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Creative Experience Economy Conference Comes To Santa Fe

Artists, entrepreneurs, inventors and other creative minds gathered in Santa Fe over the weekend for the first local Creative Experience Conference, called CXSF.

About 160 attendees and speakers gathered at SITE Santa Fe and other locations around the Railyard to exchange ideas and discuss the growing creative and informational economies.

Panel discussions included a wide variety of experts from magicians and neuroscientists talking about the need for creativity in the changing world. 

Keynote speaker author Robert Tercek talked about how innovation has quickly changed the marketplace and will continue to do so.

“Dematerialization in my opinion is the most significant trend. It’s going to affect every aspect of the economy. It’s already started to transform large sectors of the economy,” he said. “The term I use for it is vaporizing, because things are literally gone in a puff of smoke. They are here today and gone tomorrow.”     

April Cleveland is the founder and Artistic Director of Santa Fe’s The Exodus Ensemble. The group produces and presents high-octane live events including using classic public domain plays and turning them into productions with a modern flair.

She says events like CXSF will be a great benefit as more people move into the experience and information economies.

“More than thinking outside the box, they are thinking about the fact that their customers desire something just like feeling really alive,” she said. “It’s like when I’m making theater how can every moment be the least boring moment possible and how can I engage audiences in a way that leaves them feeling transformed.”        

James Wallman came to the conference from London. He is the founder and CEO of The World Experience Organization and has authored two best-selling books on the experience economy.

He says such a conference isn’t all that unlike the kind of meetings you see organized by the Chamber of Commerce.

“But this is a 21-century version of it. This is just the evolution of capitalism and the evolution of business,” he said.

Wallman says people in the experience business ecosystem are coming together to share ideas, look for investors and others looking to invest in start-ups, just like you would see in a Chamber event.