NEW YORK, April 22, 2024 – Visions2030, a New York City-based nonprofit, announced today a campaign to bring the Lumisphere Experience to communities, entertainment venues, and sites of cultural and international events across the United States and the globe. The campaign aims to conclude in 2030, the target year of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, and is seeking relationships with strategic partners who want to be associated with an innovative initiative that inspires and activates more people to be involved in climate-related topics and issues.
Practical applications or use cases for the immersive Lumisphere — consisting of three large, connected geodesic domes — are engaging communities, attendees at events and festivals, stakeholders, and employees.
The globe is facing skyrocketing levels of climate anxiety and its paralysis, according to studies. A study published in The Lancet indicated that 84 percent of respondents were at least moderately worried about climate and half said they “felt powerless and fearful about the future.”
The Lumisphere was prototyped at the end of 2023 at Los Angeles’ legendary California Institute of the Arts. Conceived by Visions2030 and Minds Over Matter (MOM), it uses AI and leading-edge technology to help participants imagine new futures and potential solutions.
“With climate despair at an all-time high, the need for action is both urgent and overwhelming,” says Visions2030 Founder Carey Lovelace. A key metric of the Lumisphere campaign, she says, is to engage millions by 2030, shifting climate conversations, engaging communities, and activating participants.
“When our imaginations are stimulated, a shift in consciousness is possible,” says Lovelace. “Working with partners, sponsors and venues, a core goal of this campaign is to get people to imagine what we want to move toward instead of what we fear.”
Most climate initiatives focus on detailing rising risk and negative outcomes. In the Lumisphere, participants envision new pathways for the future as they move through a 6,500 square-foot complex. In Dome One, participants gather together and are prepared for the journey. In Dome Two, they are immersed in a powerful audio-visual experience designed to open the imagination. In Dome Three, using a touch pad and custom AI platform, their visions for the future are rendered into images. The Lumisphere concludes in a “mentoring” area, where trained guides explore participants’ experiences and help define action steps.
“Sometimes it takes a little bit of spectacle and some magic to shift someone's way of seeing the world," says Elizabeth Thompson, Executive Director of Visions2030. "Visitors leave the Lumisphere feeling more connected about the possibility to shape a better future. Some are instilled with a sense of purpose and optimism. Like a light bulb turning on, people start to 'get it' and understand that there are solutions out there, and that they can be part of the great stuff people are doing that's changing the world.”