AMANDA BROOKS
Museum Specialist,
Imaging Manager

The 3Q digital video series is a valuable tool both for furthering the Office of Art in Embassies (AIE) mission abroad and for giving stateside citizens an access point to understanding the importance of that mission. Created during the COVID-19 pandemic by Amanda Brooks, with co-production assistance of Victoria See, when in-person outreach was impossible, the video series is a way for lending artists to thoughtfully showcase their art, how they make it, and the intention behind it to a broader audience internationally.

For Americans who will likely never visit an embassy overseas, and for some who potentially have never been to an art gallery, the 3Q videos are an invaluable way of experiencing the art and humanizing the artist. The twenty-nine 3Q videos produced in 2021, which centrally contributed to over 77,000 watch time minutes and 18K views on AIE’s YouTube channel, and those that continue to be produced in the ongoing series, are a way for Embassy public affairs teams to engage the local community, showing how art can connect people across borders, languages, and cultures. 

Amanda and Victoria began this series with the idea that it might lend a more hopeful voice to the world and bring people into artist's worlds and homes, to find common ground without a common language. They  found a way with no budget to interview artists remotely on Zoom, and have worked to produce high production value videos, which are given back to the artists to share with their followers organically, and to promote them internationally as a wonderful example of American culture.