Going ‘Glocal’: Digital Art, Local Ecosystems, and International Collaboration
Thursday, August 27, 2026
4:30 pm_5:20 pm
Édifice Wilder – Espace danse
85$
Day Pass price, excl. fees & taxesNo immersive scene grows in isolation, and no single experience builds an industry. Behind every studio that tours internationally is a whole ecosystem that made it possible: local venues willing to take a risk, funders who moved early, peers who shared contacts instead of gatekeeping. What does a healthy ecosystem actually look like, and how do two ecosystems, in different markets, learn to work together without one simply becoming a customer of the other?
Moderated by Véronique Paradis, Co-Executive Director of ECLO - the innovation and commercialization ecosystem in digital creativity born from the strategic alliance between SAT and Zù, this panel brings together voices who have built, curated, and connected creative ecosystems. Francis Gélinas, Executive Producer and Technology Designer behind Invisilab and the HOLO X holographic system, brings three decades of large-scale production experience rooted in Québec; Naomi Johnson, Executive Director of imagineNATIVE, the world’s largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, speaks to what it means to build an ecosystem grounded in community and Indigenous-led creative practice; Heleen Rouw, Programme Director of Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition (CIIIC), connects creators, researchers, and institutions around immersive projects generating societal impact across healthcare, culture, and urban development; and Asad Lalljee, CEO of Avid Learning and Curator of the Royal Opera House Mumbai, brings the perspective of a cultural institution re-establishing itself as a city's creative anchor.
Rather than treating international growth as a solo climb, this panel asks what it takes to build the kind of local foundation that makes international collaboration possible in the first place, and what Québec's ecosystem specifically has to offer the rest of the world.
Presented by
Francis GélinasCA/US
Invisilab
Going ‘Glocal’: Digital Art, Local Ecosystems, and International Collaboration
27 Aug
Performs at 4:30 pm_5:20 pm Montréal time
Heleen RouwNL
Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition (CIIIC)
Going ‘Glocal’: Digital Art, Local Ecosystems, and International Collaboration
27 Aug
Performs at 4:30 pm_5:20 pm Montréal time
Naomi JohnsonCA
ImagiNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
Going ‘Glocal’: Digital Art, Local Ecosystems, and International Collaboration
27 Aug
Performs at 4:30 pm_5:20 pm Montréal time
Asad LalljeeIN
Royal Opera House Mumbai + Avid Learning
Going ‘Glocal’: Digital Art, Local Ecosystems, and International Collaboration
27 Aug
Performs at 4:30 pm_5:20 pm Montréal time
Véronique ParadisCA/QC
ECLO + Société des arts technologiques (SAT)
Going ‘Glocal’: Digital Art, Local Ecosystems, and International Collaboration
27 Aug
Performs at 4:30 pm_5:20 pm Montréal time
Thursday, August 27, 2026
4:30 pm_5:15 pm
