We recently connected with Dana Mathios and have shared our conversation below.
Dana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I am all about behind the scenes. After the 2018 renovation of the Colorado Snowsports Museum, I had some time to review each exhibition we produced and think about areas that could be improved. One exhibit, in our 10th Mountain Division bay, showcased several overseas handwritten letters to and from World War II soldiers and their families. In custom cases, we displayed letters, which, in retrospect, were not displayed in the most preservationally minded manner – exposed to light and potential damage to the mount areas of the paper. A former employee and I put together an idea to digitize these letters, scrapbooks, and other materials from our collection and display them on a digital touchscreen. This project would give visitors to the Museum the chance to virtually browse our 10th Mountain Division collection, while simultaneously better preserving it for generations to come. This project has been the most meaningful to me for two reasons. At the surface, this project is a digital database that preserves and presents the important history of the 10th Mountain Division soldiers of World War II and their impact on the snow sports industry post-war. This database is unlike any other offered to the public and will, hopefully, become an important tool to descendants of the 10th Mountain Division, researchers, and scholars. At the core of this project, we are doing work to preserve stories and ephemera from these soldiers, which will be so meaningful to their families. How cool will it be for a family member to come to the Museum and search for their relative to find photos, letters, scrapbooks, and more associated with them – including descriptive information along with each item? This exhibit will bring our collection and record-keeping to life and all our behind-the-scenes work will be on display.
Secondly, it allowed me to take advantage of technology to better our institution and mission. While working with Insight Design out of Boulder to create the software used to present our collection, we were able to allow visitors to search our artifacts by a soldier’s name, various emotions, location, rank, and more. In addition, by using this technology, we were able to share more of our collection with the public, as opposed to only a few letters. This technology allowed the Museum to stay on the cutting edge of exhibits.
This project was made possible by a grant from the 10th Mountain Division Foundation and several other important donors. We plan to debut the display in November of 2023.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
After graduating from the University of Denver with a Master’s in Anthropology: Museum & Heritage Studies, I was quickly hired on at the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame as a part-time Collections Assistant. After proving myself, I was asked to stay on full-time to help with the 2018 renovation of the entire Colorado Snowsports Museum. This was an opportunity of a lifetime to be involved with a complete renovation of exhibitions, especially so early on in my career. This project allowed me to understand the importance of storytelling and how to create exhibitions that are artifact-driven. It was a powerful experience to be able to take what appear to be everyday objects and share with our audience the deeper meaning and stories behind these artifacts. One takeaway from this experience was the realization of just how vital behind-the-scenes work is for a museum. From the minute an artifact is donated, record-keeping is paramount. To ensure artifacts can be used in the future for exhibits, one needs to attach stories, people’s names, and events to the material culture. Recording this information is what makes museums and exhibits so important. In my opinion, it’s not as important for a curator to interpret the artifacts, but for a curator to share the donor’s story represented by a given object. What did said item mean to so-and-so and why? Our Museum offers six exhibits that touch on Colorado’s snow sports history from the 10th Mountain Division of World War II to snowboarding history, to snow sports clubs like the National Brotherhood of Skiers. My job now consists of accepting and processing artifact donations, digitization and preventive care for our collection, exhibit development and maintenance, digital and written communications, fielding research inquiries and photo requests, novice graphic design, and managing six social media platforms.
In addition to the renovation, at the same time, I was also asked to revamp the Museum’s social media presence. As someone without professional training in the field, I was completely self-taught and grew to love this new avenue of my career. This opportunity showed me how significant social media is and how it can be used to reach a wider audience. People are curious and want to learn. Social media was the perfect platform for us to engage thousands of snow sports fans across the country and often the world. This revamp allowed us to get the word out about who we are as an institution and what our mission is – while also educating people and having fun. This also opened the door for me to the world of drag-and-drop graphic design. This is now a big part of my job and something I’ve also grown to enjoy doing. I try to find a fun balance of blending our collection with graphic designs, like using vintage ski posters, lift tickets, and other ephemera from our collection.
Through our new exhibits and our greater exposure, we have become the go-to resource for snow sports history not only in Colorado, but the world. We even curated exhibitions for President Biden designating Camp Hale a National Monument, Colorado Governor Jared Polis on his inauguration night, Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper, and international museums.
Lastly, by working on the renovation, I became extremely intimate with the Museum’s collection. This led us to write the book “Skiing in Colorado” with Arcadia Press which will be available in October of 2023. I was happy to spearhead the project and was able to take the preservation work done since 1975 and meld it with photos donated to the institution to curate a glimpse of what skiing in Colorado was and continues to be. If not for the tireless hours saving newspaper clippings, writing biographies, completing donation records, collecting photos, managing metadata, and more – this book could not have been created. I give special thanks to the archivists, collections managers, curators, and volunteers of the Museum’s past. Again, it’s all the behind-the-scenes work that makes a museum.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
What was helpful for me in building our audience and growing our social media presence was fully understanding our brand and living and breathing it online. Our mission is to celebrate Colorado snow sports by telling stories that educate and inspire others to seek adventure. This requires creating educationally driven content associated with historic and contemporary photos and videos. What allows this content to become meaningful is engaging with our audience and this can mean everything from asking questions, encouraging storytelling, replying to comments, and being present to keep conversations and learning opportunities going. I’m not going to lie, sometimes this is messy, ugly, and hard, but it goes a long way and mostly results in positive conversations. Over time I’ve grown to enjoy these conversations and feel like I really know and connect with our audience. I love our biggest fans! Social media can be a dark and mean place. I like to try to add a little tiny bit of light through our fun and educational posts. Furthermore, I’m a fan of social media in my personal life. I know this isn’t for everyone, but being aware of trends and just staying in the know with platforms goes a long way in success. On my personal accounts, I try to experiment and use what I’ve learned there on my work accounts.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
To most people’s surprise, I came to the Colorado Snowsports Museum without ever stepping onto a pair of skis and only riding a snowboard once. My winters growing up in the Midwest mostly consisted of sledding and later in life enjoying a contemporary knock-off version of a Snurfer I’d take to a retention pond across the street from my house with my big sister. Through my job, I was able to understand and appreciate the rich snow sports heritage in Colorado, which influenced me to get back on a snowboard and see what it’s all about. Skiing isn’t seen as just a recreational activity by many people here – it’s a way of life – it is your life. My job made me a snowboarder as opposed to being a snowboarder wanting to work at the Colorado Snowsports Museum. Time and time again I’m surprised by our history and this drives me to try to inspire others to find joy, freedom, and seek adventure through snow sports. At the core of everything I do, I remember that first moment where I was like – I need to try this, and then discovered it’s unlike anything else I’ve experienced in life. I now have a deep appreciation for all snow sports. I ask myself often: How can this exhibit or this post inspire someone to get outside and try a new snow sport? This drives what I create.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.snowsportsmuseum.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coloradosnowsportsmuseum/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColoradoSnowsportsMuseum
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dionisia-mathios-72847960/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/COSnowsportsMus
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqGBnZOa2xAc7QWeFLK8nog
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/colorado-ski-and-snowboard-museum-vail