Media and Immersive eXperience (MIX) Center
New state-of-the-art facility in Mesa, Arizona, for film, media arts, design and emerging technology programs
The world-class Media and Immersive eXperience (MIX) Center in Mesa, Arizona, which opened in fall 2022, hosts hundreds of students who will be making films, designing new virtual worlds and video games, and creating other immersive media experiences of all kinds.
The MIX Center is part of the ASU at Mesa City Center complex, a collaboration between ASU and Mesa, Arizona, a city rich in history, art, community and industry. The MIX Center is located in the Salt River Valley on the ancestral homelands of those American Indian tribes that have inhabited this place for centuries, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) peoples, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. (For more information please see ASU Commitment to American Indian Tribes.) Located in the heart of Mesa’s Innovation District, the site will serve as a laboratory for advanced media technologies and media production, a platform for game development and a driving force for entrepreneurial solutions. It will also be an open and inviting place for the public as well as a source of inspiration, entertainment and education.
The ASU at Mesa City Center complex also includes The Studios at Mesa City Center, an inclusive community space open to all. Geared toward Mesa community members as well as students, faculty and staff interested in launching new ideas and seeking a connection space, the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute at ASU will provide resources and programs to support current and aspiring entrepreneurs. The three-acre Plaza at Mesa City Center will provide a public park with an event lawn, splash pad and shade structures. Situated in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, this complex, a collaboration between ASU and the City of Mesa, will connect students, faculty and Mesa residents through community, industry and art.
Here, a new generation of creators from Arizona and beyond will develop into the media and technology professionals we need in the 21st century.
Academic programs
New and emerging media
A suite of graduate degree programs at the MIX Center are transdisciplinary in nature, bringing designers, creators, developers, researchers and worldbuilders together in the creation of new worlds that take multiple forms.
Film
The Sidney Poitier New American Film School operates across three cities: ASU’s Tempe campus, the ASU California Center in downtown Los Angeles, and the MIX Center in Mesa, Arizona. The school will operate its production and post-production activities out of the MIX Center.
Cutting edge facilities and tools
The Media and Immersive eXperience (MIX) Center will be a world class facility for emerging media technologies, second to none.
Screening room
Enhanced immersion studio
Soundstages
Cafe
Exhibition/lobby
Community room
Ideation studio
Fabrication lab
Large screening theater
Enhanced immersion studio (balcony)
Recording suite (post-production)
Large flex classroom
Soundstage 4
Makeup wardrobe costume shop
Computer labs
Color Grading and Finishing Suite
features a neutral gray shade of 50% to color grade a project and is equipped with
industry standard equipment.
Post-production facilities
Large flex classrooms
Community amenities and engagement
Just outside of the MIX Center, community members can gather in Mesa’s new three-acre Plaza at Mesa City Center. Adjacent to the MIX Center, ASU will operate The Studios, with programs to support Mesa residents with entrepreneurial or business ideas. Training programs, workshops, seminars and mentorship opportunities will be available to individuals or groups. Partnerships are underway that will bring in children and high school students from Mesa Public Schools, community arts organizers from the Mesa Arts Center, community representatives from Downtown Mesa Association and more.
The MIX Center began as a collaboration between Arizona State University and the City of Mesa and is located in the City’s innovative, diverse and historic downtown (find out more about what the downtown has to offer here). Not only is it one of the first media production facilities of its type, but it is designed to be fully embedded in the surrounding community as a hive of cultural exchange and public programming and events.
This vision will only be achieved through partnerships with organizations and the surrounding communities. The MIX Center has been designed to be a public amenity and place of collaboration and engagement for the entire community.
Community advisory board
The MIX Center is facilitating a community advisory group to guide development and public programming at the center. This group began to meet in January 2022 and will co-create its mission, vision and structure. The board is a representative group of community leaders engaged in various sectors in Mesa. This group will explore how the MIX Center can be a mutually beneficial addition to the city.
Community amenities
Screening theatres
The two professional quality movie theatres/event spaces in the facility will be activated weekly for public screenings of everything from classic films and first-run movies to lectures and e-sports mini-tournaments. More information coming summer 2022.
Performances and events
Many of the spaces in the facility, including the Enhanced Immersion Studio, are equipped to host not only immersive experiences, but also theatrical performance and art installations. More information coming summer 2022.
Outdoor events and screenings in the park
The 70-foot wide high-resolution display on the south wall of the building faces a sloping lawn on the north end of the Plaza and is set up for screenings of films, sporting events, and other special events. More information coming summer 2022.
Community room
The multi-purpose Community Room is designed for meetings, gallery events, and other special events. This room is programmed by the Community Advisory Board.
Community engaged projects
Camp Level Up
Camp Level Up aims to provide an immersive summer camp for Mesa’s neurodivergent youth. Students will have the opportunity to engage in professional-level skills in game design within a supportive community while building confidence to express themselves in a new medium. ASU Media and Immersive eXperience (MIX) Center will host youth (grades 6 through 12) for three weeks of sessions led by social impact and educational gaming studio Endless Studios and faculty from the MIX Center with onsite therapeutic support from Arizona Autism United.
Spark Youth Media Festival
The Spark Youth Media Festival’s (SYMF) mission is to celebrate the cultural contributions of youth and to equip them as artists and makers in the fields of creative media. SYMF will be hosted by The MIX Center and Mesa Arts Center and be the first to bring narrative film, documentary, music video, game design, and interactive/immersive experiences together. More information coming soon!
The Most Beautiful Home…Maybe
Art and story have the power to build empathy and understanding, but can theater provide solutions to our national housing crisis? “The Most Beautiful Home… Maybe” is a multimedia performance juxtaposing housing data, Lyndon Johnson, music, and stories of Americans facing home insecurity. This show invites us to collectively create housing policies and envision a future where everyone has a home. Developed from conversations and workshops with housing advocates, activists, developers, and government workers. Learn more about the show and buy tickets.
Events
Upcoming events
Please note: events at ASU MIX Center are currently booked until the end of 2022. Event inquiries will be accepted for January 2023 and beyond.
People
Leadership
Research faculty
In addition to film faculty who will have offices and teach in Mesa, MIX Center faculty and affiliates include ASU leaders in research and creative work in immersive experience design, extended reality technologies and interactive environments.
