Skill and Sensibility: The Creative Producer

Innovation. Immersion. Engagement. Does any twenty-first century art museum not state these terms boldly in their mission statement? Creative professionals occupying a broad range of specialized design roles within multimedia production teams and across inter-disciplinary design departments are faced with delivering upon this organizationally predetermined promise on a daily basis. However, is it reasonable to question what constitutes deeper, more meaningful in-gallery experiences in the context of the “visitor-centered” museum? And how do we produce them? In order to rise to this challenge, an enormous opportunity exists to push both technological innovation and our existing approaches to content creation by cultivating new models for media production that are studio lead, audience focused, and industry-engaged. In order to meet the increased reliance on digital content to achieve immersive exhibition experiences—including, but certainly not restricted to, virtual reality, creative museum professionals must draw upon a complex weave of industry skill and artistic sensibility in order to effectively design interpretive and aesthetic experiences in our galleries that are no longer just informative and meaningful, but imaginative, moving, and profound. This paper sets out to strategically position the role of the “creative producer” by redefining the boundaries of its cross-disciplinary functions; in doing so, it also raises questions of how museums support their own production of creative content. We will argue that the role is ideally suited to facilitate co-production between artist and audience, especially in response to the increasing onus placed on immersive design. So, what implications does immersive design hold for the Creative Producer?