Join us at blooloop’s Festival of Innovation on Thursday 8th December at 5 pm GMT, to find out about the latest innovations in blue sky thinking for visitor experiences.
Our guest speakers are all involved with finding the next big thing in visitor experiences. They will be sharing what they look for, as well as discussing key trends and gazing further into the future…
Speakers
Kimberly Beneville is a co-founder of Beneville Studios, an idea manifestation machine based in New York City. With a background in theatre, storytelling has been the primary focus of her career, a skill that has been integral to her work at Beneville Studios.
Alongside Michael Beneville, Kimberly established Beneville Studios with co-founder and current president Camille Purdy.
Kimberly’s work at Beneville Studios included work on The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, which provides world-class education to previously disadvantaged girls in South Africa. For the Studio’s more recent work on AREA15, Kimberly has played an integral role in researching and securing tenants who will be the best fit for the project including the Santa Fe art collective Meow Wolf. Kimberly currently splits her time between Los Angeles, New York, and Las Vegas.
Chris Grap has consistently pushed the boundaries of themed entertainment in a retail space as VP of experiential entertainment at Mall of America. Working together with the location’s IP partner, Nickelodeon Universe, he continues to grow and develop the on-site theme park, having been with Mall of America for over a decade.
Grap has breathed new life into the fan-favourite log chute attraction in Nickelodeon Universe by developing holiday overlays during Halloween and the festive season, as well as working with IP partners such as Netflix to transform the Log Chute into the city of Hawkins for the Stranger Things Season 3 release.
He worked with Nickelodeon and Spinmaster to bring to life the popular Paw Patrol IP, developing the Adventure Bay open-play attraction in Nickelodeon Universe and is the lead designer for Mall of America’s forth-coming water park expansion, Mystery Cove.
Justin East is the global senior creative director of R&D at Merlin Entertainments, a role he has held since 2012. Previously to this, he served as group creative director at Merlin from 2007 – 2012.
He also spent over a decade at the Lego Group, starting as a show designer and moving through roles such as art director and design director, before ultimately becoming group creative director of Legoland’s global family attractions in 2005.
East now works globally across all Merlin attractions, ranging from Legoland to Madame Tussauds. During his career, he has been behind a raft of new product development including developing Legoland Discovery Centres, an attraction bearing Derren Brown’s name at Thorpe Park, the relaunch of The London Dungeon, and a redesign of Cadbury World. He has extensive knowledge and experience in bringing new technology, such as VR and robotics, into attractions.
Innovation Awards
The winners of the Blue Sky innovation award will be announced during this session.
The blooloop Innovation Awards 2022, presented with AREA15 showcase the incredible dynamism, imagination and creativity that drive the attraction business forward. Our judges are established thought leaders and industry experts, who are looking for the most innovative products and projects driving the future of the visitor experience.
The Innovation Awards will be announced throughout the Festival of Innovation. Attendees will be able to browse the award entries, and can take part in the dedicated Public Vote Award. In addition, some of our judges and industry leaders will be talking about exciting new trends, and operators will share what innovations they really want to enable them drive forward visitor experiences.
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Accessibility: This event is best accessed via Google Chrome to enable Live Captions.
