The future of transformative experiences – and why we need them.

The power of a great, shared experience

The first time you saw a live gig, after months of endless lockdowns and venue closures, how did it feel? What about the first time you saw a show, or got together with friends at a pub, a bar, or to see a sporting match?

Did you feel your heart ache? Your skin prickle? Did you experience a buoyant feeling of euphoria and collective belonging that comes from sharing a moment of significance with others – and was it all the sweeter for having missed it? Did it remind you what truly makes you happy?

The science is on our side: research conducted by Kumar et al from the University of Texas in Austin in 2020, and published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, found that people are happier spending money on doing things rather than on retail purchases.

Charlotte Bronte wisely told us: “Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.” – this humanistic insight has been confirmed by studies, including one by Lambert et al (2012), which showed that sharing experiences with other people has benefits for happiness and wellbeing and increases our feelings of human connectedness.

Now that we’re coming back from the longest, hardest, most challenging period for community isolation since the last Ice Age – we’re all the more hungry for the soul-feeding, mentally rejuvenating power of incredible experiences.

So, what’s out there?

Melbourne just had RISING Melbourne festival, Sydney was transformed with Vivid Sydney – Hobart just turned red for Dark MOFO. Internationally, the experience economy is booming.

Meow Wolf continues to write the book on art-led immersive and transformative experiences through developing large-scale creative playgrounds, set-designed worlds of art and adventure to be explored. They’ve had 1.5 million visitors already this year to their locations in Sante Fe, Denver and Las Vegas.

Beginning in London in 2014, Secret Cinema brought the world of cult-favourite films to life, enabling fans to dress as characters from the film and be immersed in a fusion of live theatrical and cinema experience.

Closer to home, Grande Experiences has breathed new life into the works of Vincent Van Gogh with The LUME, allowing visitors to step into his world. Floor-to-ceiling projections, immersive soundscape and an integrated café experience all contribute to the sensation of being carried away on a journey.

Earlier this year, we brought you the crowd-pleasing Candlelight Concerts by Fever , followed by theatre-maker Sophia Brous’s site-specific theatrical work The Invisible Opera for RISING – where each audience member was given their own personal set of headphones as a portal through which to reimagine the meaning of public space.

What is next?

What are the secret ingredients to creating these sorts of powerful, collective, transformative experiences?

We know it takes an idea – a spark of something great. And it takes resources. Support, mentorship. Money. Something to fan the flame of that idea and turn it into something soul-shaking and awesome. And as audiences are looking outside of traditional models of experiences, with a hunger for the new – an opportunity presents itself to people with big ideas.

Peter Tullin and Simon Cronshaw , co-founders of REMIX Summits - Culture, Tech & Entrepreneurship , have said: “When cultural institutions do not supply this demand, creative entrepreneurs are stepping in.”

There are many avenues to creating meaningful and immersive experiences, and many cultural institutions are looking to partner with creative entrepreneurs to be able to keep up with consumer demand for transformative and fully immersive experiences of art and culture.

For ACMI ’s hugely popular Wonderland exhibition (2019), ACMI worked with Grumpy Sailor Creative , a creative tech and experience design company, headed by founder James Boyce , to create an immersive Mad Hatter’s Tea Party experience – combining 3D CGI projections to bring to life the wonder and magic of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland.

The birth of Experience Lab

At Fed Square, we want to help drive innovation in the burgeoning creative experience industry.

This year, to celebrate our 20th anniversary, we’ve partnered with industry experts – James Boyce , Founder of Grumpy Sailor Creative , Peter Tullin , Co-Founder of REMIX Summits - Culture, Tech & Entrepreneurship and Tamasein Holyman , Founder of Secret Squirrel Productions – to provide the financial resources, space and mentoring to help nurture good ideas into great ones, and hopefully be able to deliver some killer experiences to the public.

The program is called Experience Lab, and it’s modelled on similar incubator programs, such as the State Library Victoria 's Alchemy program and ACMI X.

Why Fed Square? We’re a bit of a special place – we’re a public square at the heart of Melbourne, we’re flush with incredible and unusual spaces – and we’re about community. That means it’s in our DNA to support the development of artists and provide opportunities for up-and-coming creatives in our community.

And we can’t wait to see what people come up with!

To learn more about Experience Lab – check out our website. Applications close 7 August.