Themed Environment innovations Festival of Innovation

Join us at blooloop’s Festival of Innovation on Thursday 8th December at 2 pm GMT, to find out about the latest innovations in themed environments in visitor experiences. Our guest speakers will also be looking into the future and highlighting key trends.

This session is sponsored by our friends at Lumsden.

Themed environment speakers

Sarah Roots is Executive Vice President at Warner Bros. Studio Tours & Retail at Warner Bros. Discovery. In October 2010 Sarah joined the company before construction started on Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter and has seen the project from conception through to the Grand Opening on 31 March 2012.

Since then, her role has been extended to incorporate Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood which showcases even more of the original props, sets and costumes from the company’s impressive film and TV archives. In 2019, her role broadened again to include Retail covering the Platform 9 ¾ Group, Harry Potter New York, a brand new flagship shop that launched in 2021 and Harrypottershop.com, the ultimate online Harry Potter collection. Her role is also responsible for the catering and events businesses across the division.

In addition, Roots is overseeing the development and launch of Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo – The Making of Harry Potter, which will build on the success of the London Tour. Launching in 2023, this is only the second Tour of its kind in the world.

The new Mandrakes and Magical Creatures feature at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter was entered into this year’s Innovation Awards. The limited-run feature showed how fan-favourite creatures from the Harry Potter film series were designed and created both digitally and physically for their eventual representation on-screen.

Roots will be talking about the latest news from Warner Bros. Worldwide Studio Tours and Retail as well as discussing innovation.

I don’t think that innovation is magic. I think you have to work really hard at innovation and unique processes. You need commitment, time and resources to facilitate your business, to be able to innovate.

Sarah Roots – Executive Vice President at Warner Bros. Studio Tours & Retail at Warner Bros. Discovery

Julie Molloy has been MD of National Gallery Global Limited since 2000. She was previously on the Board as Trading Director. Before joining National Gallery Global, Molloy held previous roles in Arts and Business at the Royal Academy, The Royal Collection and C&A UK.

She graduated from Reading University in History of Art and Architecture. In addition to her role at the National Gallery, she is a Trustee of the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith and a regular contributor to the Arts & Business Programme at Sotheby’s Institute. Molloy is stepping down from NGG at the end of 2022 to embark on a consultancy career with The Revels Office.

Molloy will be talking about the remodelling of the National Gallery and its significance for visitor experience strategy, and telling us about the innovations that she would really like to see.

James Dwyer is design director at Lumsden and is a founding member of the Lumsden team with 16 years experience across retail, hospitality and exhibition projects. He ensures the creative direction for all projects is consistently compelling for the target audiences of our clients. His combination of creative thinking with practical solutions is crucial to the success of our projects.

He trained as a museum exhibition designer which has enabled him to apply his design skills to a comprehensive variety of projects: The award-winning shops at the British Museum, the MoMA stores in New York City and Japan, M+ museum in Hong Kong, the Royal National Theatre and the Warner Bros. Stores in London and Burbank.

His hospitality projects include the restaurants and cafes at V&A Dundee and Warner Bros. Studio Tours in London and Tokyo. Recent exhibition projects include The Harry Photographic Exhibition at the London Film Museum.

He is currently leading the design of the restaurant and retail spaces at Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Tokyo, along with retail spaces for the National Gallery, the National Railway Museum and the Children’s literacy Charity Grimm & Co.

Innovation awards

The winners of the Themed Environment innovation awards will be announced during this session.

The blooloop Innovation Awards 2022, presented with AREA15 showcase the incredible dynamism, imagination and creativity that drives the attractions business. Our judges are well-known 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 take part in the 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 help them drive forward visitor experiences.