What happens when a Pritzker Prize winning architect and a world-renowned landscape designer join forces with the most prolific collector of modern and contemporary sculpture in the world? The answer is — the breathtakingly beautiful architectural masterpiece set in an urban oasis in downtown Dallas, Texas — the Nasher Sculpture Center.

Charged with building interest and excitement for the museum's opening in 2003, Richards Partners probed consumer attitudes about leisure time, museum-going and the accessibility of modern art and found that potential visitors were intrigued, if intimidated by the prospect of a museum full of sculpture. Our task was to make the topic more accessible while building buzz for the museum as the "next, new thing" to see and do.

A list of some 2,000 local, regional, national and international media contacts was built and honed into an "A-list" of high-priority reporters specifically tapped to carry the Nasher story. A master pitch calendar with story angles refined to each outlet's audience was developed and timed to production deadlines. In addition, to help build ownership in and excitement for the region's newest cultural treasure, a community relations database of "who's who" was built for inclusion in a public lecture, grand opening and other special events.

Extensive press kits, along with important key messages, were developed and initially shared with long-lead publications that sent representatives to tour the museum and interview Ray Nasher and others. A week prior to opening, a two-session media preview day welcomed 130 more journalists. Architect Renzo Piano's public lecture boasted a standing room only crowd with more than 1,800 people in attendance. Hundreds of civic and political leaders shared in a televised ribbon cutting followed by a free admission day enjoyed by 7,600 visitors from all walks of life. The 540 print, online, newsletter and broadcast stories surrounding the opening were valued at more than $4.3 million in non-weighted advertising value.