Dhar Mann Studios is building a physical home for the creator economy. Dhar Mann, Advertising Week New York’s inaugural Chief Creator Officer, announced Creator City during his AWNY opening keynote: a new four-acre production campus in Los Angeles that will bring creators, brands and creative production together under one roof.
Creator City will officially open during Super Bowl weekend in February 2027.
Across five soundstages and a wider ecosystem for production, podcasting, live events and collaboration, the campus will bring together creators, Hollywood, brands and technology companies. The aim is for them to make content, build businesses, experiment, learn from one another and develop new partnerships.
The creator economy was built on technology and platforms, but unlike the industries around it, it has never had a physical home of its own. Technology has Silicon Valley, finance has Wall Street and entertainment has Hollywood. Creator City is Mann’s vision for that home.
The ambition goes beyond a production campus. As creators increasingly build their own audiences, IP and businesses, Creator City is meant to give the broader industry growing around them a place to come together. Creators can collaborate with one another, brands and creators can develop ideas together, and entertainment and technology leaders can engage directly with the people shaping the next era of media and culture.
In the same keynote, Mann kicked off an initiative to help spark $100 million in new creator-brand partnerships at Advertising Week. He invited leading creators, CMOs and top brands to collaborate and drive new business out of the event.
The session was non-traditional and interactive, built around one challenge for the audience and the industry: how can the creator economy be changed in just one week?
Radio personality Big Boy and surprise guest Nick Cannon joined Mann on stage. Their appearance is part of a lineup of collaborative programming Mann has scheduled throughout the week at AWNY.
