CAAP Methodology
The same cultural content can be a festival, an exhibition, a digital experience, or a product. The format determines everything.
Format is not packaging. Format is the experience itself. Choose wrong, and even the best cultural core will fail.
CAAP Step 3 is Format: selecting the right container for your cultural experience.
The Format Mistake
Most cultural organizations default to formats they know. Museums do exhibitions. Theatres do performances. Festivals do… festivals.
But format should be determined by your core and your audience, not your organizational history.
The same cultural content can succeed or fail depending entirely on format choice.
The Format Matrix
I evaluate formats across four dimensions:
1. Scale (How many people?)
- Intimate (1-50): Workshops, private tours, small performances
- Medium (50-500): Exhibitions, theatre shows, pop-ups
- Large (500-5,000): Festivals, major exhibitions, concerts
- Mass (5,000+): Mega-events, touring shows, digital experiences
2. Duration (How long is the experience?)
- Momentary: Installations, digital interactions
- Short (1-3 hours): Performances, exhibitions, workshops
- Medium (1 day): Day festivals, conferences
- Long (multi-day): Seasonal festivals, residencies
3. Interaction (How do people engage?)
- Passive: Viewing, listening
- Active: Participating, creating
- Social: Sharing, connecting with others
- Immersive: Full sensory engagement
4. Commercial Model (How do you monetize?)
- Ticketed: Admission fees
- Retail: Product sales
- Licensed: IP licensing
- Sponsored: Brand partnerships
- Hybrid: Multiple revenue streams
Format Case Studies
Lightopia: Festival Format
- Scale: Large (50,000-200,000 per city)
- Duration: Long (6-8 weeks)
- Interaction: Immersive + Social
- Commercial: Ticketed + Retail + Sponsored
Why this format worked: The core emotion was wonder, which requires immersion. The audience wanted shared experiences, which requires social interaction. The business model needed scale, which required a format that could handle high volumes.
Immersia: XR Walking Theatre
- Scale: Intimate (8-12 people per session)
- Duration: Short (45-60 minutes)
- Interaction: Immersive + Active
- Commercial: Premium ticketed
Why this format works: The core is personal transformation, which requires intimacy. The technology (XR) enables immersion impossible in other formats. The premium pricing reflects the exclusivity.
Format Innovation
Sometimes the right format doesn’t exist yet. You have to invent it.
When we started Lightopia, there was no established format for “Chinese lantern festival in British botanical garden.” We had to create the format, testing and iterating until we found what worked.
Format innovation is risky but potentially transformative. The first to establish a new format often owns that format category.
The Format Test
Before committing to a format, ask:
- Does this format serve my cultural core?
- Does it match my audience’s expectations and capacity?
- Is the commercial model sustainable?
- Can I execute this format at the required quality level?
- Is this format defensible (hard for competitors to copy)?
If you can’t answer yes to all five, reconsider.
Exercise
Evaluate your cultural IP against the format matrix:
- What scale does your core require?
- What duration serves your audience’s emotional journey?
- What interaction level creates the right experience?
- What commercial model is viable?
Then list three possible formats. Evaluate each against the five format tests.
The right format will emerge. Trust the process.
About Ian Xia: Cultural strategist, founder of Lightopia and Immersia, and architect of CAAP™ (Culture As A Product). Ian helps cultural organizations and creative entrepreneurs take their IP to international markets.