This year’s shortlist showcases teams proving that great experience design is never the work of a single discipline, but of groups that know how to turn vision into systems, culture into output, and collaboration into impact.
Across the shortlist are studios and collectives working at very different scales — from compact specialist teams delivering global productions to larger organisations building enduring methods, communities, and internal cultures that shape the work from within.
What connects them is not just what they make, but how they work together to create experiences that resonate far beyond the moment itself.
Here are our shortlisted entries:
THE HANGING HOUSE TEAM (UAE – Dubai) | Culture as Operating System
Based in Dubai, The Hanging House is a 50+ person team spanning 16 nationalities, delivering over 600 projects with a 99% client satisfaction rate and 94% employee retention in an industry known for churn.
Their collaborative model is structural. On the Nissan Nismo launch, the team was empowered to lead creative development, resulting in “The Red Ring Society” — a multi-sensory experience that generated 37.9 million impressions and 100% positive sentiment.
Internally, the team operates with an AED 101,000 annual welfare budget, peer-to-peer recognition systems, and a 90% intern-to-hire conversion rate. The result is a studio where culture is not support — it is the engine of output.
BRC IMAGINATION ARTS (USA) | Designing for Emotional Change
For over 45 years, BRC Imagination Arts has operated at the highest level of experience design, with more than 500 global honours and two Academy Award nominations.
Their methodology, “Deep Story,” begins with identifying a shared emotional trigger between audience and subject, then building narrative, spatial design, and sensory systems around that core.
The result is work designed not for attention, but for behavioural and emotional change — experiences that aim to shift how people see a brand, a place, or themselves, with measurable impact built into the design from the outset.
DONE + DUSTED X LTD (UK / USA) | A Small Team, Global Output
The six-person D+DX team within Done + Dusted delivered 27 productions across four continents in 2025, engaging over 3 million guests.
Their work spans projects such as the KSA Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, where they delivered 22 shows for 3 million visitors, alongside activations including Fame Factory London, Diriyah House, and global brand experiences for partners including Apple, TikTok, and Warner.
The team combines theatre, broadcast, and large-scale event production expertise — including experience from the London 2012 Olympics — enabling a small unit to deliver complex, high-visibility experiences at global scale.
HOL EXPERIENCES (Singapore) | Small Team, National Impact
Based in Singapore, HOL Experiences operates as a seven-person team delivering projects typically assigned to much larger agencies.
Their work spans major public and institutional projects: the T5 in the Making exhibition at Changi Airport drew 110,000 visitors against a target of 80,000; the Singapore Oceanarium transformation increased dwell time from 45 minutes to three hours and drove a 400% increase in engagement; and the SGH Genomic Garden contributed to a 300% acceleration in biodiversity research support.
Their Communicate–Resonate–Motivate framework underpins this work, translating complex subjects into experiences that drive understanding, emotional connection, and action.
KLING KLANG KLONG (Germany) | Sound as Infrastructure
Based in Germany, KLING KLANG KLONG specialises in sonic scenography, building adaptive sound systems that function as the underlying structure of immersive environments.
Their work includes contributions to World Expo 2025 pavilions and major European museum projects, where they develop generative audio systems that respond in real time to space and audience behaviour.
Rather than static soundtracks, their environments evolve continuously — extending dwell time, improving spatial orientation, and increasing emotional engagement — often without the audience consciously noticing the source.
ARTEMIS IS BURNING (USA – New York) | Building a Living Audience Ecosystem
Based in New York, the all-female team behind The Death of Rasputin has built one of the most engaged audience ecosystems in immersive theatre.
The initial 12-week run on Governors Island sold out, welcoming over 9,000 attendees with a 25% repeat attendance rate. Some audience members returned more than 20 times.
Beyond the show, the team developed a persistent community — including a live Discord environment, audience-led rituals, and in-world extensions — turning a single production into an ongoing cultural system with press coverage in The New York Times and Nerdist.
JUST FIX IT PRODUCTIONS (USA – Los Angeles) | Participation as Practice
Based in Los Angeles, JFI Productions has spent nearly a decade building a model of immersive theatre centred on participation, accessibility, and community.
Their flagship production, CREEP LA, expanded the audience for immersive theatre by bringing together horror fans, LARPers, nightlife audiences, and first-time theatre-goers, using “pulse-through” audience systems to scale attendance while maintaining intimacy.
The team is intentionally interdisciplinary — spanning performers, designers, technicians, and front-of-house — and actively engages underrepresented artists while partnering with organisations such as The Trevor Project and Inner-City Arts. Their work consistently turns audiences from observers into participants.
The WXO World Experience Awards 2026 take place on Tuesday 21 April at Ministry of Sound.
The ceremony marks the end of Day One of the World Experience Summit, a part of London Experience Week 2026.
Winners come decided by votes by members of the World Experience Organization – all leaders and practitioners shaping this industry – can vote. That is what gives these awards their unique weight.
Tickets are still available – click below for more.
