Disney & LACMA Join Forces to Retell Classic Disney Tales Like Never Before
Disney announced today a new social media collaboration with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) that is designed to retell classic Disney tales in a way like never before: Snapchat Stories. Beginning this month, LACMA, the largest art museum in the western United States, will launch the digital collaboration on the @OhMyDisney Snapchat account. Drawing from over 130,000 works in LACMA’s encyclopedic collection, which spans thousands of years and from all around the globe, the teams will use references from pop culture, filters, memes, and whimsical hand-drawn Snapchat overlays to retell some of Disney’s most iconic stories in a lighthearted and contemporary tone. The collaboration will continue on a bi-monthly basis.
“LACMA’s intentionally humorous Snapchat account not only has made important artworks from our collection vastly more accessible to new audiences, but it has also allowed us to explore these artworks from new points of view,” said Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director. “Partnering with Disney—one of the most influential and dynamic storytellers of our time—is a perfect marriage of two Los Angeles institutions that love to engage the public with images.”
The premiere, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, will be featured on both the LACMA (@lacma) Snapchat account, as well as on the OhMyDisney (@OhMyDisney) Snapchat account. Told as a series of four Snapchat stories, Beauty and the Beast will begin on LACMA’s Snapchat account on October 19 and finish on OhMyDisney’s Snapchat account the following day.
In July 2014, LACMA became the one of the first museums to join Snapchat. Since then, LACMA’s Webby award-winning account has garnered the attention of major media companies, social media influencers, and an ever-growing audience for its perceptive commentaries on pop culture. By highlighting significant artworks from the collection in an approachable and playful context, LACMA has successfully sparked a curiosity and interest in art history among younger generations.
“Our Snapchat campaign with LACMA opens up new ways for our audiences to experience art and their favorite Disney stories,” said Dan Reynolds, VP of Content and Audience Development, Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media. “The LACMA Snapchat account already captures that contemporary and culturally savvy voice and tone that our OhMyDisney Snapchat audience loves, and this collaboration is a natural way to add a little magic to art and storytelling to reach a new generation of art and Disney fans alike.”