The Festival of Lights has made its grand return, eagerly anticipated following its cancellation last year. To ensure everyone could attend, we implemented a unique initiative in collaboration with the City of Lyon and AG2R LA MONDIALE. Our 270 facilities were thus able to transport their elderly or disabled residents right to the heart of the festival. They experienced the light show in virtual reality the same time as everyone else, just as the festival was in full swing!

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A community outreach project organized in partnership with the City of Lyon and AG2R La Mondiale.

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Every year, the City of Lyon and AG2R LA MONDIALE organize a charitable initiative in connection with the Festival of Lights. This year, we’ve decided to join them in taking on the challenge: making the famous Festival of Lights accessible to those who cannot—or can no longer—attend, including people with limited mobility. 

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This commitment to solidarity has always been at the heart of our values. It was their desire to bring moments of joy to their grandmother in care homes inspired Corentin and Robin to found Lumeen. Three years later, we have designed more than 50 immersive experiences specifically for seniors and people with disabilities. The next logical step for us, as a Lyon-based startup, was to bring our users to this flagship event in the region. 

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Near-live broadcasting: a major 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 other visitors is quite another! It was a real challenge for our production team, which had to significantly speed up its production process to shoot and edit footage of the festival within 24 hours.

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“Creating high-quality immersive experiences is a huge undertaking. Under normal circumstances, it takes us several weeks. For the Festival of Lights, it’s a sprint under somewhat unusual conditions. We really condensed our production work to try to recreate that ‘almost-live’ feel,” explains Alix, our production manager. After a location scouting session, accompanied by stage managers from the City of Lyon, David and Alix began filming at the festival’s various points of interest. But they hadn’t counted on the bad weather, which threw a wrench in their plans! “When you’re filming in 360, you have to pay attention to absolutely everything, since you’re filming in all directions, including the nadir and the zenith,” says David, production manager. “You have to watch out for the light and people walking by. In this case, we mainly had problems with the rain and the wind.”

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Once filming was complete, it was time for editing: after several days and nights of work, mission accomplished! Starting Friday, December 10, more than 270 facilities equipped with the solution were able to download the experience and transport their residents to the heart of Place des Terreaux to enjoy the show “Le Lapin dans la Lune” by artist Renato Gonzalez.

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To make the experience as comprehensive as possible, it came with educational materials created using information provided by the City of Lyon. These materials enableactivities coordinator caregiver leading the immersion session to best support users by providing context for what is being displayed on the Headsets.“This system helps make the works more accessible to audiences who might otherwise be unable to experience them and encourages interaction with theactivities coordinator among participants,” explains Robin, who worked for several years in care homes co-founding Lumeen.

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A special thought for the people of Lyon who “couldn’t make it.”

While the Festival of Lights is the fourth-largest event in the world in terms of attendance, it remains one of the most iconic events in the Lyon region, which we wanted to highlight. Four care homes the City of Lyon were specially equipped for the occasion, joining the approximately thirty facilities that are already partners in Lyon and the surrounding area. 

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“Our goal is to let our residents enjoy this experience; we’re really looking forward to this immersive event,” says the director ofcare homes Villette d’Orcare homes ahead of the event. “We’ve started telling them about it, and they can’t wait to have this experience. “Our residents are mostly from Lyon. The Festival of Lights is something they’ve always known. Before, we used to show them photos. This time, with the Headsets, I think it’s going to feel more real—that’s great!”

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Atcare homes Balcons de l’Ile Barbecare homes (Lyon), residents rediscovered the Festival of Lights in a whole new way, accompanied by Alexandre Chevalier, the elected official responsible for seniors’ quality of life.

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“At Lumeen, we’re a team based in Lyon. We love the Festival of Lights, and we wanted to make this special event accessible to people who might otherwise be unable to attend—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 magical nature of the experience, this immersive event will allow care facilities to help residents exercise their memories and encourage interaction not only among themselves but also with their families, who will be able to share and discuss this highlight of life in Lyon. To extend the holiday lights display throughout the end-of-year festivities, a second immersive event will be offered in December, allowing participants to explore the light installations at the Parc de la Tête d’Or.

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The media are covering it.