Profile of Shamus Adams
Originally published in Smithsonian’s The Torch, March 2008
Once upon a time, people used to visit museum web sites to get directions, check open hours and perhaps see a list of the exhibitions on view. Log on to www.cooperhewitt.org or any SI museum site, however, and it is immediately apparent how much more interactive these virtual portals have become, thanks to audio-visual production specialists like Shamus Adams. For example, on Cooper-Hewitt’s web site, you can listen to a panel of experts discuss design education, explore exhibitions by viewing footage shot inside the galleries, or watch a famous designer win a National Design Award. Innovators like Adams are redefining the Smithsonian visitor experience both online and in the brick-and-mortar museums.
For Adams, working in film and video initially felt more like a hobby than a true calling. The Nebraska-born 36-year-old got his start working at Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic in Princeton, NJ. As Assistant Studio Director, he collaborated with volunteers to produce textbooks on tape, and later helped the organization navigate the transition to digital production. Though he found the work rewarding, Adams next decided to explore opportunities in the television industry, accepting video production jobs at stations in Madison, WI and Portland, ME. The T.V. world proved grueling but educational; as Adams explains, “I ran camera, audio and graphics for 6 different news shows everyday. From running election night coverage to Super Bowl parades and retail furniture store commercials, it was the best learning experience I could have had.”
Fast-forward to 2005, when Adams joined the Education department at Cooper-Hewitt as the first-ever audio-visual production specialist. His task: to anticipate and facilitate the presentation needs of the staff for both meetings and public programs, and generate audio and educational video content for exhibitions and the CHNDM web site. Recently, Adams teamed up with curator Cynthia Smith to interview designers featured in the “Design for the Other 90%” exhibition, which presented design solutions to real-world problems plaguing impoverished nations and regions hit by natural disasters, like post-Katrina New Orleans. “Of all our public programs captured and available on the web, videos for ‘Design for the Other 90%’ have been by far the most popular,” Adams said. “The notion that I’ve had a front row seat in the great discussion of these very complex issues is rather humbling and very inspiring.”
On a day-to-day basis, Adams, along with colleague Alex Tibbets, fields questions from the CHNDM staff concerning everything from creating power-point presentations to copying DVD material to converting different image formats. They are also in charge of maintenance for the myriad audio and video equipment stored at the museum. Editing footage from recent programs and museum events is time-consuming but necessary for Cooper-Hewitt’s web content to stay current. “It is our goal to keep producing as much lively and informative content as possible,” Adams says. With the museum undergoing an extensive renovation next year, some galleries will be dark, making it all the more important for the web site to be engaging and up-to-date.
Though much of Adams’ work happens behind-the-scenes, it does not go unnoticed—in 2007, he was the recipient of an Unsung Hero award, which his co-workers agree could not have been a more appropriate acknowledgment of his committed work ethic. Says Education Director Caroline Payson, “The beautiful work that Shamus produces for Cooper Hewitt exemplifies his tremendous talent and dedication. He is an asset to the department and we would truly be lost without him!”
As Cooper-Hewitt forges into the future, its exhibitions will continue to get more technologically complex, with multimedia components becoming a common facet in exhibition design. For instance, when visitors tour “Campagna Brothers Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection,” which opened on February 14, they can watch footage of designers Fernando and Humberto Campagna sorting through Cooper-Hewitt’s vast collection and gain insight into how objects were selected for the show. Despite what he calls the “inevitable chaos” of sometimes working under tight deadlines, Adams feels “luckier than anybody” to lend his talents to Cooper-Hewitt. “I’m charged with capturing the true possibilities that the design process and design thinking can give to teachers and students,” he says. “ I don’t feel I’ve yet come close to doing that, but it is all I’m devoted to.”