New IMZ Member: JDJK Consulting

A warm welcome to JDJK Consulting, a consultancy by John Kieser and Jennifer Dautermann supporting organisations in connecting artistic vision with impactful media strategies.

I am delighted to reconnect with IMZ, a community of highly talented artists, filmmakers, programmers, and visionaries. I’ve attended Avant Première regularly since 2005 and have had the privilege of teaching at the IMZ Academy. Up to now, I’ve represented four different arts organizations. Today, as co-founder of JDJK Consulting with Jennifer Dautermann, I have a new perspective and purpose.

Working from the vantage point of live performance, I have embraced how digital media has evolved in its creation, distribution, and audience experience. In art music, this shift presents both challenge and opportunity. My work has focused on using media not simply to document performance, but to use it as a launch pad into different digital platforms—extending reach, deepening engagement, and strengthening institutional identity across multiple platforms.

At the San Francisco Symphony, I founded SFS Media. While I led this inhouse media company, it yielded seven Grammy Awards, two Emmys, and projects like Keeping Score. Next, at the New World Symphony, where media was core to both artistic and educational practice, the team and I explored the intersection of live and digital. At IDAGIO GmbH, we found new ways to digitally interact with audiences.

Digital media is most powerful when treated as a creative partner. When integrated from the outset, it enables new forms of storytelling and connection. Through JDJK Consulting, I now help organizations think differently about growth and how to align artistic vision with media strategy to create meaningful and compelling audience engagement.