Barbara Escobar
With experience across nonprofit and commercial arts organizations, Barbara Escobar develops and implements communications strategies for a range of cultural institutions, foundations, and initiatives.
Since joining Resnicow and Associates in 2015, Barbara has mounted communications campaigns and provided strategic counsel for leading arts organizations, foundations, art fairs, and museums, with a specialization in modern and contemporary art initiatives. Recent projects include international campaigns for the opening of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami's new permanent home in the Miami Design District in 2017; and the U.S. Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, commissioned by the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Rose Art Museum and featuring the work of Mark Bradford. She has developed and led wide-reaching campaigns and communications programs for current clients including the Art Dealers Association of America and its annual fair The Art Show, Frieze Art Fairs (New York, London, Los Angeles), Sharjah Art Foundation, and the Dallas Museum of Art; and has conducted international media relations for the opening of the new Australian Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale, the Denver Art Museum, Rolex Philanthropy, Collective Design, and James Carpenter Design Associates.
In 2017, Barbara worked with the Wallace Foundation to launch the "BAS Stories Project," a series of stories and videos to support the foundation's six-year $52-million "Building Audiences for Sustainability (BAS)" initiative. Collaborating with foundation grantees Ballet Austin, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and Seattle Symphony, as well as producers at WNET, Barbara managed the conception, production, and promotion of three stories and videos focused on the organizations' use of market research to support audience-building.
Prior to joining R+A, Barbara was the publicity and events manager at Aperture Foundation, the photography nonprofit and publisher. In that role, she directed institutional communications, publicity campaigns, digital marketing, and social media for more than 120 publications, internationally-traveling exhibitions, and initiatives, including the launch of programmatic partnerships with the Hermès Foundation and Paris Photo. Barbara also managed events, sponsorships, and cross-promotional exchanges with cultural institutions and brands, and produced programming at partner institutions internationally. Previously, she worked in a marketing role at Phillips (New York), and as gallery manager at the visual arts non-profit Transformer (Washington, DC), and has held internships at The Barnes Foundation and Mann Center for the Performing Arts (Philadelphia).
Since 2014, Barbara has been adjunct faculty in arts marketing at SUNY Purchase College. She has served on the advisory boards of the Honolulu Biennial and Musée magazine and is a member of the Whitney Contemporaries. Barbara received a master’s degree in museum studies from Johns Hopkins University and graduated cum laude from Catholic University with a double major in art history and philosophy.
