SUMMIT & FESTIVAL
THE PASADENA PLAYHOUSE PASADENA, CA
MARCH 27-29, 2020
THE NEXT GREAT GATHERING OF THE IMMERSIVE CREATIVE COMMUNITY
Great immersive art and entertainment pulls together the best of what has come before — cinema, games, theatre, theme parks, and installation art— and puts them together in new, dynamic forms. Some take the shape of live experiences, and others are technology-driven.
All of them draw on a common language of immersive design, that has quickly become the most engaging force in entertainment, retail, and fine art.
HERE draws an international audience, and is uniquely set up to bring leading visionaries and emerging talents in these fields together under one roof. These decision makers move the center of gravity in immersive design ever forward, and HERE is the place where they forge new relationships across disciplines and geographies. Its keynote speakers have described our team’s previous iterations as “the immersive community’s version of the origin story of Silicon Valley.”
PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN
GENDER BREAKDOWN
AGE BREAKDOWN
The 2020 Summit will draw on the experiences and talents of the team behind the 2018 & 2019 Immersive Design Summit, which set the standard for what a gathering of the immersive creative community should be while expanding its reach into entirely new kinds of programming with a Pilot Festival.
The first Immersive Design Summit was designed to be intimate and give the event room to grow. As producers, we’ve focused on sustainable growth, and in the new decade the event will grow to match the world-changing ambitions of its attendees. Capacity doubled year over year and HERE will do so in 2020, with a twist:
While the three-day Summit is capped at 300 attendees… an additional 100 tickets will be made available to the Saturday programming. These tickets help answer demand: in 2019 we had to turn away 400 applicants to IDS due to venue limitations.
Throughout this growth, HERE will maintain the intimate, collegiate feel of IDS. Balancing those two factors is the goal of 2020, and clever partnerships will make this happen.
Pilot Festival programming: exclusive to Summit attendees
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the evolution from IDS to HERE is the treasure trove of possibility opened up by creating original public programming. HERE’s Pilot Festival turns the fertile expanse of Los Angeles into a stretch of inspired activations.
For more information about the Immersive Design Summit see the 2019 website.
"The Immersive Entertainment Industry is valued in 2018 at more than $4.5 billion – not even factoring in the $45.2 billion theme park industry."
– Immersive Design Industry Annual Report, released at 2019’s event
ATTENDEES AND SPEAKERS FROM WALT DISNEY IMAGINEERING, MEOW WOLF, OCULUS, THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY, MAGIC LEAP, AND DREAMSCAPE VR RUB SHOULDERS WITH INDIE CREATORS IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT FOSTERS TRUE CONNECTION
The Summit represents the chance for the creative leaders influencing billions of dollars in value and the most innovative independent visionaries in the field to connect, redefining the horizon for immersive art and entertainment.
The Summit and Annual Report also put particular emphasis on how immersive experiences create an impact that changes the behavior of patrons. These steps past the digital era focus on engagement that storytellers, marketers, and policymakers seek: first to action and then to attachment. The Summit itself is built using the same design principles.
Download a copy of the 2019 Immersive Design Industry Annual Report.
Southern California is the epicenter for immersive entertainment: from the design firms that build the world’s theme parks, to cutting edge volumetric video capture, to independent immersive theatre creators exploring new avenues of connection.
By hosting HERE in Pasadena in 2020, we foster the trend in connecting major studios and agencies to the innovative ideas and artists who drive the industry.
Our venue is the historic Pasadena Playhouse, a gorgeous location that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017.
HERE’s Summit will also take place in the Southland in 2021, taking further advantage of the immersive infrastructure of the Los Angeles area.
Draft Schedule March 27 - 29, 2019
Friday, March 27th
Panels, Talks, Workshops. Salons & Festival – INTIMATE CAPTURED AUDIENCE
The Summit community gathers to hear from leaders of the field, dive deep into case studies, and discussions that represent the heart of the art. In addition, our Pilot Festival gives attendees the chance to explore the vibrant world of immersive performance, with talents from Los Angeles and New York City sharing their work.
Saturday, March 28th
Festival, Keynotes, Town Hall & Parties – LARGE INFORMED AUDIENCE
Saturday kicks off with a fireside chat by industry leader Bruce Vaughn, CEO of Dreamscape VR, and builds up to our signature Town Hall event, which gives attendees a chance to make connections across disciplines and geography. Saturday’s expanded audience uses the full capacity of Pasadena Playhouse’s main theatre (626 seats) who will be treated to a vision of the future of immersive entertainment by the visionaries who are building the next wave.
The night carries on with celebrations for our Summit & Keynote attendees, and Pilot Festival artists.
Sunday, March 29th
Workshops, Mentoring Sessions, Panels & Salons – INTIMATE CAPTURED AUDIENCE
We’ll dive even deeper into hands-on experiences facilitated by leaders of business and design, covering everything from immersive performance, puzzle design, entrepreneurship, accessibility, creating inclusive story worlds, and more.
THROUGHOUT
ARRAY OF OFF-SITE PUBLIC PROGRAMMING AROUND LA FOR AUDIENCES OF ALL SIZES
The variety of events curated around HERE are created by the industry’s most brilliant minds, at a level of excitement never assembled in one place, and promoted by the widest array of immersive design journalists ever put together. Prior or currently confirmed coverage includes:
This year we will put a spotlight on the stalwarts of the field while seeking out new voices to share exciting ideas.
Here are some of the speakers and facilitators confirmed for the 2020 Summit.
Bruce Vaughn (Dreamscape VR)
Bruce Vaughn is the CEO of Dreamscape VR, which uses the most advanced VR technologies to create an entirely new form of mainstream location-based entertainment. Vaughn was previously Chief Creative Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering for The Walt Disney Company, for eight years. In this role, he led the integrated creative teams of Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), Disney’s Creative Entertainment (DCE) and WDI Research and Development to drive excellence in product development and innovation. The scope of Vaughn’s responsibilities included theme park attractions and special effects, innovative theater experiences, and new business opportunities that leverage invented and emerging technologies. Disney’s Avatar land, Star Wars lands and Shanghai Disneyland are among the many projects he creatively oversaw. Prior to joining Walt Disney Imagineering in 1993, Vaughn worked on the technical staff of Bran Ferren’s company, Associates & Ferren, in East Hampton, New York for five years where he contributed to the development and execution of special effects for various media projects and received several screen credits for feature films, including Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and Imposter (2001).
Jose Perez III (ILMxLab)
Jose Perez III is Supervisor, Creative Development and Experience Design at ILMxLAB, where he creates groundbreaking virtual reality projects across a number of world-class intellectual properties. On Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series, he oversaw the Lightsaber Dojo, which deftly mixed cinematic-quality immersive environments with the thrill of wielding a lightsaber and the Force against numerous enemies.
For the location-based experience Ralph Breaks VR, Perez drove the overall creative direction of the project from ideation, story contribution, voice-over direction, and interactive mechanics from prototype to finished product. He leads with the philosophy that “awesome interactive experiences require a truly collaborative spirit,” and has a twenty-year, multi-disciplinary background as a game designer, creative director, writer, and animator within both the film and interactive game industries.
Perez has spearheaded many innovative projects using real-time technologies with iconic entertainment companies such as Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Walt Disney Imagineering, Blizzard Entertainment, Capcom, SquareEnix, Microsoft, NCsoft, and the indie record label Kill Rock Stars.
Mikhael Tara Garver (Category 41)
Mikhael Tara Garver has been a pioneer for the past 20 years in defining the experiential field at the intersection of pop culture, fandom, immersive design, digital storytelling, and original storytelling. She has been the experiential architect of over 100 projects ranging from larger than life pop-up text-to-rock shows to culture-change installations around international drug policy. Mikhael has recently joined CATEGORY41 as the Head of Experiential Entertainment. CATEGORY41 is a global experience company that creates, incubates and syndicates location based experiences.
Garver founded Chicago Immersive company Uma Productions and 13Exp, the first original content experiential studio for with social impact in its DNA. She was the artistic director of New York’s Woodshed Collective and led the advanced program in Making, Directing, and Leadership for NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Garver was recently awarded the International Sacatar Fellowship and the Pop Culture Collaborative Grant for her leadership in 13Exp and her writing on the future of original Experiential. She founded MTG, an experiential studio creating innovative moving experiences for artists, brands, and social impact. She has built award-winning experiences for AMC Television, The National Park Service, Bloomberg, Serino/Coyne, BBDO, Hormel, Tentrr Smirnoff, IDEO, Facebook, and Virgin. Garver was a director on Sleep No More at A.R.T. and has received multiple immersive commissions for her work (American Repertory Theater, The Kennedy Center, The Goodman Theater, Montclair New Work Initiative, and The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston). She has spoken and taught on Arts and Democracy at North Carolina School of the Arts, Yale, Columbia University, Harvard, DePaul, Montclair State, as well as other universities. Her speaking and thought leadership regarding Experiential Content - where digital and live platforms work in concert - has been a keynote at the Immersive Design Summit, Switchpoint, and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. www.mikhaeltaragarver.com
Risa Puno (The Privilege of Escape)
Risa Puno is an NYC-based sculpture and installation artist who uses interactivity and play to understand how we relate to one another. She has exhibited at national and international venues, including: The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Socrates Sculpture Park, El Museo del Barrio, NURTUREart, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, SPACES in Cleveland, OH, Galerie Stefan Röpke in Cologne, Germany, and MMX Open Art Venue in Berlin, Germany.
Puno is the recipient of multiple awards and residencies, and she has been commissioned to make public art by the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation and the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston. Most recently, she was selected by Creative Time to create their inaugural Open Call project. Puno’s work has been featured across radio and print, including The New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, ProPublica, and The Boston Globe. She currently serves on the NYC DOT Art Advisory Committee. Puno grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and she studied art and medicine at Brown University and earned her MFA from New York University.
Sarah Ellis (Royal Shakespeare Company)
Sarah Ellis is an award-winning producer currently working as Director of Digital Development for the Royal Shakespeare Company to explore new artistic initiatives and partnerships.
The latest partnership for the RSC is the Audience of the Future Live Performance Demonstrator funded by Innovate UK - a consortium consisting of arts organisations, research partners and technology companies to explore the future of performances and real-time immersive experiences.
In 2017, she became a fellow of the University of Worcester for her work in the arts and technology. In 2016 she was awarded The Hospital Club & Creatives Industries award for cross industry collaboration for her work on the RSC’s The Tempest in collaboration with Intel and in association with The Imaginarium Studios.
In 2013 she was listed in the top 100 most influential people working in Gaming and Technology by The Hospital Club and Guardian Culture Professionals. In partnership with Google, she produced Midsummer Night’s Dreaming winning two Lovie Awards for Innovation and Experimentation.
She is a regular speaker and commentator on digital arts practice, as well as an Industry Champion for the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, which helps inform academic research on the creative industries to lead to better policies for the sector.
Nova Han (Electric Forest)
Nova Han (Electric Forest) is one of the nation's lead visionaries and producers in the immersive marketing and live entertainment, Nova is the Creative Director for Madison House’s world-class Electric Forest Festival. Her works have also been featured at the Official Grammy’s Celebration, the Emmy’s, Coachella, Firefly Festival, and festivals world wide. She has provided works and entertainment for artists such as the Black Eyed Peas, Deadmau5, Bassnectar and Shpongle and has been the Creative Director for The String Cheese Incident since 2010. Nova has been recognized globally by XLIVE for Best Production Design in 2017 and 2018 for her works at Electric Forest.
Pete Billington (Fable Studio)
Pete Billington (Fable Studio) explores the convergence of art and technology. His career began at Silicon Graphics at the dawn of the web era. As a visual effects software consultant, he contributed to films like Star Wars and The Matrix. He helped pioneer the motion-capture pipeline and rapid prototyping design process now adopted by most major studios. His artwork can be found in over 15 feature films. He is the director of the acclaimed Virtual Reality experience Wolves in the Walls, which strives to balance narrative structure with natural, intuitive interaction. His next pursuit is the creation of a long-term character relationship utilizing Ai, interactive storytelling and a little magic.
Jessica Yaffa Shamash (Fable Studio)
Jessica Yaffa Shamash (Fable Studio) began her career at Pixar Animation Studios where she learned the art of making creatures into friends and infusing magic and whimsy into the everyday ordinary. Her passion for storytelling brought her to Facebook’s universally-recognized, Oculus Story Studio, known for pioneering and defining the landscape of Virtual Reality cinema. Her work marries innovation and timelessness, fusing various art forms and technology into new imaginative mediums. She is the Co-Creator and Creative Producer of Wolves in the Walls, a Neil Gaiman adaptation, which earned her a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Innovation in Interactive Media. This work was also featured at Sundance, Cannes and Tribeca Film Festival. She lives in San Francisco and is a founding member of Fable Studio.
After two years of an ad-hoc structure with IDS, HERE represents an opportunity to launch a new, non- profit institution dedicated to advancing immersive & experiential work.
HERE is more than the sum of its parts.
Partners will benefit by helping to shape the singular event in worldwide immersive design,and will enable the creation of additional programming by the vanguard of experiential talents. In addition, partners will fund the year-round operation of No Proscenium, our publication that is the unparalleled and most trusted source amongst the immersive creative and fan communities.
HERE will do for immersive and experiential work what Sundance has done for independent film: create a dynamic platform that celebrates the craft and enables the discovery of new talent, while functioning in a way that partners can easily buy into with widespread and intimate programming like a SXSW. This includes the Pilot Festival in 2020, which will showcase select works to summit attendees and the general public.
We aim to strategically partner with those who commit to the field of immersive art and entertainment.
High-level partners will be visible not only at the Summit itself but at satellite events around the city and globe, and on our digital platforms.
IDS 2019 sponsors included Meow Wolf, The Kaufman Foundation, MWM Immersive, the Museum of Ice Cream, and Pop Culture Collaborative.
