First came the trend of turning Disney animated classics into live-action films, then came the As Told By Emoji series on YouTube, and now the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and Oh My Disney are set to tell the tale of Beauty and the Beast in another medium: Snapchat. The four-part series will kick off on LACMA’s (@lacma) Snapchat account tomorrow, October 19th, and conclude on Oh My Disney’s (@OhMyDisney) account on Thursday.
But the fun doesn’t stop there — beginning this month, LACMA, the largest art museum in the western United States, will launch the digital collaboration on the Oh My Disney 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.”
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.”