Sturbridge M.A. – Earlier this summer, Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) added two new hires to their newly restructured Marketing department in an effort to centralize communications and content production at the museum. Lex Piccione was hired as Lead Designer and Christine Freitas for a newly created position, Director of Communications and Content.
While a lot of organizations have been forced to downsize over the past year, Old Sturbridge Village has continued to grow and expand on their programs and educational resources. This has given the Village the opportunity to bring in new talent and promote already existing talent within the organization. The divisions of program and interpretation, museum education, collections, and research have also added staff to support the mission of the Village. “We set out to expand the capacity of the existing Marketing department at OSV earlier this year in an effort to streamline and manage messaging and communications across all departments at the Village,” said Christine Tieri, Chief Marketing Officer.
Lex Piccione was an obvious and strong choice for the museum. She comes to the Village after spending six years as a Graphic Designer for the Boston Children’s Museum. Originally from Killingly, CT, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SNFA) and Tufts University. She spent a semester abroad at the Studio Art Center International in Florence Italy and also has a Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
She has a wealth of experience designing for similar audiences. “Design has a big part to play in broadening the demographics of visitorship because it will be up to us how content is perceived and viewed by potential visitors,” says Piccione. “I learned about accessibility and inclusive design at Boston Children’s Museum, and I plan to use this knowledge to help Old Sturbridge Village in their ongoing efforts. Even now, I am applying these skills to many different design initiatives.”
When asked what excites her about her new position, Piccione says, “The unique challenge that the Village faces with design is trying to keep the ambiance and integrity of the 1830s while using modern technology (computers/digital printers) and catering to modern and diverse audiences.” Already in her time here she has capitalized on the extensive collection of historical resources available at the museum, including using actual fabric swatches to design labels for jams and jellies in our retail shop.
Tieri’s vision also includes rallying all visitor, donor, member, and educational communications through one channel for consistency and to maintain a strong brand identity. To help her manage that initiative, she brought on Christine Freitas in a newly created position, Director of Communication and Content.
Freitas has a background in educational publishing and content marketing at publishers, including Thomson Learning (now Cengage), Pearson, Pioneer Valley Books, and most recently, the non-profit Center for Responsive Schools. With a B.A. in Journalism/Mass Communications from St. Bonaventure University, she has a strong record of managing high-performing content, design, and production teams for over 20 years. She says, “Working for the museum embodies all of the favorite parts of my past experiences and I’m excited at the prospect of the museum actually doing some of their own publications.”
When asked about the challenges she sees in her new position, she is excited about organizing and streamlining processes for efficiency, accuracy, and consistency, especially with a newly formed team. “I’m particularly excited about creating new ways for visitors to experience the museum, whether it’s an expansion of Virtual Village or the in-person experience. I’d also like to one day see researchers and fellows create and publish content using our collections, resource library, and historians as a resource. It’s a way to expand our reach and brand to new audiences and to refresh the stories of the past.”
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