Melissa Richardson Banks is an arts and cultural communications strategist, publicist, producer, and exhibition specialist with more than three decades of experience working with artists, museums, exhibitions, collections, cultural organizations, and creative projects.
Since founding CauseConnect in 2001, Melissa has built a multidisciplinary practice that extends well beyond traditional public relations. Her work encompasses strategic communications and media relations; museum and exhibition publicity; touring exhibition development and management; artist and collection management; cultural partnerships; art publications; audience development; and the production of cultural programs, events, and original content.
At the center of Melissa’s work is a deep understanding of how the arts ecosystem operates, and how artists, museums, collectors, curators, lenders, media, funders, partners, and audiences connect.
A Career Built Across the Arts
Since 2002, Melissa has worked with Cheech Marin and his renowned collection of Chicano art, organizing and touring more than a dozen museum exhibitions drawn from the collection to more than 60 venues throughout the United States and Europe. Her work with Cheech has expanded over more than two decades to encompass collection management, acquisitions, museum and curator relationships, exhibition development and touring, publications, media relations, public appearances, and special projects.
Melissa has also played an ongoing leadership role in building national awareness and developing key relationships to support The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, which opened in 2022 as a permanent home for Marin’s collection and a center for the study and presentation of Chicano art.
Her museum and exhibition work is complemented by decades of experience producing cultural programs and connecting people with art. Melissa has curated large-scale art and community festivals, produced intimate art-and-music salons, organized collector programs and artist studio visits, created custom art experiences, advised and promoted artists, and developed partnerships among cultural organizations, artists, businesses, and communities.
Through her firm CauseConnect, she has also developed and executed cause-marketing programs and initiatives for major corporations including Toyota, Target Corporation, City National Bank, Bank of America, and Farmers Insurance. That experience continues to inform Melissa’s approach to partnerships, sponsorships, audience development, and strategic communications.
Arts Communications + Cultural Media
Today, Melissa’s practice increasingly brings together communications, cultural strategy, publishing, photography, video, and independent arts media.
She is the founder, editor and publisher of MUSED Houston, an independent, comprehensive and collaborative arts platform created to expand awareness and coverage of Houston’s visual and performing arts. Through its weekly newsletter, arts calendar, editorial coverage, podcast, video, and social media, MUSED Houston allows Melissa to engage with the cultural community from another perspective: not only as a publicist and strategist, but also as a publisher connecting artists and cultural organizations directly with audiences.
In Los Angeles, many know Melissa as Downtown Muse, the photographer and writer who documented everyday life in the Arts District of Downtown L.A. through thousands of photographs during a period of extraordinary transformation from 2011–2016.
Across all of these roles, the common thread is simple: Melissa connects people with art. She helps artists and cultural organizations articulate their stories, build relationships, reach audiences, and create meaningful cultural experiences.
And Melissa still believes in experiencing—and sharing—art every day.