January, 2018 Mikhael was a featured speaker at the First Immersive Design Summit. She will lead this years lineup in experiential speakers on social impact. In May, 2018 she was one of 100 invitees and commissioned to design the experience of Entertain Change - a gathering of social impact culture makers hosted by Pop Culture Collaborative. She was recently awarded a grant by the Pop Culture Collaborative for emergency strategy experiential work for the
Family Border Crisis and is part of their inaugural story world leadership grant for 2019. Mikhael was recently awarded the International Sacatar Fellowship which selects 6 international artists leading their field : making new work inBahia, Brazil.
She has made unique branded experiences for AMC Television; The National Park Service; Bloomberg; Serino/Coyne; BBDO; Hormel; Smirnoff; among others. She started her career making early experiential campaigns for Chicago Athletic Clubs - tripling its income and growth strategy over four years. Garver founded and ran Chicago experience leader - Uma Productions from 2001 - 2007.
Garver’s projects in development: JANET JACKSON SAVES THE UNIVERSE an ARG and interactive millennial wonderland for shopping malls; FORNICATED an experience that starts with texting and follows characters to an almost cinematic rock club experience with a different band each night; The Solar Project (Winston-Salem) North Carolina, which combines solar power, immersive production, and community involvement; ALEXANDRIA a project of installations and VR looking through the stacks of public libraries for lost stories (Playwrights Horizons, New York Public Library); and #REVOLUTION an immersive story-system to scale throughout cycling classes. Garver created The
Museum of International Drug Policy for the United Nations: an installation which premiered in NYC in 2016 and Montreal in 2017 lauded by The Guardian and the New York Times; the EXPERIMENT commissioned by The Institute of
Contemporary Art in Boston; was awarded the first national immersive site-specific commission by the Goodman Theatre for POSTNATION; and a national site-specific commission by The Kennedy Center for the US Botanical Gardens.
Mikhael has served on several activist advisory boards as an immersive consultant. She works with brands, social justice, and entertainment as an expert in all things experiential. She is the director of the program in Making,
Directing and Leadership at New York University/Tisch. She has spoken and taught on Arts and Democracy at North Carolina School of the Arts, Yale, Harvard, DePaul, Montclair State, and other universities. In 2017, she premiered
STAND FOR REVOLUTIONARY LOVE at Brooklyn Academy of Music with Kristin Sudeikis Dance Company. She has worked nationally in our many of our major theaters including The Atlantic Theater, American Repertory Theater,
American Conservatory Theater, The Kitchen, Bard University, Grand Arts Center, The Public Theater, Steppenwolf, The Playwrights Center, to name a few. She was responsible for Artistic Distribution for The Women’s March on
Washington in January, 2017; Managing Artistic Director For NYTImes Immersive Favorite Woodshed Collective; Emerging Artist for the National Theater of Scotland; Artistic Fellow at American Repertory Theater; and an Artistic
Associate of SITI company. Mikhael was a Director on the first American production of SLEEP NO MORE
