Yves Pépin

Yves Pépin is a creator of multimedia shows and large-scale events including the multi-awarded Eiffel Tower Millennium Show. His peers in the Themed Entertainment Association, the international industry body for creators of compelling places and experiences, presented him with the 2006 THEA Lifetime Achievement Award – making Pépin the first non-American recipient in its 12-year history.

Early life

A native of Bordeaux, France, Pépin pursued a specialist music education up to age 16. He later took a French postgraduate degree in economics and politics, and also received a French government bursary to attend a two-year, full-time education program at the Center for Research and Arabic Studies in Beirut. After working as a French radio and TV producer, in 1974 he founded ECA2, a design and production company, which has been part of Publicis Events Worldwide Group since 2002.

Leading ECA2

Under his direction, the company designed the logos for Concorde and Air France, among others, and produced the first interactive visuals for the Musée d'Orsay and the Louvre, before shifting its focus to the production of multimedia shows. In 1989 Pépin, a keen innovator, created and developed the process of Cinema on Water Screen (AQUASCAN®), a system subsequently adopted by Disney and Universal Studios, among others.

Yves Pépin has built a worldwide reputation as a designer and producer of ground-breaking multimedia entertainments for one-off, semi-permanent and permanent performance.

Work

He has conceived and staged one-off productions for a host of landmark events, including:

Events

• Euro Disneyland Opening Ceremony,
• Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1998 Football World Cup
• Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2004 Paralympic Games.
• Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
• Seville Universal Expo in 1992
• Yamaguchi Expo in Japan in 2001;
• Toyota's "Opera of the Future"
• Aichi World Expo 2005 in Japan
• "AcquaMatrix" at the Lisbon World Expo 1998
• Eiffel Tower Millennium Show
• Toyota Group Pavilion in Aichi World Expo 2005

Theme parks and permanent shows

• "El Tajin" history show at the archaeological site in Veracruz State, Mexico
• Planète Futuroscope
• Magical Sentosa
• Sat-Chit-Anand Watershow at BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham in Gandhinagar, India^[1]
• SeaWorld
• Songs of the Sea
• Tokyo Disney Sea

Awards

• 2006 THEA Lifetime Achievement Award – the first non-American recipient in its 12-year history.^[2]
• THEA Award in the Live Event Spectacular category: for "AcquaMatrix" at the 1998 Lisbon World Expo 1998,
• THEA Award in the Live Event Spectacular category: Eiffel Tower Millennium Show in Paris,
• THEA Award in the Live Event Spectacular category: for the "El Tajin" history show at the archeological site in Veracruz State, Mexico *THEA Award in the Live Event Spectacular category: Toyota Group Pavilion in Aichi World Expo 2005, Japan

References

2. An article about Pépin as co-chair of the SATE 2012 Experience Design conference at Disneyland Paris.
3. A write up by Judith Rubin for the Themed Entertainment Association in connection with Pépin receiving the Thea Award for Lifetime Achievement.
4. A 2012 bio of Pépin in connection with his chairing the SATE 2012 Experience Design conference for the Themed Entertainment Association.
5. A writeup of Pépin as a featured speaker at the 2009 meeting of the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions (IAAPA).
6. An article covering Pépin's work at Shanghai Expo 2010.
7. An article about his creative role in the production of the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
8. Article about the 2000 Eiffel Tower Extravaganza that landed him on the covers of Time and Newsweek both and also nabbed a mention in People Magazine.

External links

• ECA2 Official Website