Announcing the Jury for the 2023 XP Land XLIST, in partnership with C2
Over the past three challenging years, what was the single thing we all missed the most? The experience of being together. We missed concerts and festivals and sporting events and every single form of gathering. But during that time, the visionaries of the experiential world didn’t exactly go on lockdown. Now, we are seeing the emergence of even more immersive experiences, bursting with creativity. More innovation in the universe and the metaverse. More ways to gather and collectively experience awe.
But who are the audacious innovators who create that awe?
- Who was the insanely creative architect of Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show? (Hint, not RiRi)
- Who are the out-there minds behind Meow Wolf, the Santa Fe–based immersive live experience pioneer?
- What about the OGs, Punch Drunk, who invented participatory experiences like Sleep No More? Who are they? How did they define the genre? And after 20+ years, what are they doing next?
- Who is out at the forefront, orchestrating the next Coachella, with epic gatherings like the Atlantis Concert for Earth in the Azores? (Hint, his name is Nuno Bettencourt. Google him. Our hope is that soon you won’t have to.)
- Who is doing non-cheesy Metaverse XP that is cool, surprising, seamless and transporting? (Hint, her name is Annie Zhang, not Mark Zuckerberg.)
Meet the XP Land XLIST Jury
Launching this September, the XLIST will identify the 10 most creative visionaries and architects behind the most notable events and experiences of the last five years, selected by XP Land’s parent consultancy, Liberty & Co., whose founders — with deep roots in experiential and media — formed the company after years at Condé Nast and Fast Company.
The XLIST will be selected in partnership with Montréal-based C2, the internationally renowned experiential agency launched by Sid Lee and Cirque du Soleil, and host of the most creative business conference in the world, C2MTL.
Together with C2, we’ve put together a powerhouse jury of editorial programmers, experiential brands, agency talent leaders and heads of creative venues:
- Azamit, Founder, Creative Director & Curator, In Toto + Souk (Montréal)
- Myriam Achard, Chief, New Media Partnerships and PR, PHI (Montréal)
- Ana De Archuleta, Managing Director at National Sawdust (Brooklyn)
- Alexa Carr, Editorial Programmer-at-Large, XP Land (NYC/Boston)
- Winston Fisher, CEO, AREA15 (Las Vegas)
- Jordan Fogle, CEO, MINT (Toronto)
- Émilie F. Grenier, Head of Creative, THINKWELL, A TAIT Company (Montréal)
- Harry Julmice, CEO, Never Was Average (Montréal)
- Joe Killian, Founder of Central Park SummerStage / Founder and President, Killian & Co. (NYC)
- Charlie Melcher, Founder & CEO, Future of StoryTelling (NYC)
- Louise Murray, CEO, Lemuria Dreamer LLC (LA)
- Natalie Novak, Executive, Events & Experiences Lead at United Talent Agency (LA)
- Lesly Simmons, Head of Community Innovation at Amazon (San Francisco)
- Jessica Stacey, Senior Vice President, External Communications, Event + Experiential Marketing at Sephora (NYC / SF)
- Louisa St. Pierre, Global Director of Art, Digital & Experiential at MA+ Group (NYC)
- Johan Vakidis, Chief Creative Officer at C2 (Montréal)
From May 23 – 26, the Jury will gather in Montréal at the 12th edition of C2MTL to begin the nomination process. Throughout the summer, they will nominate, evaluate and select the 10 inaugural XP Land XLIST honorees, based on specific criteria including active experiential projects, innovative breakthrough development and experiential industry elevation.
In September, we will announce the XLIST and kick off a season of content that will include an editorial feature, a new podcast and a series of events, honoring the most creative people in experiential — as well as their trusted teams who make the impossible possible.
If you’re not already one of our subscribers, be sure to sign up for XP Land’s weekly newsletter so you can stay up to date on all things XLIST. From our convergence at C2MTL and getting to know our powerhouse jurors, to the announcement of our 2023 honorees and information about our forthcoming podcast, there’s so much valuable XP intel coming your way… A bientôt!
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