Illuminarium Experiences, A Breakthrough Global Experiential Entertainment Company,
Announces Plans to Open At Las Vegas’ AREA15 in January 2022
With a mission to “democratize the world’s most amazing experiences,” Illuminarium will redefine what an immersive experience can be by creating a place that can take you anyplace
Additional U.S. locations include Atlanta’s BeltLine and Miami’s Wynwood Arts District
Illuminarium Experiences, a breakthrough global experiential entertainment company created by worldwide leaders in cinematic and interactive content, architectural and theatrical design, and venue operations, announced today plans to open Illuminarium at AREA15, Las Vegas’ newest immersive events and entertainment district in January 2022. The 33,000 square-foot, purpose-built building will be on the western side of the main AREA15 complex and will be the second Illuminarium location in the U.S., following the inaugural venue set to open in Atlanta in July 2021. Illuminarium Experiences will also open in Miami in 2022, with plans for 40 or more venues in major cities across the globe within the next five years. At maturity, Illuminarium Experiences intends to be one of the world’s most innovative and prodigious location-based entertainment companies, with the distinct mission of democratizing the world’s most amazing experiences. Audiences will be transported to an environment unlike any other, while participating in a shared and connected experience.
The Illuminarium Experience and Venue: A place that can take you anyplace
What museums are to art, cinemas to movies, and concert halls to music, Illuminarium is to experiential entertainment. Illuminarium’s immersive venues will transport millions of visitors to places they only dream of experiencing by placing them “inside” the narrative, whether on a safari, at the bottom of the ocean, in the celestial universe, on top of the world’s highest peaks, surrounded by a once-in-a-lifetime musical performance or visual art exhibition, or being with the world’s most iconic personalities. Produced by the world’s finest storytellers, cinematographers, visual effects specialists and creative technologists, Illuminarium combines and amplifies techniques used in traditional motion picture production and virtual reality that allows visitors to experience real world, filmed content (like a safari) and authentic, re-created worlds (like the planet Mars) in an immersive environment, all without wearable hardware. Think VR, without the glasses.
Located in megacities and mega-tourism destinations around the world, Illuminarium venues are super scaled, reprogrammable technological marvels that bring the immersive experience to a rarefied level. The Illuminairum “cinematic immersion” will engage one’s entire visual and sensual framework at a breathtaking scale: visitors are completely surrounded by a massive canvas, 350 feet in length, over 20 feet in height, with state-of-the-art laser projection, rich spatial beamforming audio (where natural and musical scores change with the listener’s location), in-floor haptics, scent and lidar-based interactive technologies.
To contribute to the illusion of transporting audiences to the places, people and experiences they may never see in real life, Illuminarium has assembled a team of world class technology partners. Such partners include Panasonic for 4K laser projection, Holoplot for its beamforming sound, Disguise for unprecedented media playback systems, Lightware to create the most immersive experience possible, and Electrosonic for total system integration. Illuminarium seeks the highest standard of immersive technologies available today with an ongoing commitment to research and development going forward.
Debut Spectacles Include WILD: Safari Experience, Followed by SPACEWALK in Early 2022.
Following its debut in Atlanta,WILD: Safari Experience will open at Las Vegas’ AREA15 as a first-of-its-kind entertainment experience showcasing the beauty and splendor of Africa’s most exotic animals in their natural habitats. The spectacle will transport visitors to Africa through cinematic content shot by Radical Media, using custom camera arrays that provide a 240-degree native field of view (versus the average 210-degree human field of view), on location to capture majestic animals in their native habitats across South Africa, Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania. Complementing the exotic sights of a safari, visitors will also be immersed in its authentic sounds and scents, all without leaving Las Vegas.
WILD will be followed by SPACEWALK, a mind-blowing journey through our Solar System, where the Illuminarium audience will experience what it’s like to walk on the surface of the Moon and Mars! From the familiar Rocky Planets of the Solar System’s inner regions, to the Gas Giants dominating the outer regions, to the distant and remote ice worlds and comets of the Kuiper belt, and finally to the celestial beauty of the stellar Nebula beyond — SPACEWALK is a visually rich, immersive spectacle that transports visitors across space and time.
“AREA15’s immersive playground is the absolute perfect location for Illuminarium Las Vegas,” said Alan Greenberg, CEO, Illuminarium Experiences. “In Illuminarium Experiences, we have created a global experiential brand that will produce unprecedented entertainment spectacles to transport consumers to many of the most coveted places and experiences on Earth, and beyond. Through the extraordinary storytelling of Radical Media, the theatrical and architectural design of Rockwell Group and the operational expertise of Legends we have a team of best-in-class partners proudly democratizing the world’s most amazing places, people and experiences through highly engaging, socially conscious and educational immersive digital spectacles.”
The Illuminarium Partners
Illuminarium Experiences has been created by partners who bring extraordinary leadership, content creation, architectural and theatrical design, and operational expertise to the enterprise. They include:
- CEO: Alan Greenberg, a seasoned global entrepreneur and co-founder of Avenues: The World School, Greenberg News Networks, Travel Holdings and former Publisher of Esquire Magazine.
- Content Partner: Radical Media, an award-winning (Academy, Emmy, Grammy) communications company, led by Jon Kamen, that produces content for film, television, music, digital platforms, projections, and experiential / immersive installations.
- Design Partner: Rockwell Group, one of the world’s most admired and awarded architecture and design firms, founded by David Rockwell, with a specialty in hospitality, cultural, theatrical, experiential and interactive project design and development.
- Operational Partner: Legends, a leading operator of more than 150 venues, attractions and experiences around the world, provides planning, sales, partnerships, hospitality, retail, technology and operational solutions to the entire Illuminarium enterprise.
“AREA15 is a curation of best-in-class immersive entertainment providing authentic connections to everyone who steps through the doors. We are thrilled to have Illuminarium join the growing collection of experiences that transport and transform,” said Winston Fisher, CEO AREA15. “Illuminarium’s new location marks the official expansion of the AREA15 campus, and the evolution of Las Vegas’ newest immersive entertainment district.”
Illuminarium After Dark
In the evenings, Illuminarium will transform into an immersive generative environment, allowing guests to have cocktails and curated eats surrounded by an ever-changing lush and stunning atmosphere. Through state-of-the-art projection and audio systems, guests will be invited to gather in a different far-flung and fantastic setting every night of the week.
Designed and developed by the LAB at Rockwell Group, each environment evolves throughout the night to deliver ever-changing visual destinations rendered in real-time. Guests may toast friends as they float on billowing clouds that overlook a glowing sunset; the following night they may encounter the fluorescent light animations and holograms decorating the surfaces of a futuristic street in Tokyo. One of the largest examples of real-time rendered content at this scale, Illuminarium After Dark’s constantly shifting canvas delivers moments of surprise and serendipity that may never appear in the same way twice.
Future Illuminarium Destinations
Following Atlanta and Las Vegas, Illuminarium will open in Miami, at Mana in the Wynwood Arts District, in spring 2022. Other North American locations under consideration are New York City, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles and Austin.
Illuminarium plans to create a global footprint in the world’s leading international megacities and mega-tourism destinations. To date, Illuminarium has met with developers and potential partners in Mexico City, São Paulo, Barcelona, Xi’an, Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, London and Dubai. Leading Illuminarium’s international development is Ian Thomas, the former CEO of Boeing Europe, China, India and Australia.
Commitment to Education, Social Responsibility and Post-COVID Safety
Illuminarium will support significant education engagement and become a learning tool for local students. Its educational mission is to inspire a sense of wonder and curiosity in students, helping them imagine and realize anything is possible. On weekday mornings, Illuminarium will offer a series of curated educational “field trip” experiences for primary and secondary students, designed by leading curricula specialists. These educational experiences will feature interdisciplinary content that is developmentally appropriate by age/grades and based on prevailing local and international academic standards.
Illuminarium will design and operate each spectacle in an environmentally conscious manner that acknowledges its social impact. For WILD, Illuminarium partnered with global conservation organization, WildArk, to work collaboratively with local partners and communities to protect prioritized wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystems around the world.
Illuminarium will donate a portion of all ticket and merchandising revenue annually to WildArk. Through this strategic partnership, WildArk targets this funding, as well as additional donations made at Illuminarium, to aligned conservation partners working to protect prioritized wildlife and their habitats across Africa. Illuminarium will also provide opportunities for customers to become personally engaged with WildArk and other mission-based partners they bring to the experience.
Illuminarium understands the environmental impacts that single-use plastics have on wildlife and wild places, including the world’s oceans. They have elected to not use any single-use items across the Illuminarium facility; instead, they will use biodegradable and compostable straws, plates, cups, lids and cutlery. Additionally, the bags utilized in its gift shop are reusable totes that can be repurposed for everyday use.
Illuminarium Experiences are also designed using state-of-the-art, post-COVID safety protocol. Each venue will utilize the most sophisticated air purification systems and incorporate a “contactless” environment, from automated restroom fixtures to point-of-sale locations. Guests will have temperature checks to help ensure the health of other guests and staff. Guest flow will also be managed in a manner that allows for physical distancing and prevent forced grouping of guests.
The press kit for Illuminarium at Las Vegas’ AREA15 can be found here.
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About Illuminarium Experiences
Illuminarium Experiences is a breakthrough, global experiential entertainment company created by worldwide leaders in cinematic and interactive content, architectural and theatrical design and venue operations. Illuminarium Experiences are immersive entertainment spectacles presented in custom-designed venues called “Illuminariums.” What museums are to art, cinemas to movies and concert halls to music, Illuminariums are to experiential entertainment. Illuminariums are reprogrammable immersive theaters that surround visitors in a sensory space of sight, sound and scale unlike any other, providing access to the most amazing, but typically out-of-reach, places, people and experiences to make our planet a more inspired, more empathetic and more connected place. Created by Alan Greenberg, Radical Media and Rockwell Group, Illuminarium Experiences brings together best-in-class partners in content creation, theatrical design, interactive technologies and venue operations. Learn more at Illuminarium.com.