VAN GILL MARAVALLI

Where ART and PR cometogether

'13 '16

Intro to PRBy: Gigi Hull

an Gill Maravalli is a public artproject coordinator for the city ofNashville. She helps commission newart around the city, helps select artistsfor different projects, helps run citizenselection panels, overlooks thecompletion of artist contracts fordifferent public art projects, and relaysinformation about new projects to thepublic and to the city council.

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Van Gill Maravalli studied Studio Art at theSchool of Art Institute of Chicago and thenreceived a Bachelor of Arts in History fromSamford University in Birmingham, Alabama.Maravalli got an internship with Metro Arts(Nashville’s Art Department) right out of hercollege years and found that she much ratherpreferred being a voice for or giving a platformto other artists rather than creating her own art.After she ended her internship with Metro sheknew she wanted to be a project coordinator,and luckily enough that position then becameavailable at Metro and she was able to applyand then get the job- which she currently holdstoday.

public art

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thanks toMaravalli

01 Handlebar Moustache

02 Corn and Tomato

03 Emerge

04 City Irises

05 Bicycle Copse

06 Airwave

07 Capital

Interview Project for Intro to PRwhere ART and PR come together

by: GIGI HULL

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PROJECTCOORDINATOR

"The re ' s no ' t yp i ca l day ' he re .Eve ryday l ooks d i f f e r en t , and i t ' sg rea t , " Marava l l i

M A R A V A L L I T A L K S A B O U T B E I N G A

Average DayWhen I asked Van whatan average day looks likefor her, she, of course,

prefaced her answer with,

“no day is the same.” Shecontinued by explaininghow some days she is satin front of her computerreplying to people’semails reacting todifferent art installmentsaround Nashville. Andthen other days she isgoing to potential artist’sstudios and seeing whatthey have to offer and ifthey would be a good fitfor the current projectshe is working on. Andthen there are dayswhere she is giving apress release on theirnewest project. Andthat’s one of the greatthings about her job, sheclaims. It lacksmonotony.

Best PartAlthough when I questionher on what the best part ofher job actually is, shequickly answers that it’s thefinished product. She is apart of the whole processduring an installation,starting with the idea,picking the artist, workingwith the artist, getting thepublic’s feedback. Seeingthe finished product, andgetting excited about theway that it turned out wouldin the end be so rewarding.Worst PartShe contrasts this withtelling me what the worstpart for her is. She sayswhenever the public have anegative reaction to one ofthe projects she helpedfacilitate, that it’s hard to nottake it personally. And thatshe has a lot of people sheneeds to please with this jobbecause it is governmentmoney she is spending, andshe wants to pleaseeveryone, even though thattask is impossible.

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Maravalli wishes that when she started she knew negative feedback is almost neverpersonal. She said she would have told herself to not be apologetic about the artisticchoices she made and will make in her career, and to always be bold.

FEATURES LOOKING BACK

What is something you wish you had known before youbecame a communications professional?

GIGI HULLREGARDING MARAVALLI'S JOB

MORE QUESTIONS

PROJECTCOORDINATOR

PROJECTDIRECTOR

PROJECTCOORDINATOR

PUBLIC ART STAFFMaravalli is one of two project coordinators who work under the project director in thepublic art staff. It is a three person team.

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DEFINITION OFPUBLICRELATIONS

PR IN PROJECTCOORDINATION

The strategiccommunicationmanagement functionthrough which organizationsbuild and maintain mutuallybeneficial relationships withthe public on whom theorganizations’ successes orfailures depend.

When I asked her what kind of role PR plays in her job, sheexplained her answer with a hat metaphor. Because it is sucha small team (the public art staff), they all three wear so manydifferent hats. One of the hats Maravalli and her team wearvery often is being a public relations professional. She neverthought nor was she educated in writing press releases inschool but she is constantly presenting new projects to thepublic in the most appealing ways hoping for positivefeedback. Whenever there is negative feedback, she has toassess the situation and react to what the public are saying-whether that be in a press release or to keep in mind forfuture installments. Some significant issues Maravalli deals with in her job todayare building out more room for local artists, giving local artistsas much attention as possible because they have lived andgrown in this city so they know Nashville better than otherartists, space and the lack of it, the dying appreciation for art,and the constant fight she is in for its relevance.

By: GIGI HULL

INTRO TO PRp

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