YIR: Greenberg Launches Flagship Illuminarium

June 2021: Greenberg Looks Back; Local CEO Alan Greenberg rolls out a dazzling immersive experience using the Atlanta BeltLine to jumpstart other locations worldwide.

By Marcia Caller Jaffe December 22, 2021, 2:11 pm Edit

After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.

The world’s first Illuminarium opened July 1 on Atlanta’s BeltLine, featuring a one-of-a-kind Wild Safari Experience and an immersive adult bar experience on weekend nights. Through early December, over 120,000 visitors stopped by the Illuminarium.

“Our numbers are pretty amazing, considering we launched shortly before the Delta variant and mask mandates arrived in our fair city,” said CEO Alan Greenberg. “During the Delta wave things slowed a bit, but we have seen signs of a nice rebound since November.”

Greenberg and his crew are always thinking up unique creative programs. On Black Friday, the Illuminarium launched Winterland, an interactive holiday experience. And larger private parties can rent out the 14,000-square-foot space, which can be customized to create their own canvas in sight and sound.

Illuminarium opened in Atlanta in Summer 2021.

WILD Safari will return in January for a final 2-3 month run, with one major addition. Illuminarium sent film crews to Rwanda to film one of the rarest of all mammals, the majestic mountain gorilla, including the famed silverbacks. (Atlantans may recall Willy B., a western lowland gorilla, who lived at the Atlanta Zoo for 39 years.) Fewer than a thousand mountain gorillas remain, all residing in Africa’s Volcano National Park. Through a relationship with the Rwanda Development Board, the Illuminarium received special access to these amazing species, which will be projected some 22 feet high. “They will absolutely take your breath away!” Greenberg predicts.

Illuminarium Experiences is expected to open this week.

This spring, three new Illuminarium “Spectacles” will open in Atlanta. Georgia O’Keeffe’s 100 Flowers, its first arts-based experience, will debut in March. O’Keeffe, perhaps America’s most prominent female artist, was known for her extraordinary flowers and the monumental scale on which she presented them. The O’Keeffe experience will be followed by SPACE, a multi-million-dollar CGI production, created by Radical Media, one of Illuminarium’s partners.

The first experience designed for children, “Waking Wonderland,” will debut in 2022. The Illuminarium has been working with Canadian company Secret Locations, a division of Hasbro and Entertainment One, to bring this interactive production to Atlanta and beyond.

“It’s going to be great fun for children and their parents and grandparents,” Greenberg concluded.

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