Guggenheim Collection digitalized

About the practice

During the pandemic, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection transformed its online presence, making it the primary way to engage with the museum while it was closed. They adapted existing activities like "Art Talks" and "Children's Day" to be accessible from home through recordings and tutorials.

Additionally, they introduced new online events like the Art Quiz and Peggy Guggenheim's autobiography reading. The museum established a consistent schedule, attracting audiences with specific interests. They increased their posting frequency, providing daily content. Notably, the social media manager and an intern worked together to create "5 Facts," sharing lesser-known details about artists' lives to engage a broader audience beyond art experts.

About the institution

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection organized a weekly program on its social media channels during the pandemic to continue sharing the collection's content and the knowledge of its staff with the public. Each week it organized different activities, each associated with a personal hashtag, concerning both the collection's contents and its temporary exhibition, the life of Peggy Guggenheim and various anecdotes about her, as well as contemporary history.

Context

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection had about 1,300 visitors each day before the pandemic, and had no more visitors in March 2020 due to the outbreak of the pandemic.

Success factors

Connection, adaptation, community

Target audience

This practice is aimed at the general public, especially families and children who experienced the closure and had more leisure time to spend and used social media more than before.

In particular, it was initially aimed at the Italian public, as it was the first country in Europe to be closed. This is evident in the choice of content language; where English was previously the main language used, in this project most of the content is available in both English and Italian.

Sustainability

This practice is easy to replicate without significant financial investment. Many cultural institutions already have online channels to implement similar activities. The key difference is the time needed to create content, which may strain existing social media staff or require additional resources. The success of this practice is also due to the Collection's strong social media presence with its audience.

Digital tools

The technological tools used in this practice are easily accessible and don't require specialized knowledge to operate. Content shared on social media was mainly captured with simple tools like smartphones, making it easy for interns and employees to use without any extensive training or challenges.

Funding

The good practice was funded solely by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

Plans

The collection already had a wide audience before the pandemic and was built during the pandemic on the success it had gained previously. Additionally, the nature of these institutions made it easy to find content to create for visual social media, such as Instagram, but this may be different for other types of cultural activities (such as theaters).

Organization/ Institution
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Good practice link
https://www.guggenheim-venice.it/
Address
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Dorsoduro 701, 30123 Venice
Contact person on good practice
Maria Rita Carilli, Press office & Social Media Manager,info@guggenheim-venice.it