

• National Endowment for the Humanities Archival Recordings Grant – co-writer of grant to preserve very rare 20th century American orchestral recordings housed in the Fleisher Collection. Responsible for researching and compiling statistics on the recordings, and for developing dissemination efforts such as podcasts, secondary school lesson plans, and exhibitions (a physical and a digital archival Omeka exhibit).
• Development of Digital Programs – created a series of interactive maps with the Adobe Creative Suite featuring composer biographies, musical excerpts, images, and videos to demonstrate the global influence of the Fleisher Collection. Developed a website to house and give historical context to such projects. Promoted the Fleisher Collection through social media.
• La Salle Spier Finding Aid – managed the special collection of the papers of composer La Salle Spier through the compilation and categorization of 20,000+ archival documents into a scholarly guide while ensuring proper collection care standards were met.
• Focused Catalogs – assisted in identifying and compiling focused catalogs designed to bring attention to underrepresented orchestral works such as those by composers of African-descent, women, and Latin Americans for circulation to orchestras worldwide.

Experienced a comprehensive overview of the public history field including exhibition planning, archival management, collection management, collection care, and customer service.

• Exhibition Planning: designed and researched an exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of the park founding
• Archival Management: handled archival documents
• Collection Management: aided in de-accession of materials
• Collection Care: maintained historic buildings
• Customer Service: participated in public programs at the park (e.g. Fourth of July Celebration), school field trips (“Colonial Days”), and public tours of the site

Responsible for laying the groundwork for special projects, including cataloging and preliminary research on the archive of rare and historic 20th century American orchestral recordings and proposing and initiating the planning stages of a traveling exhibit on the Fleisher Collection and the Fleisher family's influence on Philadelphia.