Spotlight Sessions Spark Innovation, Storytelling and Industry-Shaping Ideas
Themed entertainment is limitless. It is as bold as it is simple. It is boundless and boundaryless. This year’s 2026 TEA Recognition of Merit (ROM) honorees are the embodiment of these traits. While nontraditional in their approach and classification, they are part of the evolving story of our industry and challenge the places and spaces where themed entertainment can exist and thrive.
On Wednesday, 29 April, this year’s four TEA ROM winners will headline an engaging “Spotlight Sessions” event. Together they will share how inspiration, inspiration and innovation can come from the tiniest corner of a public library or the right in the middle of a multi-day festival. The creatives behind each project represent a new chapter in how themed entertainment can be applied, used and embraced.
Spotlight Sessions is a complete event, and will take place just ahead of TEA INSPIRE. The presenters from each TEA ROM winner will present case studies about their unique projects and experiences, as well as engage in conversation sharing why they work, why they matter and how they help impact the future of themed entertainment.
The 2026 Recognition of Merit Winners include:
PAC-MAN The Live Experience:
Many of today’s theme park rides and attractions invite guests to immerse themselves in a favorite movie, storyline or IP. The creators of the PAC-MAN Live Experience took inspiration from such destinations and then looked to the arcade. The result is a first – and only - of its kind attraction that puts guest in the middle of a beloved video game. Guests engage with a maze projected on the floor and dash around, trying to gobble PAC-DOTS, Power Pellets and fruit all while trying to avoid Inky, Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde, the quartet of ghosts who have been chasing PAC-MAN since 1980. The attraction is a unique blend of sport and theater: spectators cheer on players and live hosts provide commentary between each round. PAC-MAN Live Experience exemplifies how retro nostalgia can combine with groundbreaking technology to entertain, excite and unite guests of all ages.
NeoQuest at Neotropolis:
Themed entertainment is not contained, and for participants who take part in NeoQuest at Neotropolis, it’s out of this world. An experience-within-an-experience NeoQuest takes place during a five-day cyberpunk festival in California’s Mojave Desert, and adds an optional, participatory storyline that deepens the participant’s connection and experience with the event. NeoQuest participants make decisions and complete quests, that, when combined with the actions of other players, can ultimately impact the outcome of the entire festival’s story. NeoQuest is a next-generation model of collaborative storytelling. All participants are invited to co-create a shared universe that fuses the festival’s energy with participatory narrative design. The result is an exclusive, dynamic world where guests’ choices matter.
The Bureau of Nooks and Crannies:
Libraries are special places, and the Bureau of Nooks and Crannies celebrates them. Designed to appeal to user imaginations – regardless of age – the Bureau is a play-focused experience that celebrates art, puzzles, games and imagination. Described as both weird and whimsical, the game is a scavenger-hunt style journey through the library’s stacks. Each discovery feels personal and unexpected, encouraging visitors - especially children - to see the library as more than just a place to borrow books. While the experience itself is simple, this unique project reminds everyone that libraries are places filled not just with other people’s stories but with endless opportunities to engage our own imagination and demonstrates how themed entertainment can enrich community institutions.
Just Fix It Productions:
Just Fix It Productions (JFI) is a renowned pioneering entertainment production company and storytelling studio–meets–creative development incubator. Founded by a group of friends JFI has carved a singular path in immersive entertainment—proving that boundary-pushing art, exceptional hospitality, and commercial success can coexist. JFI believes that patrons shouldn’t just attend a show—they should become a part of them.
Registration for the 2026 TEA Spotlight Sessions is open now and tickets start at just $299 each. Spotlight Sessions takes place ahead of TEA INSPIRE 2026 and can be purchased a la carte, or with full conference registration. To learn more and to register, click here.