World Monuments Fund
Creative Strategy,
Storytelling, Filmmaking
Angkor, Cambodia— The Pilot
Before
Long form copy, an academic lens, and missing the mark when trying to tell human stories.
I was brought on to reshape WMF’s creative strategy for their new digital platform.
For a philanthropic organisation doing incredible work at some of the world’s most iconic heritage sites - from Angkor Wat to the gardens of Versailles - their storytelling was lacking emotional potency, very academically driven, and misaligned with their target audience: a new generation of potential donors and supporters of their mission.
What we did
Prioritised Film & Video
By leaning away from long form copy and endless still images, we made space for emotive short films that better evoked the incredible sites and communities that WMF has touched.
People-First Storytelling
A move away from academic details in main brand comms allowed us to focus instead on more widely interesting stories — of the living culture that continues at WMF’s sites, the people who tend to them, and the resilience of communities healing post-conflict through culture.
Delved into the Archive
WMF had a huge repository of archival images from decades ago that visualised the histories, phases of work and people behind their heritage sites. We reworked these assets before capturing new ones, to paint a fuller picture of these cultural places before, during and after their restoration, and illustrate the visible progress made.
Leveraged In-House Teams
In plugging into the existing comms team rather than outsourcing, I was able to design concepts and content plans that were internally feasible, leveraged the team’s abilities, kept costs low, and introduced new approaches to storytelling that could outlast my personal involvement in communications projects.
The Results
The fullest iteration of this content plan in its intended digital home is not yet launched (coming soon), but it’s already achieved several significant milestones:
Interviews with elderly voices on the ground have been captured and translated in full for the first time
Archival materials and unused existing photos & videos have been resurfaced and repurposed as design materials and social media content
The videos resulting from this project have become hero content pieces for emotive, powerful communication with internal teams, key stakeholders and the public
Evergreen briefing materials for visual direction, video capture, copywriting and creative strategy have been created to allow internal comms teams to create powerful, consistent content in years to come
Every piece of content tells a clear story of the history, progress, and impact of WMF’s work, primed for new and existing audiences to understand and connect with the organisation’s mission and projects more deeply
… and excitingly, the application of similar storytelling approaches and strategies for 3 more WMF projects and counting.
Mosul Cultural Museum
— Project no. 2
I was brought on to help tell the story of WMF’s work at the Mosul Cultural Museum — which was significantly damaged in an attack by ISIS in 2015 — in a way that would resonate with both the local and international community.
All I could find online were accounts of its destruction by ISIS in 2015. I wanted to know more about how creatives and culture were responding, and what the museum represented today.
So instead, I suggested we look beyond the devastating attack, and connect the project to its inspiring wider contexts - the incredible Iraqi Modernist movement of the 70s, and the strengthening cultural pulse in liberated city of Mosul today.
How we did it
Commissioned interviews with artists, heritage professionals, architects, and photographers to share creatives’ and cultural professionals’ lens on Mosul’s destruction and liberation
Scrubbed hours of existing footage and archival materials to tell the story with minimal need for additional filming
Coloured footage from 3+ different cameras and time periods to tell one cohesive story
Focused on the museum’s central position as a cultural hub and active venue for cultural revival in post-liberated Mosul
Researched the museum’s architect, Mohamed Makiya, and his contemporaries, and created social media content that tells the story of a creative movement spanning art and architecture in Iraq
Incorporated input from students and young people whose cultural identity post-occupation is forming through interactions with the museum and its collection