Holistic approaches to public art commissions
By Nadya Wang

This article is a part of CHECK-IN 2025, our annual publication. You can purchase the physical edition (with access to the digital copy) for SGD38, or the digital copy for SGD5 here.

Lawa Lu is founder of Good Shot Public Relations, a Taiwan-based public relations (PR) agency specialising in arts and culture projects. She has more than a decade of experience in the arts media industry. Good Shot has worked with clients such as National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei Dangdai Art & Ideas, Indigenous Peoples Cultural Development Centre and Juming Museum, among others.

In this conversation, Lawa offers insights on the arts media and PR landscape in Taiwan. We also discuss the relationship between PR firms and media outlets as well as the role that they can play in the arts ecosystem. It is a peek into the systems behind developing impactful messages and sustaining long-term collaborations.

Tate Modern International Art Collection Director Gregor Muir giving a curatorial tour of *Capturing the Moment: A Journey Through Painting and Photography* (2024) at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.

To start, please tell us about your prior work experiences, and how they led to the founding of Good Shot Public Relations.

I initially worked in advertising sales for the magazine industry, covering electronics, other traditional exports, and luxury fashion. In 2012, I transitioned to arts media. I discovered that Taiwan had very few professional PR companies specialising in the arts. Most of the public relations specialists were individual operators.

I began taking on media promotion work for art exhibitions, performing arts, films, and arts festivals, gradually building up relevant experience. As I was doing so, I increasingly observed that PR for the arts in Taiwan lacked an international vision and a long-term commitment to the cultural sector. I founded Good Shot Public Relations with like-minded partners, to provide PR support for the Taiwanese arts and culture industry that would be more strategic and internationally oriented.

What are the services that Good Shot Public Relations offer? And in what ways are they similar and different to other PR agencies out there?

The team at Good Shot possess both an arts media background and cross-industry PR experience. Our core members have extensive practical experience in domestic and international media promotion and project operations. We have offices in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and stay rooted locally while having an international perspective.

Our services include media strategy, media relations management, brand image management, crisis PR management, event planning, advertising placement and social media marketing, as well as corporate sponsorship and cross-industry collaboration matching. We work with our clients on art, architecture and design exhibitions, and more.

I believe PR companies do not differ greatly in their service offerings. The key points are still what each client needs, and what the PR company can provide. Our strength lies in creating customised integrated marketing solutions based on the clients’ needs and challenges.

Behind the scenes at the media preview of the 2024 Asian Art Biennial: How to Hold Your Breath, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art (NTMoFA). Image courtesy of Good Shot PR.

Could you tell us about your team, including core, part-time and project-based members? What are their roles and responsibilities, and how did you arrive at this arrangement?

I work with Alice Chien in Hong Kong and Shueh Ching Lu in Taiwan. They each have a wealth of experience in the media space and are well-versed in global art market trends. They are currently responsible for PR strategy planning, media communications, and maintaining journalist relationships. Beyond our core team, we also maintain long-term partnerships with external video production, photography documentation, and event execution teams. Doing so allows us to flexibly organise according to different project requirements.

The structure has been gradually established since our founding, with the goal of achieving balance between professionalism and agility, enabling us to effectively handle projects of different scales and types. These are trusted partners who are experts in their respective fields. Our ability to consistently provide high-quality services is built upon our shared experiences with our collaborators, and our working chemistry with them.

Curator Nakaw Putun (left) speaking about *RamiS*—Taiwan International Austronesian Art Triennial (2023) on e-classical FM99.7. Image courtesy of Good Shot PR.

Could you please talk about your first big project, or your first project? What made you decide to work with the client, and what made it significant for the agency?

The inaugural Taiwan International Austronesian Art Triennial in 2023 was the first major art exhibition that Good Shot undertook after our establishment, and it served as an important milestone for our company's official launch. I am half-indigenous, so being able to play a part in promoting indigenous art and helping artists gain greater visibility through exhibitions is deeply meaningful work. This project was not only a crucial starting point for our company's development, but also holds profound emotional and cultural significance for me personally.

The Taiwanese Minister of Culture was given a guided tour of *Huang Tu-Shui and His Time: Taiwan's First Western-style Sculptor and the Tokyo Fine Arts School in the Early 20th Century* (2024) at The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts. Image courtesy of Good Shot PR.

Could you talk about other highlights or milestones for the agency since its launch in 2023?

For me, every project is a new challenge and achievement. However, it was a particularly special experience assisting the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art (NTMoFA) in 2024 when they brought Taiwan's national treasure Water of Immortality (甘露水) to Tokyo University of the Arts. The exhibition was titled Huang Tu-Shui and His Time: Taiwan's First Western-style Sculptor and the Tokyo Fine Arts School in the Early 20th Century (黄土水与他的时代－台湾首位西洋雕塑家与20世纪初期的东京美术学校). This was our first time organising PR activities overseas, and we gained invaluable hands-on experience.

How do you engage with journalists in Taiwan and elsewhere?

We prioritise cultivating relationships with the media. Many journalists and editors are long-time friends we have collaborated with for years. We believe that providing different types of media outlets with in-depth and interesting materials is key to long-term partnerships.

Additionally, we place great emphasis on hosting media groups, especially for international delegations. We arrange exhibition visits and in-depth exchanges with curatorial teams, while also incorporating local excursions to help journalists gain a more comprehensive understanding of the cultural background behind exhibitions. This approach often leads to more layered and heartfelt reporting.

What are clients looking for these days from PR agencies, or specifically from Good Shot Public Relations? Structurally, what is the role that PR companies play vis-a-vis in-house marketing efforts and/or media buy agencies? Are services more integrated these days?

In recent years, client expectations of PR companies have evolved beyond traditional media exposure or press release distribution. They now seek comprehensive strategic thinking and integrated marketing recommendations. This is particularly so in the cultural industry, where the primary concern is to create genuine audience connections and brand impressions, and not simply exposure as we have understood it.

Good Shot’s role often involves serving as a bridge between the clients' internal marketing teams and external partners. We help to integrate messaging, streamline content, as well as coordinate media strategy and execution timing. We are not merely a contact point, but participate from the outset in formulating communication strategies and designing expected outcomes, helping clients maximise their resources.

I believe PR services are increasingly moving toward cross-departmental, cross-platform integration. To be effective, in addition to providing point-specific services, we have to emphasise flexibility, content quality, and goal orientation. We strive to create the most suitable collaboration model for each client and project.

Could you speak about what you think is working, and conversely not working in the public relations landscape for visual arts (or for the arts in general) in Taiwan and elsewhere? How do you see your agency solving some of the inherent problems, if any?

In Taiwan, the development of public relations in the visual arts or broader arts field is still in the stage of exploring more mature models. Many arts and cultural organisations, whether they are public institutions such as museums and art galleries, or independent curators, arts festivals, and private art spaces, are actively seeking creative and efficient communication partners. Of course, some art institutions have in-house PR teams.

Government organisations often face challenges due to the limitations of the tender system, as well as rigid budgets, tight schedules, and difficulty adjusting execution content. This prevents them from fully utilising strategic integration and creative operations. While some private arts organisations have greater flexibility, they often miss opportunities for expansion due to a lack of stable resources or experience in external communications.

Good Shot hopes to not just be an executor, but as an integrated partner from early positioning and strategy formulation to execution and effectiveness feedback. We excel at providing flexible communication solutions with local understanding and international perspective under limited resources. Whether for government tenders, brand collaborations, or independent art projects, we can tailor-make effective PR strategies according to their characteristics, helping clients steadily expand their influence and establish long-term sustainable communication models.

Taipei Dangdai International Press Conference, 2024. Image courtesy of Taipei Dangdai.

How do you create a win-win-win situation for the client, the media outlets and Good Shot, so that everyone benefits from working together?

The key to a win-win-win situation lies in good communication and building trust. We approach things from both our clients' and the media's perspectives. During the early planning stages and throughout project execution, we maintain smooth communications with all parties. Having the flexibility to adjust strategies and content makes the work flow more smoothly and helps us achieve our goals.

What are your immediate and long-term plans for sustaining and growing Good Shot?

In the short term, we will continue to strengthen our team capabilities and monitor market dynamics to enhance our expertise in international arts and culture communication. Our long-term goal is to cultivate more arts PR talent with an international outlook, establish a stable professional platform, and work with more partners to propel Taiwan's arts and culture industry onto the world stage.

This article is a part of CHECK-IN 2025, our annual publication. You can purchase the physical edition (with access to the digital copy) for SGD38, or the digital copy for SGD5 here.