teaching creatives how to

activ8

Home Page Creatives

their cities

Activ8 is a 16 week accelerator program that supplies funding, mentorship, training and support for creatives who are interested in developing experiential activations in the places they live.

HOW DOES

ACTIV8 WORK?

Activ8 partners with cities to help build an “experience economy”.  The experience economy is a term used to describe how a corporation focuses on memorable experiences in order to remain competitive, retain customers and attract new ones.   With downtown districts turning into ghost towns after the pandemic, cities are in need of an “experience economy” of their own.   This means an active economic cluster of local creatives, startups, service providers, talent, ambassadors, city leaders and investors that all work together to create unbelievable experiences.  Activ8 helps by bringing an accelerator program to specific cities, where we focus on turning local creatives into experiential entrepreneurs.  Here’s how it works: We have a special sourcing formula that helps us find the most innovative movers and shakers in the area;  and we take them through an intense application/interview process.  

The Top 8 selected candidates will be provided with a stipend, coaching, training, workshops, 1:1 sessions and an extensive curriculum that will help them launch a successful activation by the end of the year.   These won’t be the usual “Yoga in the Park” or “Live Music” events.  Activ8 will teach local creatives how to develop unique/out-the-box activations that attract visitors and make downtown areas busy again.  They’ll also be taught how to turn their activations into a scalable startup company backed by investors, community members and corporations.  At the end of the program, each creative will pitch their activation ideas during “Raise to Rise”.  This event is where the creatives present their idea to the community in effort to raise additional funds and receive support for their project.   After the Activ8 accelerator term is complete, we are confident that each city will not only see a positive increase in tourism, but also community engagement, social media reach,  talent retention, small businesses, corporate expansion and/or job opportunities.

Learn More About Activ8

Learning

Activ8 not only teaches everything there is to know about creating experiences for cities, but the program also teaches creatives how to turn these experiences into a scalable startup company.

Developing

From art pieces and festivals to food innovations and immersive experiences – each selected creative is mentored through the process of developing a city activation idea from scratch.

Pitching

Mastering the art of storytelling is key to receiving  support for any idea.  Activ8 coaches creatives on how to pitch activations to stakeholders, city officials, corporations, investors and community leaders during our end-of-program event called “Raise to Rise”!

Why is activ8

Needed?

Due to COVID and other current economic issues, cities are struggling to retain talent, attract visitors and create more small businesses and jobs.  Experts agree that the only way to change this is through the power of social amenities, events, experiences and more.

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America's Largest Cities

Only half of the largest cities in America have reached a recovery rate of 75% or higher, indicating many downtown areas in North America are still struggling to regain pre-pandemic foot traffic.

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Recovery rate

Urbanist Richard Florida believes all cities who currently have a 75% recover rate or lower - should focus on transitioning their downtown districts from office space to living space and offer a wide range of amenities and experiences.

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Programmed Events

Research shows that several mid-sized cities are hosting the same 15 events each year which could also have a negative impact on tourism. People don't see the value in visiting nearby cities if they can get the same, exact events from their hometown.

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year

By 2040, the knowledge economy will drive economic growth for virtually every region across North America. The challenge? Large companies and startups are only interested in expanding to places that retain young talent, produce placemaking strategies and activate those strategies with unique experiences.
-Economist David Dixon

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creatives

Studies suggest that 30% of creatives (such as designers, creative directors, artists, marketers and content creators) are exploring roles that combine their leadership skills with community impact and physical space design but are struggling to find proper training and opportunities.

Learn More About The Need for City Activations

Our

Team

1

Coko Eason

Matt Heidkamp

Team Pics 1

Greg Oats

keevin o'rourke

OUR

Partners

Programming And

Curriculum

Event planning has been around for decades so there’s tons of courses, books and experts on this subject.  But when it comes to the art of city activations –  many think that their event planning experience will just simply crossover.  When in reality, a whole new skillset must be mastered and we teach these skills through the Activ8 Accelerator Program.

Learn More About the Program

Activ8 Innovation Formula

City activations should be extremely unique in order to get the attention of nearby visitors. We teach a specialized framework to help creatives think of out-the-box experiences that the local community really wants, nearby visitors will support and social media will obsess over. Long gone are the days of flea markets and food trucks. Activ8 teaches our creatives how to design experiences that have never been done before!

Permits and Licenses

From zoning laws and permits to business licenses, tax revenue and traffic management - city activations call for a little more planning than smaller events. We teach creatives the ins and outs of working with the city.

City Activation Design

Most times, city activations are hosted outdoors which means that each creative must learn skills such as layout design, urban planning, architectural concepts, ingress/egress, artistic landscaping, temporary structure development and realistic rendering using AI.

Activating Nearby Brands

This is Activ8's most popular course. It teaches creatives how to place retail, bar and restaurant activations inside of their own activation. Just getting a small business to sponsor an event is not enough. If the key is to get more foot traffic to your downtown business owners, creatives must learn how to activate food, beverage and retail brands as well.

Placemaking and Place Branding

The more branding a place has, the more unique activations it can host. Activ8 makes sure our creatives know how to turn a space into a viral destination by teaching them the 8 brand identities that each downtown district must have in order to thrive.

Sponsorship Sales and Management

The bigger the idea, the bigger the budget. Activ8 creatives will learn the process of finding the right brand partners, developing a sponsorship deck and landing a deal.

Ticket Sales Strategy

Nothing is worse than planning an event for months and no one shows up. Activ8's marketing hacks helps to sell out events well in advance of the launch date.

Accessibility and Sustainability

Events should be designed in a way where they are inclusive and accessible to everyone. This includes everything from entry ways to bathrooms and closed caption features. Events should also consistently find ways to minimize waste, source reusable materials, manage energy use and create paperless ways to communicate to guests. We coach creatives through this planning process during the Activ8 accelerator program.

These are just a few subject matters that creatives will learn while involved in Activ8.  Remember, we want each creative to turn their activations into thriving startup companies.  So they’ll also receive coaching and mentorship in other subjects such as Marketing, Sales, Operations, Business Modeling, Financial Modeling, Scaling, Fundraising and so much more!

who should get

involved?

If you’re a city/downtown district, early-stage creative or brand; we are interested in connecting with you!

Cities
Creatives
Partners

Our City

Reviews

Phil A.
Phil A.

Real Estate Developer

We decided to invest in a series of small activations for one of our real estate development projects. The first activation alone brought in over 900 people that hadn't visited the downtown area since 2019.

2025 ACTIV8

report

Get a more in depth look at:

  • The state of cities after COVID,
  • How creatives are struggling to find new opportunities
  • How cities that invested in amenities and an innovation economy are now thriving
  • And how Activ8 can duplicate this success for you!

Download

Complete this form to receive access to our 2025 Activ8 Report

Contact

US!

Location

Southeast, USA

Website

www.activ8accelerator.com

Activ8 Accelerator

© Copyright 2025 Acitv8 Accelerator, LLC