We recently connected with Yang Yu (Prefer Name: Ulaan) Yu and have shared our conversation below.

Yang Yu (Prefer Name: Ulaan), appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Hello, my name is Ulaan. It is really a pleasure of mine to be part of this interview.

I identify myself as a city nomad. As an ethnic minority originally born in Inner Mongolia, China, the diversity of cultural heritage is something that I have been very familiar with since childhood. I am always fascinated by the power of art and culture and firmly believe that they are the natural bonds connecting unique individuals and souls together. I moved to the U.S. for high school at the age of 16, alone, and my first “inhabitant” was a small town called Dover Foxcroft in Maine, where I found lots of similarities with my hometown, Hulunbuir. The same scenic beauty of nature, numerous animals living in harmony with the locals, and the solitude hit you at times making you feel you are so tiny and vulnerable in nature. It was during this time I start my own exploration of art. My dad gave me a 35mm film camera and a digital camera as birthday gifts and I just went crazy with them. Besides photography, I also experimented with other mediums like painting, soft sculpture, and performing arts (visual+music). And I eventually land my focus on photography and soft sculpture in college at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

My art journal is always a process of self-exploration. My works are my personal diaries that share my stories, and my culture with the world. I find my inspiration in the characteristics of nature, religion, animals, and my childhood memories. My fairy tale-themed fiber pieces also display a world of imaginative characters full of tenderness.

By the end of 2021, I decided to name my fiber series “JAHA”. “JAHA” means “inherit” in Mongolian. Mongolians have adopted the technique of felting for decades. As wool is a natural gift from animals, it has its own temperature, the warmth of life. Using a piece of life to re-create a new life through the art of felting is how I embrace the word “inherit”.

It is always my mission to promote JAHA to the world and engage with different people. But as an artist back then in college, I always feel the limitation in the journey of art entrepreneurship. I want to engage with different people in a more relaxing environment instead of a solemn gallery, I want different types of art presented at the same time, same place. This idea drives my passion for art administration and event management. When I completed my master’s at NYU, I immediately found “AAAAH! Culture” with my friends. “AAAAH” stands for Asian Artists and Activities Hub. At AAAAH!, we aim to use the most authentically Asian cultural and art events to connect with diverse communities in New York City. As the co-founder and the project manager of AAAAH! Culture, I am able to combine all my strongest skills and practice them to make all events at AAAAH! high-end. Our first event called “AAAAH! Weekend” ended with a successful two-day run in Soho. We found a great venue in Soho and we split up the venue space into two, so we can have the art fair plus the exhibition together in the same space. We also invited two bands to perform on the reception night to boost up the customer experience and engage with our visitors. Speaking about revenue, though we didn’t make much money from our first event, we did break even. So we came up with a new sales strategy plan which will ensure our revenue to 5K at least on our next event which will happen in upcoming October. Our goal is to make sustainable arts events and our team is working delicately on achieving this goal.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Art business that focuses on events or art crafts might be a little bit different than other types of businesses. Nowadays, the most cost-effective way for start-up entrepreneurs like us is to utilize the power of social media. Making consistent posts and inspiring reels and stories can let your audience and customers be aware of your next step and new works. Engaging with fans and answering their questions through social media also foster their customer loyalty to the next level. Speaking of the event industry, as the shadow of Covid has almost gone here in New York City, we shift our focus from hybrid/virtual events to in-person events, which means, we have to present the attendees with high-end event experiences. Adding more entertainment to further engage with visitors and attendees, coming up with different price packages to extend our target audience map.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

I would say word-of-mouth referral. Before we launched the first AAAAH! Weekend, we spent lots of time drawing the demographic map of our target audience. Asian communities will find a sense of identity and quickly draw connections with other Asian communities at our events while other communities will find new attractions towards the arts, art-related products, music, and the culture we share during the event.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.instagram.com/aaaah.culture/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ulaan_1997/

Image Credits
AAAAH! Weekend Event Photos by Michelle Wang Other photos (wool art portfolio) by me (Ulaan Yu)