Of all the stories we chronicled over the past 30 years, none were as fascinating as the 2014 work of fourth-generation Chinese paper cut artist Hua Yuexiu.

Not only were we awarded the honor of designing the University of North Dakota’s official printed catalog prior to her exhibit, but after meeting the artist and witnessing her amazing talent firsthand, we realized the opportunity of promoting the artist and UND’s Department of Art and Design to a greater degree within the community.

Working our connections with the administration of a nearby private school, Ad Monkeys coordinated a visit that took the artist and her ancient artform off the UND campus and into the classroom, or in this case, a school auditorium.

We also hyped the event to local media, who attended the school presentation and interviewed the participants.

The result was a memorable cultural experience for students and faculty of Sacred Heart School in East Grand Forks, front page coverage in the hometown newspaper, and a feature on local TV news.

Ad Monkeys also wrote and produced an original “student news” video package about the exhibit that published on the school’s social media. The video was narrated by our very own junior account executive who was a student there at the time.

The whole experience was successful on many levels: It deepened the artist’s visit to America. It provided an unplanned cultural event for local school children. It resulted in greater public outreach for the University, and it earned us an Addy Award for Copywriting for our short form classroom video.