Foundation adds new focus to marketing

Item by Chris Graham
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The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation is stepping up its tourism marketing efforts.

The foundation announced yesterday that it has hired Terence Heder to a newly created position of program manager for field services. Heder, who comes to the SVBF from Meridian, Miss., where he had been the executive director of the Meridian Museum of Art for the past 17 years, will coordinate the foundation’s efforts in interpretive and tourism marketing, and will work closely with Civil War sites, tourism offices and other partners in the Valley to help visitors explore the Valley’s rich Civil War history.

“We had great success at the museum with programs that included an historical focus,” Heder said. “Programs that used art and history and various media – narratives, poetry, live performances, film, archival recordings, period music, and artifacts – to tell a story. This immersive approach made exhibits such as ‘The Life and Times of the Queen City’ and Black History programs such as ‘Eyewitness: You Are There’ more effective, and more appealing to a broader audience. It also meant that our success was dependent upon partnering with other organizations; collaborations gave us greater reach, wider input, and a much bigger impact.”