Digital Content Strategy: Using Technology to tell your Story with JiaJia Fei
By Holly Howe
JiaJia Fei is a New York based digital strategist and founder of the world’s first digital art agency. She previously worked for the Guggenheim and the Jewish Museum in New York. She spoke with our members on the importance of digital content for arts organisations. Her talk took place in June, not long after the murder of George Floyd had become public knowledge and the Black Lives Matter movement had become an even more important movement globally, so she also reflected on the impact of that in the art world.
As someone who was born in China and moved to the US at a young age, JiaJia is more than familiar with the issues affecting people of colour today. She studied art history, despite her scientist parents advising against it, and was aware that she was regularly the only person of colour in the room, in both her studies and the workplace.
“Inequity is born in art history, in our education, in our networking, in the academia that is based on imperialism and a very western centric view – one that is very white.”
There can also be the expectation that as a person of colour, you can fly the flag for any group that may be disadvantaged:
“It’s very difficult to be that person who can be representative of all experiences when you say that term ‘of colour’. There is no way you can represent everyone’s experiences.”
She believes that we all need to educate ourselves on how to be anti-racist and look at our potential “positions of privilege” instead of turning to friends of colour expecting them to teach us – it is not their responsibility.
“As women in the art world it is also our responsibility to not only support this movement but to look around us and see who is missing from the conversation.”
What can you do?
Ways to change and improve your organisation include “breaking that cycle of privilege by opening up access” – that means no more unpaid internships. If you’re part of a larger organisation, then you should create positions such as Chief Diversity Officers. All workplaces should “hold mandatory training sessions about diversity for staff and contractors, and anti-racist training particularly for people who work on the front lines and interface with the public.” Museums and galleries should “start looking at your upcoming exhibition schedules, your collections, and your acquisitions strategies” to see that it reflects diversity. And last but not least, don’t be afraid to raise your hand:
“There are many art histories of the world. When the subject matter of an exhibition might touch upon sensitivities of another culture, it just takes one person on staff to flag something that might be potentially egregious, or say something that other people might not be aware of because they don’t have these perspectives.”
Building her own company
JiaJia set up her own company a few months ago – though she has still to name it! – as a result of her own experiences working in the art world. Having worked for museums for over a decade, primarily leading digital projects, she wanted to fuse her love of art and technology in order to make the art world accessible to more people.
Due to the closure of many physical spaces during the pandemic, companies have had to completely change the way they do business. JiaJia likens it to the ways newspapers had to evolve when the internet came along, though believes that “institutions should have been thinking about it all along”.
She started the company because she realised that there are very few digital agencies out there with the duel knowledge of art and technology. While there are many digital tools available – websites, social media, video streaming – many organisations don’t know where to start. “One of the questions I’m often asked is how do I choose the right platform?”
Keep it simple
Organisations may need to rethink their traditional marketing and communication strategies and start using digital tools to help them reach a bigger and more significant audience. There are also tools that can automate some of those tasks. But don’t feel that you have to choose the latest “buzz” tool.
“I advocate avoiding the shiny products! There’s always some new VR or AR product that never takes off, primarily because the audience doesn’t exist. I always advocate for the lowest common denominator of digital experiences. When you think about technology in the art world, it doesn’t have to be the most expensive or the most complicated product, because you also have to think about the end user. Perhaps not everyone has a VR headset at home. But everyone has a computer and a high-speed Internet connection and a mobile device.”
She recommends focusing your plan on how to reach those people and to create a low barrier for technology experiences.
Another tip is not to spread yourself to thin. Do you need all those microsites and smaller departmental social media accounts? Try to consolidate what you have so you can concentrate on your main platforms and ensure they are providing strong content that reflects your goals. And make sure that it is up to date and that you’re thinking ahead for the next iteration:
“Technology continues to evolve as our iPhones do so every year you need to update your technology to maintain it and you need to make sure that it continues to retain the content it is meant to support… upon releasing the first edition of your project, you immediately need to be working on version 2.0. Most people don’t think about that.”
Galleries are upping their game
JiaJia sees a huge shift happening right now in the commercial gallery space and believes that “the art world is the only creative industry in which for-profit lags behind non-profit in terms of digital innovation.” Just as museums created content to engage with the public, galleries are now tasked with thinking in the same way and have been adopting many of those strategies.
While she is not a massive fan of online viewing rooms (OVRs), she does see them as leading a shift in how we view art. Led by the first OVRs at Art Basel Hong Kong, galleries have now started showing the prices of art works, something that rarely occurred at physical fairs.
“I think galleries had always been very reticent to [have this] transparency because of how they operated…but that has completely changed, and that will probably inform future presentations of art online.”
Content will always be king
JiaJia explains that whatever platform you’re using to drive engagement, you must have the content in place to support it: “The greater the access to art by a broader audience through content, the greater you can reach people for whatever your mission or goals are, whether it’s expanding your audience, increasing viewership, or even selling art online, that has to be done through content.”