The University of Nebraska–Lincoln has named the founding director of its Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts. Megan Elliott, of the University of Technology Sydney in Sydney, Australia, and the former Director/Chief Executive Officer of X Media Lab, will join the University in January to lead the Center.
“We are extremely proud to welcome Megan Elliott to Nebraska to be the founding director of the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts,” said Chancellor Ronnie Green. “The Center will be an important hub of interdisciplinary learning, creativity and research in emerging media, and Megan’s hire immediately elevates it to the world stage. We are pleased to have her expertise to guide the development of the Johnny Carson Center.”
The Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts is an investment by the University made possible by a recent $20 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation from the Johnny Carson Foundation in November 2015. The Johnny Carson Center will be an internationally distinct program focusing on virtual production, film, design, technology and commerce. It will explore the boundaries of where cinematic narrative and storytelling intersects with artificial intelligence, science, the humanities, computer science, engineering, music, fine arts and other disciplines. Students will learn, among other things, how to create content for film and television, game design, interactive media, internet media, and augmented and virtual reality.
New courses and curriculum for the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts are currently being developed, and students are expected to begin enrolling in the Center in the fall of 2018. The Center will eventually be located at the site of the former Nebraska Bookstore location at 1300 Q St., with the new facility scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2019.
“We are delighted that Megan Elliott will lead the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts,” said Allan Alexander, president and a director of the Johnny Carson Foundation. “Her international experience will help the Center grow in a new, global direction—especially important as new media and entertainment platforms are constantly emerging. Her background and worldwide network will ensure the success of this new program, in the spirit of its namesake, and with the same universal appeal at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.”
Elliott is excited to begin the work of realizing the University’s vision for the Johnny Carson Center.
“I am overjoyed to have been selected for this incredible position. I feel it is the culmination of my career to date: from creating interactive performance, to being the executive director of the Australian Writers’ Guild, to building X Media Lab as an international event in digital media in 14 different countries, to developing the international leadership programs at the University of Technology Sydney,” Elliott said. “What I’m most excited about is co-creating a truly interdisciplinary program that celebrates the dynamic relationship between storytelling and emerging media arts and building an internationally unique forward-looking Center that honors the name and innovative spirit of Johnny Carson.”
Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Endowed Dean Charles O’Connor said Elliott’s experience and network of contacts will be invaluable for the Johnny Carson Center.
“We were impressed with Elliott from the moment we first met her,” O’Connor said. “And I know many researchers on campus and potential corporate partners worldwide are already eager to work with her and the Johnny Carson Center on innovative projects that will be on the cutting edge of media and technology. This is an exciting time for the college and the university as we continue the pioneering spirit in media and technology and dedication to craft that Johnny Carson himself left us as part of his legacy.”
Since 2015, Elliott has served as the manager of Leadership and Community Connections at the University of Technology Sydney in Sydney, Australia’s number one young university, where she led an international program for students to develop leadership and entrepreneurial skills, as well as instilling a commitment to innovation, social justice, community building and sustainability.
Elliott has deep ties to emerging media industries across Asia, Europe and the world. She served as co-founder and director of China Creative Industries Exchange in Beijing and Shanghai, China, from 2007-2015.
From 2005 to 2015, Elliott was the director/chief executive officer for X Media Lab (XML), an internationally acclaimed digital media think-tank and creative workshop for the creative industries that she co-founded with Brendan Harkin. XML creates a meeting place uniquely designed to assist companies and people to get their own creative ideas successfully to market. Some of XML’s partners include the Sydney Film Festival, Beijing Film Academy, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India, the national broadcaster (NPO) in Amsterdam, the American Film Institute, Digital Hollywood and 5D Global in Hollywood, the British Council, and the Federal Office of Culture in Switzerland.
“My experience in building the X Media Lab network of events and institutions across 14 countries and 22 cities all over the world, for more than a decade, is a great foundation to bring to the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts,” Elliott said. “We worked in partnership with governments, universities and industry to assist the growth of creative industries and for local companies to develop their own IP, build businesses, create jobs and grow their networks. X Media Lab incubated hundreds of emerging media projects and startups, and I look forward to bringing that attitude and experience to the Center at UNL.”
Elliott and Harkin were recently chosen as two of five people to have their oral histories recorded for the National Film and Sound Archive in Australia, as two people pivotal to the development of the interactive media arts industries.
She also served from 2002-2006 as the executive director of the Australian Writers’ Guild.
Originally from Australia, Elliott received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Canberra in Bruce, Australia.
She began her career in theatre with the Splinters Theatre of Spectacle and has also served as a performer/artist in residence/assistant project manager for The Performance Space, Australia’s leading performance space and gallery for the research and development of interdisciplinary arts.
“I’ve always been fascinated by play, interactivity, storytelling and media—and the possibilities have simply multiplied as new technologies emerge,” Elliott said. “Today all companies are media companies in some way and built on emerging media arts. Today stories are being told by data, robotics, sensors, software and other forms of augmentation; hence, emerging media arts are affecting other industries. The genuine cross-disciplinarity of the Johnny Carson Center is its defining feature.”
Elliott is impressed by the opportunities that the Johnny Carson Center has to build relationships with industries as part of a major Big Ten research university.
“I’ve had the opportunity to consult with some of the existing university networks, including the Nebraska Innovation Campus and the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management, as well as some of the Lincoln area startups,” Elliott said. “The Johnny Carson Center will be a catalyst across the university and with industry stakeholders.”
Elliott said Nebraska is fertile ground for this kind of innovation, and she is eager to begin appointing an advisory council for the Johnny Carson Center from her international network of contacts and beyond to help guide its development.
“What an opportunity the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts presents for all of us—new building, new people, new programs,” she said.