Barbara Escobar
With experience in both nonprofit and commercial arts organizations, Barbara Escobar develops and implements communications strategies for a wide range of cultural institutions, foundations, and major 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 December 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 also developed and implemented wide-reaching campaigns 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.
In 2017, in coordination with the Wallace Foundation, Barbara managed the launch of the "BAS Stories Project," a series of online videos and written stories to support the foundation's six-year $52-million "Building Audiences for Sustainability (BAS)" initiative. Working with the foundation's grantees, Ballet Austin, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and Seattle Symphony, as well as producers at WNET, she managed the conception, production, and promotion of three "BAS stories." Barbara has also provided 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.
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, digital marketing, and publicity campaigns for more than 40 publications, internationally-traveling exhibitions, and major projects annually, 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 corporate brands, and produced programming in New York and at partner institutions internationally. Previously, she worked in marketing roles at Phillips auction house and Transformer (Washington, DC) and held internships at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts and The Barnes Foundation.
Since 2014, Barbara has been adjunct faculty in arts marketing at SUNY Purchase College. She serves 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.
