Live Experiential Experts Launch Bold New Learning Hub For Tomorrow’s Talent
People and D&AD are collaborating to create a new educational resource for emerging talent in the live experiences industry.
People, an independent creative collective at the forefront of the experience industry, is bringing its extensive expertise to young and emerging creatives through a new online creative learning tool. The course has been developed in partnership with D&AD, a global creativity non-profit, driving excellence, education, and impact across design, advertising and commercial creativity.
The two creative organisations, People & D&AD, have a long-standing relationship which has seen three of People’s founders, Stuart Mellor, Lucy Warden and Rory O’Donovan, deliver various workshops for D&AD’s ‘New Blood’ community – an initiative from which the team recruited three new employees.
The new online resource, available on D&AD’s website from September 2025, has been designed with industry insight at the forefront of learning, with expertise from People’s founding partners, including CEO, Tim Elliot. From strategy and story-telling, to crafting the right experiences for each audience and making magic happen, the course is dedicated to equipping young creatives with the real-life skills they need for a successful career creating live experiences.
Rory O’Donovan, Partner at People comments: “Unlike any other form of creative output, in live experiences we have the privilege of looking our audience in the eye, sharing a space with them, and getting to feel their response in real time. The live experiential industry is one that both myself, and People’s co-founding partners, all feel incredibly lucky to be a part of, but it’s definitely the lesser known corner of the creative world, and it’s crying out for fresh new talent.
“Through a shared passion and goal, our partnership with the D&AD is one that I hope will help to shape the future of talent in live experiences, and open doors for those considering a career in the creative industry.”
Speaking of the partnership, Paul Drake, Foundation Director at D&AD comments: “With over 40 years of supporting emerging talent, we know creative careers are rarely linear. Today’s industry offers countless paths and opportunities – it can be complex to navigate and identify the best roles to apply creative skills so it’s critical that anyone can explore the breadth of creative execution and find new ways to flex their creative muscle. We’re excited to launch this free tool with People to empower creatives to explore new ways to apply their skills and understand how live experiences can deliver impact.”
The new online resource can be found via the D&AD’s website, by visiting: https://campus.dandad.org/courses/the-power-of-experiential.
