The Festival of Lights is back, highly anticipated following its cancellation last year. So that everyone can go there, we have set up a new system, in collaboration with the City of Lyon and AG2R LA MONDIALE. Our 270 establishments were thus able to transport their elderly residents or residents with disabilities to the heart of the Festival. They discovered the virtual reality lights at the same time as everyone else, while the Festival was in full swing!

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A solidarity project set up with the City of Lyon and AG2R La Mondiale.

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Every year, the City of Lyon and AG2R LA MONDIALE propose a solidarity action around the Festival of Lights. This year, we have chosen to take up the challenge with them: to make the famous Festival of Lights accessible to those who cannot or no longer can travel there, the public prevented.

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This commitment to solidarity has always been at the heart of our values. It was by wanting to offer moments of happiness to their grandmother in a nursing home that Corentin and Robin had the idea of founding Lumeen. Three years later, we designed more than 50 immersions specifically for seniors and people with disabilities. The logical next step, for us, a startup from Lyon, was to want to take our users to this flagship event in the region.

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Quasi-direct: a considerable challenge for our production team.

Taking our users to the Festival of Lights is one thing. Taking them there at the same time as the 4 million visitors is another! A real challenge for our production team, which had to speed up its production process considerably to shoot and edit images of the party in 24 hours.

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“Producing quality immersive experiences is a lot of work. In normal times, it takes us several weeks. For the Festival of Lights, it's a sprint and conditions that are a bit particular. We really condensed our production work to try to recreate this spirit of almost live.” explains Alix, our production manager. After a scouting session, accompanied by the managers of the City of Lyon, David and Alix started shooting on the various points of interest of the Festival. That was without counting on the bad weather, which put obstacles in their way! “When you shoot in 360, you have to pay attention to absolutely everything, since you shoot in all axes, including the nadir and the zenith, says David, production manager. We have to pay attention to the light, to the people who pass by. There, we mainly had problems with the rain and with the wind.”

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Once the shooting is over, it's time to edit: after several days and nights of work, mission successful! As of Friday, December 10, more than 270 establishments equipped with the Lumeen solution were able to download the experience and bring their residents to the heart of Place des Terreaux, to watch the show “The Rabbit in the Moon” by artist Renato Gonzalez.

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To make the experience as complete as possible, it was delivered with mediation content, created using information provided by the City of Lyon. They allow the facilitator or the caregiver who animates the immersion to best support users, by providing them with context on what is broadcast on the headsets. ”This system makes it possible to better promote the works among the prevented audiences and to stimulate exchanges with the presenter and between the participants.” explains Robin, who worked for several years in nursing homes before co-founding Lumeen.

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A special thought for the “prevented” Lyonnais.

Although the Festival of Lights is the fourth world event in terms of attendance, it is nonetheless one of the emblematic events of the Lyon region, on which we wanted to focus. 4 nursing homes in the City of Lyon were specially equipped for the occasion, joining the thirty or so establishments already partners in Lyon and its surroundings.

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“Our objective is to benefit our residents, we really expect this immersion, says the director of the EHPAD La Villette d'Or, before the event. We started talking to them about it and they are looking forward to the experience. Our residents are mainly from Lyon. The Festival of Lights is something they have always known. Before, we showed them photos. This time, with the helmets, I think it's going to be something more real, that's good! ”

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At the EHPAD Les Balcons de l'Ile Barbe (Lyon), residents rediscovered the Festival of Lights in a completely different way, in the company of Alexandre Chevalier, elected to the quality of life of seniors.

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“At Lumeen, we are a team from Lyon. We love the Festival of Lights and we wanted to make this special moment accessible to the disabled, and at the same time as everyone else. It was very important to do it at the same time as everyone else.” recalls Robin Metgy, co-founder of Lumeen.

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Beyond the magic of the experience, this immersion will allow establishments to work on the memory of residents and to stimulate exchanges between them but also with families who will be able to share and exchange around this highlight of life in Lyon. To extend the illuminations during the holiday season at the end of the year, a second immersion will be offered in December, to discover the light installations in the Tête d'Or Park.

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The media is talking about it.