Best of CASE District VII Award
 

Institution: University of California, Davis

Title of entry: “Year of the Eggheads” 30th Anniversary Launch Events

About this entry: UC Davis Strategic Communications partnered with the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, the Robert Arneson estate, and the College of Letters and Science to host both a VIP launch event and a broader campuswide “birthday celebration” for the “Year of the Eggheads” kickoff.

The day began early with local news and TV crews promoting the Egghead launch during the morning shows and captured video and candid photos throughout the morning and afternoon.

Attendees of the gala evening event included sponsors, supporters and faculty of the arts programs at UC Davis. Special guests included the family of the estate of Robert Arneson, who was a UC Davis faculty member from 1962 to 1991 and the creator of The Egghead Series, the first public artwork commissioned specifically for the UC Davis campus. For the past 30 years, the Eggheads have been markers of tradition, sites of celebration, platforms for protest and sources of pride. They’ve even become informal mascots.

The goal of the event was to unveil a never-before-seen art display of original Egghead maquettes, a new limited-edition product line to be known as the Arneson Egghead Collection, and plans for a year-long celebration of the past, present and future of art at UC Davis.

The event was filled to capacity, with over 250-300 attendees throughout the evening events. This would be just the first of many successes throughout the 12-month run of the campaign.