Joanna Bucknall is a co-founder of the Immersive Experience Network (IEN), a peer-driven community of creatives, business pioneers, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts. She is also a lecturer in modern and contemporary drama and theatre at the University of Birmingham.
Bucknall is a world-leading academic in the field of immersive theatre. During the past three years, she has been instrumental in the founding of the IEN and has worked to unite more than 6,000 immersive creatives in the UK and beyond from over 10 different immersive experience disciplines.
“Her tenacity and expertise in securing research funding has been instrumental in enabling IEN to undertake crucial industry research and has been invaluable in facilitating IEN to deliver in-person events that have been the catalyst for consolidating the various immersive creative communities into a visible and cohesive cultural and creative industries (CCI) sector,” said one nominator.
Bucknall has been foundational in raising the credibility and visibility of the emergent immersive experience sector in the UK and globally through her role at IEN, as well as her academic and industry research, immersive creative practice, extensive knowledge exchange, and consultation activities.
She led the research for IEN’s 2024 Immersive Audience Report 2024, which found that guests who attend immersive experiences are more diverse than those who visit traditional arts and culture attractions.
She said the UK’s immersive sector should be “recognised as a credible and valuable part of the wider creative and cultural industries ecosystem”. Bucknall added: “The immersive experience sector is in the enviable position of attracting younger and more diverse audiences, something that traditional arts and culture struggles to do. It would be a real missed opportunity not to invest in these audiences for the benefit of the entire UK arts and culture sector and beyond.”
In addition, Bucknall is the producer and host of the podcast series ‘Talking about Immersive Theatre (TAIT)’. The podcast now has more than 24,000 listeners across the world.