Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Linda Patch was Director of Publicity for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) for 10 years. During that time she directed all public relations, media relations, advertising, and promotional efforts on behalf of the Museum on the local, national, and international stage. She supervised a departmental staff, an advertising agency, and additional marketing services.

Construction and Restoration Projects

In her work at the MFA, Linda Patch became one of the country’s leading experts in publicity and public relations for major building openings and renovations. Projects included:

• Opening of Museum’s West Wing designed by I. M. Pei

• Reopening of the restored Asiatic Galleries, housing the most complete assemblage of Asian art in the world

• Opening of Tenshin-En, the Museum’s Japanese Garden

• Reopening of the restored Robert Dawson Evans Wing for Paintings, accommodating the Museum’s European and American masterpieces. For this project she negotiated — at no charge to the Museum — a full-color, 26-page insert in the Boston Sunday Globe distributed to more than 2.2 million readers

• Opening of the major new addition to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

World-Renowned Blockbuster Exhibitions

For all MFA exhibitions, responsibilities included managing all facets of national, local, and international media relations. She also served as Museum liaison to corporate sponsors, international and domestic government agencies, and other museum partners.

Linda Patch supervised all publicity and promotion activities for the following world-renowned blockbuster exhibitions:

Monet in the '90s
Renoir
Camille Pissaro
Goya
The Prints of Edgar Degas
A New World: Masterpieces of American Paintings
The Search for Alexander

Advertising

Responsibilities also included the management and creative development of the Museum’s advertising program.

Education

The publicity for all Museum programming including lectures, concert and film series, children’s programming, etc., was also directed by Linda Patch and her staff.

Ancillary Services

Linda Patch and her department were also charged with promoting and marketing ancillary services such as the Museum’s fine dining restaurant, café, evening hours, rental facilities, and membership.

Crisis Management

Linda also handled sensitive issues with the media such as an art theft, and the sensitive issue of the return of art objects to their countries of origin.

Other Projects of Interest

Linda Patch’s office at the Museum was the first to present to the media the results of a diagnostic CAT scan of an Egyptian mummy! The story went worldwide.

She also supervised the media campaign surrounding Whistler’s Mother first visit to an American Museum, another international media event.

She handled the media relations when a lost painting by Jean Claude Millet was discovered, through X–ray, under another painting in the Museum’s collection.