When Peter Weishar began drawing as a child, pen and ink became his portal into creating scenes from the world of his imagination. “A drawing was a window into my vision, a world that I could see, my interpretation of reality,” recalls the native New Yorker, whose parents were a painter and an art historian.
Weishar—who is director of the Themed Experience Graduate Programs at the UCF School of Performing Arts—studied art and graphic design, respectively, at Union College and Rhode Island School of Design just as personal computers were changing everything.
At age 31, he explored a theme park for the first time. “When I first stepped in, I saw it as artists sharing their visions with the whole world,” he recalls. “You were stepping into this environment, created by incredible people who had designed this experience to convey a narrative to you.”
Weishar began to consider how he could apply his skills as a game designer—which was his profession prior to entering academia—to create a world that “could be experienced by a guest.” Think beyond theme parks: Think museums, restaurants, zoological parks, cruise ships and retail stores all creating environments, backstories and feelings.
Imagine, for example, that you wanted to learn about Paris. You could buy a book, says Weishar. But what if you could visit a themed experience through which you could wander the Left Bank, snack at a boulangerie (bakery) and spend the day taking in the city—creating an emotional and visceral connection to the place?
That’s where the future lay, thought Weishar, especially considering the exponential advance of technology.
Before joining UCF, Weishar was dean of the College of Fine Arts and director of the Themed Experience Institute at FSU. Prior to that, he was dean of Film, Digital Media and Performing Arts at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), where he founded the world’s first MFA program in Themed Entertainment Design.
Such programs teach the skills required to design and produce theme parks, immersive exhibitions and other projects that focus on storytelling within physical and virtual designed environments. Some-one with these skills certainly ought to have plenty of job opportunities in the theme park capital of the world.
The UCF program, which began with 12 students, now has more than 200 enrolled. For more information about UCF’s Themed Experience Programs, visit ucf.edu.
