Gallagher & Associates, the internationally recognised interdisciplinary design studio, will now be known as G&A. This transition reflects the company’s intention and ability to encompass a broader experiential landscape as it expands into the themed and location-based entertainment space, while still providing its expertise to projects from across the cultural sector.
As part of this transformation, Morgan Rottinghaus has joined the company as global senior vice president of growth. She speaks with blooloop about the blurring of boundaries between cultural and themed experience spaces and what G&A’s role will be within that.
We also talk to other members of the executive team to find out more about what this move means for the firm.
The evolution of Gallagher & Associates
Scott Wickstrom, G&A’s CEO, begins by contextualizing the company’s evolution. He also introduces Rottinghaus and outlines her role:
“The modest re-branding of Gallagher & Associates to G&A is intended to mark a subtle but meaningful evolution of the company. We’re so proud of our deep, impactful work for many of the world’s leading cultural, historical, and science-based museums. Yet we’re also super excited to keep doing that while we expand our experience and perspectives on ‘immersive education’ more deeply into ‘immersive entertainment’.
“We’ve had wonderful experiences partnering with music, sports, and arts clients to create immersive experiences that transform lives. Now, we’re looking forward to bringing all our integrated capabilities more deeply into themed entertainment, branded environments, and location-based entertainment clients.”
He points out that the immersive storytelling methods and skills used to create personalised and memorable guest-driven experiences for a cultural museum client are nearly identical for a branded experience:
“The content and themes may differ. But the profound impact we create when we collaborate with any client that has a story to tell is remarkably similar.”
By hiring Rottinghaus, G&A will be more able to partner with the kinds of clients that she has been so successful in developing during her time at leading international audiovisual and technology services company Electrosonic, which is a top partner for G&A.
“Her expertise with the kinds of creative technologies and innovative practices that have helped Electrosonic grow, evolve and achieve their goals will help G&A do the same,” says Wickstrom. “We will continue to partner with cultural museums around the world as we expand our work, and know that our breadth of clients will only enhance the quality of our work across them all.”
A passion for storytelling and experiential design
Rottinghaus outlines the route that brought her to G&A after years in the tech world. She describes how her experience with designing spaces through technology led to working with people who design the actual spaces, and how that led to her current role guiding G&As latest evolution.
She tells blooloop that she first found herself in the themed entertainment sector after college, working as a recruiter in Orlando:
“I was recruiting for a company called Robert Half and had been placing people at Technomedia Solutions. After four years of speaking with them on the phone, I finally had to go over for an in-person visit. When I walked in, I became immersed in this space I didn’t know what to call. I saw Star Wars and Universal logos and figurines everywhere. I had never seen anything like it, and I just knew I had to be a part of it.
“Shortly after, I joined Technomedia Solutions where I became entrenched in themed entertainment and fell in love with the industry. “
In this role, Rottinghaus went on to do work for Universal, Disney and SeaWorld.
A new role with G&A
As global senior vice president of growth, Rottinghaus is responsible for growing the company, through both marketing, sales and business development.
“I will be responsible for helping to determine the strategy, vision, and mission as we take G&A into the future,” she adds.
She also brings a network of deep-rooted relationships from 18 years in themed entertainment, corporate and culture spaces, and a wealth of experience from those markets.
Throughout that time, she has been very involved with the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA):
“It has been my pleasure to serve on the Eastern board twice,” she says. “In fact, my husband, Jay Rottinghaus, and I got engaged at a TEA summit six years ago, at Disneyland.
“We got to celebrate with all our friends. That’s how much the TEA means to us. It is such an open community that welcomes new people with open arms. I’ve tried to be that for other people coming in over the last 18 years too.”
Adapting to new experience trends
Rottinghaus talks about G&A’s reason for taking their talent to experiential worlds beyond the museum and culture sector. She says:
“The world is changing. I think that the culture community and the themed entertainment community are significantly overlapping. When I was on the TEA board, we had a casual conversation about whether we should, perhaps, change the name of the TEA to the Themed Experience Association, rather than Themed Entertainment Association.
“I feel like even though we haven’t done that, it has become that in everything but name, allowing all these people from other market sectors to join and bring their experience, mindset, and ideas to a different kind of visitor journey.”
Technology, she contends, has played a big part in the transition museums have undergone over the last decades from static displays of the past to dynamic centres of exploration that make connections with the present.
“One thing that differentiates us from other firms is that we’re fully integrated,” she comments. “We have everything from an up-front strategy/feasibility group to an AV technologist and a media group in-house. We believe the AV and media are such key pieces of the storytelling. It needs to mix with the interpretive planning. We can do that ourselves or we can be that bridge when we’re working with other partners on projects. We can speak that fully integrated language with our customers.”
Strength in partnerships
Rottinghaus was with the international audiovisual and technology services company Electrosonic for a decade. This, she explains, is where she fell in love with design. She started the strategic partnership group at Electrosonic from scratch. This initiative was based on her belief that partnerships are key in creating business opportunities.
“I had always created partnerships. It made me successful, and I wanted to teach other people how to use this methodology to make them successful. After creating a dynamic team of rockstars, our team went on to drive a significant amount of revenue and relationships for Electrosonic through partnerships.”
This project evolved into Rottinghaus becoming responsible for the technology design consulting group from a sales and business development perspective.
“I had to learn about the architectural process of a project that involved getting in early, being proactive, and sitting at the table with the creatives. It opened my mind up to allow me to be more creative and to brainstorm with them. That was super fun, and I fell more in love with design as each day progressed.”
This is what set her on the path to G&A:
“A piece of me wants to be fully immersed in design all the time. I love to see a project come to fruition. But the nuts and bolts and the build of a project wasn’t my passion, it was inception and watching people come up with something extraordinary from four white walls, and sometimes without any walls at all.”
A big part of that is storytelling, she adds:
“Is witnessing creatives sit in a room to blue sky, then walking out with something that has never been done before for the whole world to enjoy. This is what makes my job my passion.”
New trends in themed entertainment
Rottinghaus’ background makes her ideally suited to identifying emerging or interesting trends in the themed entertainment space. One trend she identifies is the emergence of more regional experiences. Discussing the impetus behind this, she says:
“Not everybody can afford to go to Disney or Universal, or can take a week and go on vacation. Regional experiences are popping up for location-based entertainment, things like observation decks or Distilleries. There are incredible projects I worked on at Electrosonic which immersed people in public spaces while allowing for a personal experience to come out of it.
“That is a trend that is only going to grow and become more innovative in both themed entertainment and museums.”
Additionally:
“I think we will also see a trend where live production companies or agencies with their own IP will partner with investors to create location-based entertainment and speciality experiences based on their IP for the public and private to participate in. We’re going to see a whole range of IP that people identify with that is outside of the mainstream theme park world.”
Examples of G&A’s expertise
Identifying projects of G&A’s that are particularly relevant to this sort of shift of focus, Rottinghaus talks about Sazerac House in New Orleans.
Here, G&A integrated exhibit design and interactive media with historic architecture to trace the origins of cocktail culture back to its birthplace. In one space, the team turned the architecture into an immersive canvas. This blended soundscapes and two-dimensional projection mapping to recreate the experience of travelling from NOLA’s bustling port by trolley car.
For the National Museum of African American Music. G&A leverages its expertise in experience design, content development and digital media, collaborating with the institution to develop audio-driven interactions within a sequential narrative. Interactive experiences related to gospel, blues, jazz and hip-hop draw visitors into historical movements through content and emotional engagement.
Another example is the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum. Here, G&A offered content development, experience design, and strategic planning to create a custom, immersive experience. This explores the sports, artefacts, moments, and personal stories from the perspective of the athletes.
The journey alters visitors’ perceptions, generating a new appreciation for Olympians’ dedication, motivation, and sacrifice, as RFID-powered interactives seamlessly deliver a custom experience for each guest, adapting organically to unique selections and accessibility requirements.
At the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Visitor Centre in Mississippi, which is located beside one of the largest manufacturing plants in America, the firm helped to create an experience that explores the history and operations that make Toyota unique. G&A leveraged digital media using projection mapping on a car to immerse visitors and give them a better understanding of the talent and skills involved in the production process.
G&A: a leader in museum design
The firm has been renowned as a leader in the museum design space for many years. Rottinghaus references the International Spy Museum project, for which G&A won a Thea Award. In its initial iteration, the International Spy Museum concept, launched in 2002, was conceived by owner Milton Maltz. It was envisioned by Gallagher & Associates’ founder, Patrick Gallagher. His interdisciplinary team designed and implemented a novel model for immersive museums.
The 140,000-square-foot International Spy Museum (SPY) opened in Washington, DC in 2019. G&A designed the overall visitor experience for the new museum. This included exhibitions, media, retail, lobby, and graphics that together push the envelope of innovative storytelling and immersive design.
A new chapter for G&A
While there are so many creative firms in the TEA, G&A has an edge, says Rottinghaus. It draws on decades of excellence while looking towards the future. She feels the company is ready to build on its illustrious past, maintaining its commitment to the museum world while diversifying into new spaces.
G&A already has all the talent and capabilities. Rottinghaus’ rich background in themed entertainment can help move it in this new direction.
“We have a new creative leadership team that is re-imagining and revitalizing our creative vision and team going forward. I’ve been listening and learning in hopes of understanding the different perspectives in the organization. The team is uber passionate about our current work in museums. But it is also eager to drive experience and story within new spaces and to continue to create unforgettable visitor journeys along the way.”
An exciting future
G&A team members throughout the firm are excited about the rebrand and possibilities for the future. For example, Clare Brown, creative director, says:
“I lead creative teams and steward creative excellence across our projects. I came to this role with a background in museum design as well as theatre, dance, and circus arts. All of that gives me a deep appreciation for the experience that Morgan brings to G&A.
“I am delighted to work with Morgan. She brings the perspective of themed environments and experiences to our business development. As a creative agency, we are constantly working to create the most dynamic and compelling experiences for users and visitors. Morgan’s arrival expands our opportunities to do just that!”
Michael G. Lewis, executive creative director, adds:
“For the last few years, we’ve been transforming our creative approach. Now, we are at the point where we’re doing a lot of new things in new ways. That makes this a perfect time for someone like Morgan to come in. She is able to focus on growth and also help us bring what we’ve developed to new and different kinds of clients.”
Founder Patrick Gallagher, concurs, adding the final word:
“Foundational to what we believe in as a firm is an integrated approach to our client engagement, from financial planning and feasibility to strategic planning and design excellence in physical and digital execution.
“It is a model that flows over many markets, and under the leadership of Morgan we see even more opportunities to model our partnerships in broader and even more diverse markets.”
Top image: National Museum of African American Music
