Every week it seems we hear about a brand-new immersive experience being launched aimed at entertaining the ticket-buying public. While the art form’s roots may go back to the previous century, it’s over the last decade that such experiences have proliferated wildly. And, as is so often the case with anything novel or evolving, it can mean that practitioners and those looking to get involved can find themselves playing catch-up, continually reinventing the wheel and unable to learn from others’ experiences and, potentially, even mistakes.
That’s exactly the challenge that Gary Moynihan, former Head of Creative at Grande Experiences and The Lume set out to address with the launch of a brand new free toolkit: ‘Immerse Up’ as part of his own newly formed practice, Immersive Creative.
ArtsHub speaks to Moynihan to find out what inspired this new resource, and why it could be a game-changer for Australia’s immersive sector.
Not all the answers, but better questions
“The main purpose of this whole project is not to give everyone all the answers,” Moynihan explains. “Because in immersive, that’s impossible. Every project is different and every audience is different.
“What we can do is help people ask better questions,” he says. “We want to equip people with the type of language and the type of thinking that we put into our own work, and share that. When everyone starts talking the same language, the barriers to entry for many start falling away.”
With the word ‘immersive’ almost losing all meaning from overuse and misuse (ever eaten an immersive burger?) Moynihan wanted to reframe the word and look at how at the heart of immersive design is the principle of immersion itself, the idea of losing yourself in a story. A well-crafted experience weaves narrative and environment together to create something meaningful and powerful. With that as the north star, Moynihan and his co-author Jonny Beavan, a seasoned experiential design and operations specialist, began writing.
The toolkit itself is organised around four core modules (Storytelling and Creative Vision, Audience Insights, Visitor Experience and Interactivity, and Resources) and can be used individually or in combination. There’s no fixed path; users explore what’s most relevant to their project, revisit earlier sections as ideas develop, and adapt the tools to suit the context.
A toolkit for the immersive curious
“We wanted to help democratise the ‘best practice’ around immersive,” says Moynihan. Unlike film or gaming, immersive lacks widely adopted ‘playbooks’ for concept development workflows, often forcing organisations to reinvent processes for each project. It’s written specifically for the ‘immersive curious’: those on the outside looking in, wondering if immersive is the right medium for them. It’s very much written with smaller, non-traditional and rural /regional organisations in mind.
Backed by industry leaders and launched at REMIX Summit Sydney
Significantly, the Immerse Up project was supported by the Createch program, an initiative run by Creative Australia in collaboration with REMIX Summits. This backing has helped ensure the toolkit is both innovative and relevant to the needs of today’s creative sector.
“This toolkit provides a timely reminder that great storytelling and engaging story worlds will be the heartbeat of experiences that endure,” says Peter Tullin, co-Founder REMIX Summits and author of The Immersive Revolution.
The official launch took place at the recent REMIX Summit Sydney, bringing together leaders from across the creative industries to celebrate and explore the future of culture, creativity and the experience economy.
“Creative Australia’s Createch Program supports digital entrepreneurs like Immersive Creative through a combination of expert mentorship and consultation with industry specialists, peer to peer learning opportunities and seed funding. We were delighted that this project culminated with Gary launching the toolkit at the REMIX Summit in Sydney,” says Adam McGowan, Director Industry Development, Creative Australia.
Growing the sector, together
At its heart, Immerse Up is about community and collaboration. “If we can lower the barriers to entry, we just may start to uncover work that otherwise wouldn’t exist,” Moynihan says. “And that means we get to genuinely grow the sector here in Australia at a grass-roots level, and create fulfilling work, both for audiences and creatives.”
Clearly passionate about sector wide growth, he adds Australia should be a world leader in immersive: “We’ve got the stories, and we’ve got the talent – what is needed is the removal of systemic fragmentation in creative workflows, undefined entry points for stakeholders, and sector-wide scaffolding for creative development.”
Resources like Immerse Up are more important than ever. “We’re at a really exciting moment,” Moynihan concludes. “There’s so much potential for new voices, new stories and new ways of connecting with audiences. I hope it can be a catalyst for all of that.”
Immerse Up is now available for free download.
