Staff Spotlight: Brea Cunningham
Every community has a heartbeat—and at Minnetrista, you can feel it in the stories we tell, the people we welcome, and the moments we create together. Few people champion that rhythm more than our Director of Marketing & Communications, Brea Cunningham. With a storyteller’s heart and a deep love for this region, Brea helps shape the experiences and connections that make Minnetrista feel like home. From lifting up local voices to crafting invitations that say ‘you belong here,’ her work is rooted in community, creativity, and the belief that stories bring people closer.
Read on to learn what inspires Brea and why Minnetrista has become such a meaningful place in her life.
Q: What brought you to Minnetrista, and what drew you to work at a museum and gardens?
A: I’ve always believed that the best communities are built through stories—the ones we inherit, the ones we create, and the ones we share with each other. When I discovered Minnetrista was looking for someone to help shape its voice and strengthen its connection to the community, it felt like the perfect intersection of everything I care about.
From the moment I stepped onto the campus, I felt that mix of nostalgia, peace, and possibility. There’s something special about a place where people from all walks of life can explore, learn, and genuinely feel like they belong. That mission—welcoming every person, every family, every story—is what pulled me in. And working in a museum and gardens means I get to merge creativity, education, history, and nature into one big, meaningful storytelling adventure.
Q: What’s a favorite memory you have of Minnetrista, either as a team member or before you started working here?
A: Before I ever worked here, Minnetrista was one of those places I’d wander when I needed a breath—a reset. I remember walking the grounds one fall afternoon, surrounded by color and quiet, thinking, this feels like a place where people find themselves.
As a team member, my favorite moments happen when I see that same feeling spark for someone else. Sometimes it’s a child seeing the Freedom Bus for the first time, or a family laughing together during one of our free community events, or a visitor pausing in the gardens just to take in the view. Those tiny moments are really big ones—reminders of why we do what we do. Every program, exhibition, or sign we make is a small part of an experience that could become someone’s lifelong memory. That’s the magic of Minnetrista, and I love being part of it.
“Belonging begins with stories—with the moments that make someone think, ‘I see myself here.’ When people hear themselves reflected in a place, that’s when they know they’ve found home.”
Q: How does your role support Minnetrista’s mission to foster a love of learning across generations and engage the community through the beauty of nature, the richness of art, and the heritage of East Central Indiana?
A: In Marketing & Communications, I sit at the intersection of storytelling and community
connection—which means I’m responsible not just for how Minnetrista looks to the public, but for how people feel when they engage with us. My role supports the mission by making sure our work is visible, accessible, and understood across generations. If people don’t know about the exhibitions, the gardens, the programs, or the history we steward…then we’re not fulfilling our mission, no matter how great the work is.
A big part of my job is outreach—the real kind. Not just posting a graphic, but building relationships, listening to our community, and making sure the stories we tell reflect the people who call this region home. Public relations isn’t about spin; it’s about trust. It’s about showing up, being consistent, and making sure our voice matches our values.
I also see our team as translators. We take the beauty of nature, the richness of art, and the depth of local heritage and translate them into invitations—invitations to belong, to learn, to participate, to return. When someone chooses to spend their Saturday at the Farmers Market, bring their child to a class, or wander an exhibition because they saw a story that resonated with them, that’s when the mission becomes real.
At the end of the day, part of my job is to bridge Minnetrista and its community. To make sure our impact isn’t quiet. To help people see themselves reflected in this place. And to ensure that the stories we tell—and the relationships we build—keep Minnetrista vibrant and relevant for generations to come.
Q: If you could bring any famous historical figure or artist (past or present) to Minnetrista, who would it be, and what would you show them first?
A: I would bring Faith Ringgold to Minnetrista—an artist whose work blends storytelling, history, and identity in a way that feels incredibly close to my own heart as a Black woman working in the arts. Her quilts, her books, her voice, and her courage to name the world as she experienced it have shaped generations of artists and storytellers.
The first place I’d take her would be to see the Freedom Bus. I’d want her to experience how our community is telling its own civil rights story—not just the national one, but the local one that so often goes unheard. I’d love to talk with her about the power of place-based storytelling, and what it means for a city like Muncie to hold space for histories that are complicated, painful, and essential.
Then I’d walk her through an exhibition and into the gardens, where conversations naturally slow down and deepen. I imagine talking about lineage, representation, and what it means to create art that helps people feel seen — especially in communities where those stories haven’t always been uplifted. I think she’d understand exactly why this work matters here, and why belonging is something we build intentionally, one story at a time.
Q: How do you promote community, service, and creativity in life outside of your work at Minnetrista?
A: When I’m not on campus, you’ll usually find me in one of two places: either serving with the Hamilton Township Volunteer Fire Company or somewhere in the world with a tank on my back and the ocean stretching out around me.
Volunteering as a firefighter has become one of the most grounding parts of my life. It’s a very different kind of service than the work I do at Minnetrista, but at its core, it’s still about showing up for your community—about being there when it matters and offering whatever skills you have to make someone’s day, or even their moment, safer. It reminds me why local stories and local people matter so much to me. Community is something you protect because it deserves protecting.
And then there’s the other side of me—the one who feels most at home underwater. Scuba diving is where I refuel and reconnect. Sharks, coral gardens, deep quiet blue… it’s the place where the world feels both impossibly big and beautifully intimate. I come back from every dive a little braver, a little clearer, and a lot more inspired.
Somewhere between fire calls and saltwater, that’s where I find balance. Those experiences shape how I show up at Minnetrista every day—with a steady hand, a curious heart, and a deep appreciation for the many ways people connect, belong, and find meaning.
A Closing Note From Brea:
When I arrived at Minnetrista a little more than two years ago, I brought with me a deep love for community and the belief that storytelling can build bridges. Since then, I’ve completed thousands of projects, joined the leadership team, and reimagined our storytelling framework so it reflects not just our mission—but the people, histories, and identities that shape this region.
What fills me with gratitude is that Minnetrista never stops asking, “How can we do more good?” Every new idea, every partnership, every reimagined space is rooted in belonging. Helping guide that work—and witnessing its impact—has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my career.