Creators in Session

TSHA: Building your world as an artist

We believe the best brand builders are world builders - from Tyler the Creator to Lady Gaga and Fred Again - more and more artists today are finding ways to express creativity and drive revenue beyond their music. The latest Creators In Session, which comes from a live event we hosted during Amsterdam Dance Event, sees us connecting with community-mind artist TSHA. She recently released her second album, Sad Girl, on London label Ninja Tune, and is finding new ways to connect with her fanbase in her new home of Ibiza. 
In conversation with guest host NIKS fellow DJ, producer and co-founder of Black Artist Database – they dive into TSHA’s journey in the music industry, challenges she’s faced on her road to success and new opportunities for artists looking to grow beyond the music.  

Milkshake and Maricas: Curating Queer Spaces

The latest Creators in Session, comes from a live event we hosted during Amsterdam Dance Event, which took place at the home of friends, cycling brand Rapha. The day featured masterclasses for the electronic music community - from the likes of TSHA and Defected, through to this particular session, Curating Queer Spaces. 
Guest hosted by the lovely NIKS, DJ and founder of the platform Black Artist Database, it saw us connect with Experience Creators Marieke Samallo of Amsterdam Milkshake Festival and Eloisa Blitzer of Barcelona's Maricas to discuss their commitment to protecting and empowering their communities. 
Milkshake, which is beautifully described as being for "all who love", welcomes tens of thousands of attendees to editions everywhere from the Netherlands to Brazil. Maricas meanwhile, is a Queer club brand for female and non-binary identifying people, that's risen from beginnings in Barcelona's warehouse scene to throwing legendary parties at events like Primavera Sound. 
In this conversation, they go deep on what it takes to build and nurture experiences and to  help members of queer communities feel safe and seen. 
Together, they discuss fostering safe spaces, listening to audience feedback, and overcoming challenges to create transformative, community-driven events. A must-listen for Experience Creators everywhere.

The Dots: Pip Jamieson on growing & nurturing vibrant communities

In this episode of Creators In Session, we sit down with Pip Jamieson, the dynamic Founder and CEO of The Dots, for an inspiring masterclass on growing and nurturing vibrant communities. 
We first discovered The Dots as a hub for creative talent and were immediately drawn to its open, friendly and curated community—a refreshing alternative to traditional jobs platforms. Today, The Dots has evolved into a thriving network of the world’s most talented creatives, and under Pip’s leadership, it continues to drive change in the creative industry.
In this insightful session, Pip shares how she and her team have built a groundbreaking B2B SaaS tool that is already being utilized by global brands like Soho House, Dazed, and Apple—before its officially been launched! She delves into the importance of growing and nurturing vibrant communities, why owning your community data is critical for global brand success, and offers actionable advice on how creatives can harness the power of AI.
Tune in to learn from a true advocate for creativity, diversity, and innovation.

Friends With Benefits: Greg Bresnitz on festivals in the web3 era

How do you translate the philosophy of an experimental online community into consistently awesome experiences all around the world?
Online collective Friends With Benefits has been redefining what community means in the Web3 era since its inception in 2020.
While their base is online, they’ve made their mark on the in-person experience space, hosting more than 225 events around the world ranging from intimate parties to three successful editions of FWB Fest in California. FWB describes that flagship event as “part festival, part conference, 100% secret third thing”.
Part of that success involves developing their governing “Pattern Language”, which allows FWB members to put on cohesive events globally. 
For the latest Creators In Session masterclass, FWB CEO Greg Bresnitz talks to Easol's Co-Founder Lisa Simpson about the unique challenges and opportunities FWB faces, their mindful events philosophy, and what the future holds for creators, both on- and offline.

Superfly: Lauren Guss on leading experiential for the world's biggest brands

The first port of call for the world’s biggest brands, Superfly has been pushing boundaries forward in the worlds of immersive and experiential since the early 2000s, originally creating the iconic Bonnaroo Festival and recently delivering landmark events for Netflix, Lizzo and The New York Times.
We sit down with Executive Vice President Lauren Guss, to explore where experiential is headed next, the secret to building great partnerships, and how she conducts countless stakeholders and demands at once to orchestrate truly extraordinary experiences.

Disguise: The future of live visuals

Creators In Session returns for Season 2, and we're diving into the future of live visuals with Peter Kirkup, Solutions and Innovations Director at Disguise.
For over two decades, Disguise's software has led the way in powering unforgettable live experiences for artists like Adele, Massive Attack, Beyonce and Ed Sheeran, and events like Glastonbury and Coachella.
In this episode, Peter shares insights on creating those “spine-tingling moments” —and how they can drive your business's success. 
Included in this episode:
How Disguise’s technology integrates real-world environments with cutting-edge visuals
Key insights for experience creators to harness new technologies like AI and XR
What the future holds for immersive experiences
Listen in and discover how to take your experience design to the next level.

Afro Nation, Wanderlust, Disco Donnie & Envision: 10 killer insights from the world’s best experience creators

This week on Creators In Session, we’re reflecting on the highlights from the series so far. We just released our tenth masterclass, and we thought now would be the perfect time to reflect on some of the amazing insights we’ve learnt from our guests. We set out to build a series of masterclasses for you, our global community of experience creators, to deliver inspiration, actionable insights to help tackle the challenges we face every day. 
So far we’ve connected with experience creators and experts from around the world. Our journey has taken us from LA to London, Puerto Rico and back via Amsterdam, going deep on everything from storytelling for growth, to ground breaking sustainability practices for your experiences.
 
Included in this masterclass: 
 
The keys to building a winning-team that can support you in every situation 
How to curate an experience that grows and nurtures your community 
The secrets to predictable and repeatable sales year-round
What every creator can do to ignite their creativity
 

Nike, Adidas, Versace: Trippin and All Corners’ Sam Blenkinsopp and Natalia Cristina on building authentic brand partnerships

In 2024, brand partnerships are everywhere - you’ll see them in your favourite films, on your social media feeds and of course at our experiences.  
In a constantly changing economic environment, brand partnership revenue has even now become the primary source of income for some experience creators. This support however, doesn’t come easily - and what brands request in return, can often in fact leave experience creators feeling shortchanged. 
Today’s guests, Sam Blenkinsopp and Natalia Christina - Co-Founder of Trippin and Managing Director of their creative agency All Corners, break out their playbook for building authentic brand partnerships with our Co-Founder Lisa Simpson. 
Trippin has grown from a Facebook group for travel recommendations started by Sam and his Co-Founders Kesang and Yasmin, into a global content-platform powered by a diverse community of cultural pioneers and taste-makers sharing their local recommendations. Brand attention soon naturally flowed, and the platform went on to collaborate with the likes of Nike, Adidas, Versace, Tate Modern and the V&A, eventually leading them to set up their own creative agency, All Corners.
Included in this masterclass: 
How to select the right brand partner for your experience 
Assessing what value you hold in this space as a creator
Why brands are attracted to experiences with history and legacy 
The key to a successful creative partnership
Who are Easol?
⁠⁠⁠Easol⁠⁠⁠ is the first of its kind all-in-one ‘experience commerce’ platform built to support experience businesses globally, across all sectors including festivals, wellness retreats, food and drink, sports and adventure trips. With Easol, experience businesses have complete control to drive more direct sales, retain more revenue, own their data and run your  business on your terms.

Tactics: Dulcie Horn on storytelling for growth

This tactics session focuses on unlocking the power of storytelling in your content strategy. A follow up from our episode with Rise Festival on marketing your experience 365 days a year, here we go deeper on how you can use social-first storytelling as a tool to nurture your community, build trust around your brand and grow your business. 
Our guest, Dulcie Horn has spent the last 10 plus years mastering this skill and is now working to super-charge the content strategies for world-leading experiences such as Glastonbury, Boomtown and Southport Weekender with her own content agency Chuffed Digital. As Dulcie says to her clients, “If you bring people together in real life, we can help you keep that party going in the digital space, 365 days a year.” 
Included in this masterclass: 
How to define your content pillars and build them into your sales funnel
What you can do you to uplift your community through your storytelling
Why chasing likes doesn’t add value 
The keys to putting together an elite team for content capture at your experience
⁠⁠Easol⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is the first of its kind all-in-one ‘experience commerce’ platform built to support experience businesses globally, across all sectors including festivals, wellness retreats, food and drink, sports and adventure trips. With Easol, experience businesses have complete control to drive more direct sales, retain more revenue, own their data and run your  business on your terms.
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Easol on Instagram⁠⁠
Follow Dulcie on Instagram
Follow Chuffed Digital on Instagram

Primavera, Untitled Group, AVA Festival, Nyege Nyege, Colour Factory: The art of event curation [ LIVE Episode ]

This masterclass, recorded live earlier this year at The British Library as part of the AVA London conference, is all about the art of event curation.
Experience creators have an almost endless range of choices they can make to influence these reactions, whether that be through the talent they book or the way they design the stage, how they cultivate and protect their community, down to how security is trained and briefed to manage the crowd. With ‘exceptional’ experiences these choices are meticulously curated and intentional.
Easol’s Co-Founder Lisa Simpson hosted a group of five leading festival and music industry creators, to explore what it takes to curate truly exceptional experiences. Together, they covered a lot of ground - from how to take risks with your musical programming, through to the role of visual arts at your experience, marketing to Gen Z, and much more. 
On this masterclass we’re joined by;
Filippo Palermo, Co-Founder at Australia’s Untitled Group, which produces some of the Southern Hemisphere’s most exciting festivals and events brands, from Beyond The Valley to Pitch Music & Arts
Derek Debru, Co-Founder at Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Festival, a platform for East Africa’s electronic music community
Pau Cristoful, International Booking Agent at Primavera Sound, NITSA and Mutek in Barcelona, and one of the most passionate music-lovers you could ever hope to meet 
Nathanael Williams, Co-Owner of London venues Colour Factory, Moko and Jumbi, three spaces that exist to serve their vibrant local communities each in different ways
Sarah McBriar, the founder of AVA Festival, an event that has been a rite of passage for a generation of festival goers in Northern Ireland over the last decade