Kelly Nelson
Founder | Chief Creation Officer, Luminocity Atlanta
Kelly is the founder and creator of Luminocity, a collaborative platform of contemporary multi-discipline artists, incubated in 2007 and brought to life for the first time in the fall of 2010. Luminocity is an original work of public art and performance that breaks through the traditional confines of stage and gallery. Lighted live performances of dance, drum, acrobatic, aerial, puppetry and extreme urban sport stunts intertwine with live music performances, broad spectrum architectural projection, illuminated mobile sculpture stages, and other forms of multimedia. The public also becomes part of the show, as they are invited to interact and even participate within the 360 experience. The entire spectacle is punctuated with thousands of LED lights bringing the night to light.
Luminocity is Kelly’s artistic adventure and the nighttime urban streetscape is her canvas.
Kelly has long been intrigued in working with mediums that create emotional, behavioral, physical, and entertaining links that traverse our lives in work and play.
Kelly’s career began at one of the world’s largest marketing communications design and production agencies, Jack Morton Worldwide. That background served her well as she went on from there to build extensive professional credentials in event design, award-winning creative direction, writing, and production spanning all media. Working with all types of industries, associations, non-profits and community organizations (e.g. Coca-Cola, Arby’s Inc., TechBridge, Cartoon Network, CNN, United Way, Girl Scouts of America) she developed her own singular, artistic voice.
By the early 1990s, in response to the changing climate in the industry and fueled by the motto, “Do you want to be safe and good, or do you want to take a chance and be great?” she creatively commanded her own course. Kelly used her non-traditional influences from the arts and keen sensitivity to the power of pop culture to engage audiences worldwide. It’s no wonder she was continually labeled a “Maverick”… long before the term was considered mainstream.
For 19 years her first company, The Maverick Group (TMG), an experience design and marketing agency, provided innovative experience and design solutions unmatched in the industry. Today, Kelly continues to be a dynamic, passionate champion of alternative thinking and artistic envisioning, always pushing the boundaries of the normal to achieve more engaging results. Kelly’s unique perspective and ability to use creative thinking as a pathway towards strategically motivating behavior has made her a sought-after artistic creator and designer for a wide range mediums and platforms.
Her work has brought her a bevy of awards garnered for creative direction, as well as countless accolades for her unique concepts and use of talent. Now at the top of her game after more than 22 years of creative leadership, Kelly is now busy with her new talent & entertainment company L.E.D.as well as Luminocity – which provides her with a constructive outlet for her groundbreaking artistic visioning.
