Understory: Sixteen Sponsor Activations Inside the Washington National Cathedral
The Brief & Scale
Brought in by Comment Magazine to produce the Nave Nook portfolio at its inaugural national festival of ideas: sixteen partner-built experiential installations along the historic arcades of the Washington National Cathedral, for a sold-out audience of 950+ across fifty breakout sessions.
Production Scope
Sole point of contact for thirteen institutional sponsors including Fuller, Baylor and the University of Notre Dame. Owned the master tracking system for all sixteen installations, held vendors, print production and rental submissions against the event firm's schedule, ran a ten-person volunteer team on site, and reconciled pass-through billing at the close.
The Operational Challenge
The Cathedral has no loading dock. Every crate, print order and rental for sixteen installations came in by courier through a working national landmark, inside fire-egress rules that cap what can sit in an arcade, on a schedule owned by an outside event firm.
Sixteen Installations on One Tracking System
Built and owned the master tracking system for all sixteen installations, the single line between institutional sponsors, Cathedral leadership and the event production firm.
Established freight, receiving and storage protocols for a venue without a loading dock, managing courier deliveries, load-in windows and Cathedral fire-egress compliance.
Managed print orders, rental submissions and pass-through billing across thirteen institutional sponsors, holding vendor deadlines that protected project margins.
Led load-in and pack-out with a ten-person volunteer team, pre-building installations for flight-delayed partners and running fixes through show days.
Sixteen Installations, No Dock
- A landmark venue, worked around. Established freight, receiving and storage protocols for a building with no loading dock, managing courier windows and Cathedral fire-egress compliance across sixteen separate installations.
- Sponsor relationships held single-handedly. Ran thirteen institutional sponsors as sole point of contact, enforcing print and rental deadlines that protected project margin and reconciling pass-through billing at close-out.
- Triage on the day. Pre-built installations for partners whose flights were delayed, captained the volunteer team through load-in, hosted a breakout session, spoke in the Friday debate, and ran pack-out.