Marketing, media, content and creative agency for the arts and entertainment industries, The M Agency, today launches a new division – M-Live – as the experiential and brand activation extension of its business.
Headed by The M Agency founder and CEO Emma Triggs, the vision for M-Live is to reimagine entertainment, involving people in the arts and culture so they enjoy and share the things they love. M-Live will fulfil this mission by producing and presenting innovative and immersive experiences that are purpose-built to be completely COVID-safe.
As the first of its new entertainment ventures, M-Live is partnering with the world renowned and Melbourne headquartered Grande Exhibitions to bring Van Gogh Alive to Sydney for its Australian premiere. This spectacular digital exhibition opens later this year for a strictly limited run (dates and venue to be announced soon). The exhibition is the world’s most visited, multi-sensory experience having toured to more than 50 cities where it has been appreciated by over 6 million people so far.
It has had highly successful runs in the world’s leading cultural capitals including Rome, Milan, Berlin, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Moscow and many more. Set to an evocative classical score, Van Gogh Alive presents over 3,000 enormous crystal-clear images that are beamed across every surface – walls, columns, ceilings, and even floors. At such a gigantic scale, the vibrant colours and vivid details of Van Gogh’s work are truly breathtaking.
The blockbuster experience is one of Australia’s first large-scale arts events to open with COVID-safe considerations that exceed government public health guidelines. Controlled visitor capacities (that allow for more than the recommended four square metres per person) and managed visitor flow mean visitors can easily respect social-distancing advice. The exhibition also meets the highest hygiene standards with no touch points, hand sanitisers, and daily deep cleaning.
“Van Gogh Alive is one of the most immersive and sharable experiences I’ve ever seen. It presents Van Gogh and his work in an entirely different, contemporary light. The fact that is absolutely no-touch makes it ideal in today’s COVID-aware climate. We hope art-lovers, culture-fans, students and extended families enjoy this amazing multi-sensory exhibition. It’s a great opportunity to experience art in a completely new way and to reconnect with creative culture in a safe space,” says Triggs.
Triggs also commends Grande Exhibitions founder and director Bruce Peterson for his creative vision and foresight during the global pandemic.
“Bruce is an unsung hero of the global arts scene. His exhibitions have enthralled millions of people around the world, and deserves recognition here. He has also stayed well ahead of public health concerns and is safely re-opening Grande Exhibitions cultural experiences in a COVID-safe manner from Europe to Asia. Now, we finally get to share the magic here in Australia.”
For Triggs, launching M-Live is a business-critical move that paves a way back to work for 30 The M Agency employees and other associates currently on Job Keeper.
“Job Keeper has been an invaluable lifeline, but once this initiative ends, we could be toast,” she explains. “M-Live will play a critical role in rebooting our agency and generating fresh entertainment properties for Australia and beyond.”
This inventive move is an example of the positive economic impact businesses like The M Agency can generate – quickly. For Triggs, it is disappointing that there’s no federal or state support that can be tapped into at short notice despite the JobMaker arts package announced on 25 June 2020.
“I was genuinely excited to hear about the $250 million support scheme for the arts. However, the closer I got to it, I realised it was just like a mirage in the desert. JobMaker and latest $1.6 billion Digital Restart Fund offer no support to projects like this, which contradicts the government’s call to ‘accelerate agility, lift productivity and generate the jobs of tomorrow’ (quoted from NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, 19 June 2020).
Instead, Triggs invites arts- and culture-oriented brands looking for activations and money-can’t-buy experiential opportunities to get involved with this unique event.
“Time is of the essence so we hope there are brands who can be equally agile and ready to get creative in bringing this exceptional entertainment prospect to audiences with us.”
