XR Sunday Social - Immersive Tech Network Kent Hub Launch

Connect, Explore and Experience the Future in a Chilled Atmosphere

XR Demos / Think Tank / Networking
Time: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Location: A+E Lab, Unit 1, Building 64, Main Gate Road, Historic Dockyard, Chatham ME4 4TZ

The future doesn't get decided in one place. It's shaped by local communities, by grassroots-led initiatives, by institutions, and by government, often without any of them talking to each other about what they're actually building together.

This edition of XR Sunday Social is a round table at A+E Lab, bringing together four people who each sit at one of those points, for a conversation about the society we're designing right now, where AI fits, where funding does and doesn't reach, and who holds the power to shape what comes next. It's part of Electric Medway, and marks the launch of Innovate UK's Immersive Tech Network Kent Hub, your chance to plug into a growing national network with Innovate UK's backing.

We're running this as a think-tank more than a presentation, so there's room for the audience to shape the conversation. Expect hands-on demos of new tools and artwork, direct access to the speakers, and a relaxed setting to connect over food and drinks.

Grassroots, artist-led, and built for the people doing the work. No coding or tech experience needed, just curiosity. A safe and inclusive space for everyone; families and children welcome.

The event is free, and no entry ticket to the Historic Dockyard is needed, but booking is required. As we are at a gated site, we will arrange a meeting point. Refreshments provided.

More about Immersive Tech Network Kent Hub: https://aelab.uk/project/immersive-tech-network-kenthub/
Take a look at our previous XR Sunday Socials: https://aelab.uk/project/xrss/
Get in touch: A+E Lab, aecreativeworkshops@gmail.com

Program:
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm Arrival - XR Demos & XR Networking
2:30 pm - 2:35 pm Welcome & Framing by Harshini Karunaratne
2:35 pm - 2:45 pm Provocation - The Undesigned Future by Tommy Lexen
2:45 pm - 3:15 pm Response by Asha Easton, William Draffin, Esteban Lecoq and Janet Moore
3:15 pm - 3:20 pm Quick break
3:20 pm - 3:55 pm Moderated Discussion
3:55 pm - 4:10 pm Audience Q&A
4:10 pm - 4:15 pm Close by Esteban & Aoi
4:15 pm - 5:00 pm XR Networking & Demos

XR Demos
Check out XR work in progress and get hands-on with the latest in creative technology, from new tools to live experiments. A chance to see where the thinking is heading and try it for yourself.

Round Table
Four people, four points on the map, one conversation.

• Janet Moore, CEO & Co-Founder of Electric Medway, on what this future looks like from the ground up, and what real access to it means locally.
  
• Tommy Lexen, Creative Strategist and author of the forthcoming The Undesigned Future, on why artists and creative practitioners hold more power over what comes next than they're usually told.
  
• Asha Easton, Head of the Innovate UK Immersive Tech Network, on how funding, policy and support actually move across industry, government and academia.
• William Draffin, Director of Digital and Future Technology at iCCi, on building the institutional infrastructure meant to hold this together, through Docking Station
• Esteban Lecoq, Co-Artistic Director of AΦE and co-founder of A+E Lab, on what it takes for artists to build and hold their own infrastructure locally.

Welcome & framing
Harshini opens: why this conversation, why now, and why these four voices. Sets up the throughline, from global thesis to national ecosystem, artist-led infrastructure and local access, so the room knows the shape of what's coming.

Provocation: Tommy Lexen
Tommy delivers a condensed The Undesigned Future, the argument that creative and experienced practitioners hold more power over the post-AI society than they're usually told, and that societies shape outcomes by designing conditions, not results. This sets the terms the rest of the room responds to.

Response: Asha Easton
Asha responds from the ecosystem-scaling view: what designing the conditions looks like in practice across industry, government and academia, and where the UK's immersive tech sector currently succeeds or fails at it.

Response: William Draffin
Will responds from the institutional infrastructure view: how iCCi and the incoming Docking Station are attempts to build exactly those conditions regionally, and what a civic cultural institution can and can't control.

Response: Janet Moore
Janet responds from the grassroots access view: whether infrastructure and ecosystem-building actually reach the people Electric Medway works with, and what gets lost between policy-level conditions and lived access.

Response: Esteban Lecoq
Esteban responds from the artist-led view: what it takes to build local infrastructure yourself, the studio, the hub, the residencies at A+E Lab, and what artists can and can't hold together without institutional backing.

Moderated discussion
Three or four questions moving from big-picture to local: who really holds the power Tommy describes; what the Human Layer looks like concretely in XR work; whether artist-led infrastructure can scale or only survive; and whether participation is the same thing as access. The moderator draws out disagreement between the four, not just sequential agreement.

Audience Q&A
Open the floor to the room.

Close
Esteban and Aoi close with a short synthesis of what the four perspectives added up to, and a next step for the room, how to get involved with A+E Lab, Electric Medway, or the Immersive Tech Network. Plus a look ahead to the Docking Station soft launch coming this December.

XR Networking
This is your opportunity to connect with artists, developers, researchers, and enthusiasts in a relaxed and engaging environment. Meet with speakers and fellow attendees, discover new collaborators, and expand your professional network, plenty of chances to make valuable connections.

Speakers' biography

Janet Moore - CEO of Electric Medway Festival
Janet Moore is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Electric Medway, a Kent-based arts organisation and annual digital arts festival that enables communities to get creative with new technology. A visual artist, educator and leader, she has over 20 years of leadership experience and specialises in working with young people, artists and underrepresented communities to tell unheard stories through XR, audio, AI, light, performance, virtual production and game design. Since co-founding Electric Medway in 2015, she has helped deliver flagship festival programmes, neighbourhood projects and skills initiatives such as Heritage and Hope and XR Schools, championing affordable, democratic and sustainable creative technology across Medway.
Website 

Asha Easton - Innovate UK Immersive Tech Network Lead
Asha Easton is the Lead for Innovate UK’s Immersive Tech Network (formerly Immerse UK), the UK government’s cross-sector network supporting XR/spatial computing innovators. She works at the intersection of industry, academia and government to grow the UK immersive tech ecosystem, connect organisations to funding and shape policy, including contributions to the UK Parliament’s APPG on Metaverse & Web3 and the OECD Global Forum on Technology. A VR producer and ecosystem builder, she co-founded the XR Diversity Initiative (XRDI), is an original member of Women in Immersive Tech (London), and advises startups, funds and organisations on ED&I and immersive technology.
Website

Tommy Lexen - Creative Strategist & Executive Adviser
Tommy Lexen is a Swedish-born, London-based creative leader and former Managing Director/Chief Creative Strategist at Immersive International, a global studio for experiential design, spatial storytelling and location-based entertainment. With over 20 years in design, art and entertainment, he has directed and produced large-scale live shows, immersive exhibitions and giga-projects including the UK Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, the Mobility Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, “Palace in Motion” at the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi, and work for NEOM, the Metropolitan Opera (New York) and the Royal Opera House Muscat. He holds an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice (Directing & Producing) from the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, is an FRSA, and in 2026 moved into independent consultancy and fractional leadership roles while continuing commitments to projects such as The ROARR.
Website

William Draffin - Director of Digital and Future Technology, iCCi
William Draffin is a creative technology leader specialising in digital innovation, virtual production, artificial intelligence and immersive experiences. He currently serves as Director of Digital and Future Technology at the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries, where he works with industry, academics and students to promote inclusive, equitable and accessible technologies for the creative sectors. Previously, he held solutions architecture roles at White Light and managed projects for Eclipse Presentations. His earlier career included technical management, production engineering and audiovisual engineering across venues, tours, festivals and arts events. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry and IT from the University of the West of England.
Website

Harshini Karunaratne, Founder of 3AM:ENERGY
Harshini J. Karunaratne (they/she) is a Sri Lankan-Peruvian digital artist and new media curator working at the intersections of film, theatre and technology. Harshini graduated in Film & New Media and Theater from New York University Abu Dhabi in 2018 and in 2021 migrated to Berlin to pursue their Masters in New Media Design. Harshini has had their work shown in the UAE, Italy, Germany, Japan, at the FILE Festival in Sao Paulo, Burning Man in Nevada, the Athens Digital Art Festival, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lima, and at Art Dubai Digital. They have also moderated panels and spoken at The NODE Institute, UDK Berlin, Humboldt University, Art Dubai, and transmediale 2026. Based between Berlin and the UK, Harshini is the co-founder and lead curator for MANIFEST:IO, a symposium for new media and electronic art that launched in Berlin in February 2023, and also co-founded Berlin New Media Week in 2025. Dedicated to creating platforms for artists and amplifying new media and creative technology, Harshini is the founder and CEO of 3AM:ENERGY, a Berlin-based creative talent agency serving the intersections of art, technology and culture.
Website

Esteban Lecoq - Co-Artistic Director of AΦE / A+E Lab
Esteban Lecoq is a French choreographer, dancer and co-founder/co-artistic director of AΦE, an immersive dance company pioneering the use of VR/AR/XR in performance. He began performing professionally in 2008, working with companies including Johannes Wieland Dance Company, Jasmin Vardimon and Punchdrunk. In 2016 he co-founded AΦE with Aoi Nakamura, creating works such as WHIST, 0AR and the AI-driven XR piece LILITH.AEON, which have toured major venues and festivals across 21 countries. AΦE also runs A+E Lab, a digital and cultural hub in Medway delivering community and artist programmes around technology and culture.
Website

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This event is part of Electric Medway Festival and supported by Innovate UK Immersive Tech Network, Medway Together Fund, Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries (iCCi) - University of Kent, and Visual Elements