Elizabeth Laitman Hughes
Email: laitman.hughes@gmail.com
Core Skills
● Project management
● Communication
● Museum and exhibition strategy
● Documentary film production
● Insider knowledge of all aspects of exhibitions and media projects - from concept to installation
Smithsonian Institution, Office of the Undersecretary of Museums and Culture, Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past initiative
Project website: https://oursharedfuture.si.edu/
2022-present
Project Manager
• Manage and support multiple pan-institutional Smithsonian projects as directed by project director.
• Develop project management schedules and project plans for multiple internal projects for the Smithsonian
• Manage video productions, coordinating with SI Units and production crews
• Project manager for Verizon funded 3D scanning project
• Collaborate in the development and distribution of multimedia programming. Coordinate work with Smithsonian partner museums on projects including tracking project progress, managing deliverables, and establishing collaboration for programs
• Develop Initiative program plans using Smartsheet software to manage multiple projects
• Project manager for workshops and programs for the initiative
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
2021-2022
Museum Project Manager
• Manage the development of exhibitions, museum projects, and events, both virtual and in-person.
• Lead multi-disciplinary teams to support successful launch of exhibitions per new vision and strategy of the museum
• Project manager for Iké Udé: Nollywood Portraits exhibition and related programs, website and virtual events.
• Project manager for From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya with Ayana V. Jackson exhibition.
• Develop project management schedules and project plans for multiple internal projects for the Museum.
• Project manager of Taste! 24-hours of the Smithsonian in Lagos, a multi-sensory art experience in Lagos, Nigeria
• Lead multi-discipline teams on projects, directing meetings, setting project goals, planning strategy, and managing all communication and directions from project leads and senior management.
• Produced project management schedules and project plans for multiple internal projects for the Museum.
• Developed project management program using Smartsheet software to manage multiple museum projects.
• Guided and supported staff on new project management processes
Gallagher & Associates
2018-2020
Project Manager
• Manage the development of multiple exhibitions, museum projects, exhibition feasibility studies and master plans.
• Serve as project manager and liaison for museums and outside contractors for developing and leading museum projects.
• Lead multi-discipline teams on projects, directing meetings, setting project goals, planning strategy, and managing all communication and directions from project clients.
• Develop and manage exhibition and project budgets. Evaluate and analyze past project budgets to make revised budgets for FDA, fabrication and other contracts. Create budget templates and revise for each project. Oversaw the finances for both projects and museums including approving and tracking all project costs and expenditures for multi-year, million dollar projects. Develop statements of work and project scopes and serve as contract administrator/ manager with multi-contract projects.
• Lead and facilitated interdisciplinary teams as project manager. Worked with museum administrators, curators and content developers, exhibition designers, graphic designers, lighting contractors, exhibition fabricators, AV integrators, technologists and other multi-media teams.
• Project Manager of exhibit and project schedules including master plan/ feasibility studies and museum design and fabrication projects. Developed exhibition team tasks; tracked and report progress throughout the project and maintained clear communication of goals throughout all phases of the exhibition project.
• Responsible for the collaboration between teams within the design firm with outside offices, contractors and museums. Facilitate clear communication and direction between the design studio and client teams.
• Client and project list
Women in Military Service Memorial in Arlington Cemetery
US Olympic and Paralympic Museum, Colorado Springs, CO
Space Foundation Discovery Center, Colorado Springs, CO.
Race Day Gallery, National Museum of Racing, Hall of Fame, Saratoga Springs, NY.
Liberation Exhibition, National World War II Museum, New Orleans, LA
Renovations to the LBJ Library exhibitions, Austin, TX
Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK
National Automobile Museum in Reno, NV
• Managed a number of museum program feasibility studies/ master plans including the plans including two master plans for music museums, one in Atlanta and another in Chicago.
• Worked on numerous business proposals, including developing budgets, project scopes, and project schedules.
National Gallery of Art, Washington
2002 –2018
Associate Producer, Department of Exhibition Programs
• Manage development and production of multiple films and videos for museum exhibitions, to be shown in exhibition galleries and theaters at the National Gallery of Art, on the NGA website, on public television stations across the United States, and other museum venues (national and international).
• Work as departmental liaison with both in-house staff and outside contractors for projects. Assign tasks in collaboration with film director.
• Develop and manage film budgets. Evaluate past budgets to make revised estimates and research additional costs with vendors, contractors, and museum staff. Oversee film finances, and approve and track all expenditures.
• Plan and manage production schedules, track progress, and work with various stakeholders to ensure final production is completed on time and on budget.
• Coordinate the work of film production teams consisting of director, curators, administrators, designers, film editors, cinematographers, sound producers, educators, IT/multimedia specialists, DVD producers, film distributors, and other stakeholders. Train and assign tasks to film department assistant.
• Research, identify, and locate source materials for films, including images of art, video footage, photography, and music, from national and international sources. Organize information and manage digital materials for director and editor to use.
• Secure intellectual property licenses for use of images and footage. Advise NGA staff in negotiating rights and reproduction agreements for the use of images and media in exhibitions and films.
• Manage contracts and payments for contractors. Advise Gallery lawyers in drafting contracts. Regularly advise film director and executive producer on special projects; conduct research and provide status and support material to senior staff, development staff, marketing staff and film partners.
• Hire outside contractor to distribute films, oversee distribution efforts. Manage the production of DVDs including hiring fabricators and coordinating the production process with the contractor. Develop DVD extras and coordinate editing and production.
• Managed over 25 exhibition films, highlights include: Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project (2018) Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice (2018); Sally Mann: Collodion and the Angel of Uncertainty (2018); Stuart Davis: In Full Swing (2016); Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery (2016); Barbara Kruger: in her own words (2016); Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, (2011); Joan Miró: Ladder of Escape (2012); George Bellows (2012); Paul Gauguin: Maker of Myth (2011); Arcimboldo: Nature and Fantasy (2011); In the Tower: Mark Rothko (2011); JMW Turner (2007); Edward Hopper (2007); Jungles in Paris: Henri Rousseau (2006); Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre (2005); The Art of Romare Bearden (2003)
NEWSEUM (The Freedom Forum) (Original Newseum in Arlington, VA)
1996 - 2001
Project Manager, Curatorial Department
• Served as department’s key liaison to museum departments and outside contractors, managing all aspects of exhibits from inception to installation.
• Researched and developed exhibit content, including image and artifact research
• Developed and managed exhibition and project schedules. Monitored the progress and approvals of work including exhibition content, text editing, and exhibition design and production.
• Managed design, fabrication, installation, and maintenance of temporary exhibitions and traveling exhibitions, with staff and outside contractors, including designers, fabrication firms, and exhibition installers. Worked closely with art installers and framers on the installation of exhibitions.
• Researched venues for traveling exhibitions. Managed loans for permanent and traveling exhibits. Updated information systems using databases and the museum’s cataloging system. Created packing lists and instructions for traveling exhibition venues.
• Exhibit Coordinator of the content, design, and installation of the permanent News History Gallery. Coordinated the editing of text. Coordinated work between museum staff and outside designers and fabricators on the installation of the permanent exhibition. Monitored exhibition maintenance, inspecting for damage and working closely with fabricators to repair and refurbish the exhibition.
• Supported marketing department with exhibit promotion, providing materials for marketing strategies and press releases.
•Select list of temporary exhibitions managed: War Stories (2001); The Pulitzer Prize Photographs: Capture the Moment (2000); Holocaust: The Untold Story (2000); This is Nightline, (The 20th Anniversary) (2000); Every Four Years, Presidential Campaign Coverage (2000); The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs in Stalin’s Russia (2000).
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
1994 - 1996
Exhibition Coordinator, Traveling Exhibition Coordinator, Exhibitions Department
• Managed the development and implementation of exhibition content and technical designs. Organized and managed information for exhibit projects including texts, images, footage, and research documents.
• Prepared and managed exhibition schedules, including for the exhibit development, design, fabrication and installation, prepared status reports and schedules.
• Worked closely with exhibition design firms and installation firms to coordinate all aspects of exhibition production. Served as liaison to other departments and contractors. Monitored and oversaw exhibit refurbishment and repairs.
• Researched venues for traveling exhibitions, served as liaison with venues.
Exhibitions: Liberation 1945 (1995) and The Nazi Olympics, Berlin 1936 (1996).
Job related coursework
Introduction to Virtual Reality, University of London & Goldsmiths, University of London (MOOC, 2018)
Microsoft Project 2013: Level 1 (2018)
Producing the Micro-Budget Film, Maine Media Workshops, (August 2012)
Graduate classes from Syracuse University in Art History and Museum Studies (1992-1994)
Education:
Skidmore College Saratoga Springs, NY, Bachelor's Degree Major: Art History Minor: Studio Art