In the Age of Experience, how can one drive actionable social change through deepened physical and digital live story-sharing systems? A leader in immersive experiences, Mikhael Tara Garver will delve into the combining powers that experience, entertainment, and fandom can have on empowering social change.
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In 2019, Mikhael lead this years lineup in experiential speakers on social impact at the Immersive Design Summit. In May, 2018 she was one of 100 invitees and commissioned to design the experience of Entertain Change - a gathering of social impact culture makers hosted by Pop Culture Collaborative. She was recently awarded a grant by the Pop Culture Collaborative for emergency strategy experiential work for the Family Border Crisis and is part of their inaugural story world leadership grant for 2019. Additionally, Mikhael was recently awarded the International Sacatar Fellowship which selects 6 international artists leading their field : making new work in Bahia, Brazil.
Garver’s projects in development: JANET JACKSON SAVES THE UNIVERSE an ARG and interactive millennial wonderland for shopping malls; FORNICATED an experience that starts with texting and follows characters to an almost cinematic rock club experience with a different band each night; The Solar Project (Winston-Salem) North Carolina, which combines solar power, immersive production, and community involvement; ALEXANDRIA a project of installations and VR looking through the stacks of public libraries for lost stories (Playwrights Horizons, New York Public Library); and #REVOLUTION an immersive story-system to scale throughout cycling classes. Garver created The Museum of International Drug Policy for the United Nations lauded by The Guardian and the New York Times; was awarded the first national immersive site-specific commission by the Goodman Theatre for POSTNATION; and a national site-specific commission by The Kennedy Center for the US Botanical Gardens. Mikhael was a director on Sleep No More at American Repertory Theater, created The Experiment for the Institute of Contemporary Art, and was Managing Artistic Director of New York City’s Woodshed Collective (KPOP, Empire Travel Agency).
