What Intelligent Mischief does

Intelligent Mischief is a Brooklyn-based creative design studio and speculative design lab founded by Terry Marshall (Executive Creative Director) and Aisha Shillingford, operating at the intersection of world building, futures design, imagination, and visual storytelling. The studio's core methodology is a proprietary Social Dreaming framework, used to engineer immersive physical environments, sonic portals, mixed-media dreamscapes, and high-concept public interventions that transport audiences into reimagined futures, with particular focus on Black radical imagination. Its work spans physical installations, extended-reality experiences, speculative artifacts, and narrative/cultural strategy delivered to cultural institutions, museums, movement organizations, and consumer audiences, with a small core team of 1–10 that also includes a Curator/Cultural Strategist (Genel Ambrose, ex-Apple), a Studio Operations Manager (Emmanuelle Asumeng), and a Singer/Songwriter/Healer (Salimah Hankins).

The studio generates revenue through three principal streams: (1) commissioned projects for cultural institutions, museums, and brands (Anchorage Museum, Carnegie Hall, New Museum, plus a long roster of culture-change and movement organizations such as Race Forward, Laundromat Project, Pop Culture Collaborative, and Movement for Black Lives), producing transformative experiences, sonic portals, visual art, and speculative design; (2) direct-to-consumer sales of art prints ($55), calendars ($22), clothing, and accessories through its Squarespace e-commerce storefront; and (3) ticketed virtual salons (Shape the Future Dreamspace series) and physical dream-space installations (Futures of Repair) offered on a sliding scale with discount codes (20/40/60%) for accessibility. A free global membership community, the Secret Society of Black Utopians, provides an additional engagement and demand-pull layer through a private WhatsApp cohort of artists and world builders.

Despite an unusually dense institutional footprint for a micro-studio — more than fifteen named fellowships, residencies, and major museum exhibitions including member status at New Museum's NEW INC incubator (2021), Senior Fellow at USC Annenberg Lab for Civic Media (2021–ongoing), and a forthcoming Santa Fe Art Institute residency (2025) — the company remains founder-controlled, privately held, and unfunded, with no disclosed external investors, no offices outside the Brooklyn/Memphis footprint, and limited operational scale relative to its reputational reach.

Name

Intelligent Mischief

Legal name

Intelligent Mischief

Website

https://intelligentmischief.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Intelligent Mischief is a Brooklyn-based creative design studio and speculative design lab founded by Terry Marshall and Aisha Shillingford that uses a proprietary Social Dreaming framework to build immersive installations, sonic portals, and narrative/cultural strategy for cultural institutions, museums, movement organizations, and consumer audiences.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Speculative Design & Immersive Cultural Experiences

NAICS

Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (71151)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Innovation & Design Thinking Programs (EDAMAHAD)

Keywords

• Speculative design services
• Immersive art installations
• Cultural strategy consulting
• Experiential design studio
• Creative world building

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Commissions & Custom Projects: Revenue generated from commissioned work with cultural institutions, brands, and creative industry leaders to create story worlds, speculative artifacts, and immersive experiences. Projects include transformative physical environments, sonic portals, visual art, and speculative design work.
2. Art Sales & Merchandise: Direct sales of art prints, calendars, clothing, accessories, and event tickets through the studio's e-commerce storefront. Products include limited-edition prints, the Shape the Future calendar ($22), and Revolution of Love prints ($55).
3. Events & Virtual Salons: Revenue from ticketed events and virtual salons such as the Shape the Future Dreamspace series, offered on a sliding scale basis with discount codes for accessibility (20%, 40%, 60% discounts).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Intelligent Mischief is a creative design studio and speculative world-building lab that designs immersive physical dream spaces, sonic portals, visual art, and cultural strategies for cultural institutions, brands, and creative industry leaders. It also sells hand-made art products (prints, calendars), hosts virtual and in-person salons, and operates the Secret Society of Black Utopians global community membership. Its proprietary Social Dreaming framework underpins all commissioned work, blending mixed media art, spatial design, extended reality, and ancestral sonic frequencies.

Product overview

Intelligent Mischief is a creative studio and speculative design lab operating at the intersection of world building, futures design, imagination, and visual storytelling. The company engineers immersive environments and high-concept public interventions, transforming physical spaces, media, and cities into living portals. Its core offerings include physical and virtual Dream Spaces (FUTURES OF REPAIR, ARCHIPELAGO: A Sonic Manifesto), Portals (hand-made mixed media dreamscapes and sonic portals), immersive virtual salons (SHAPE THE FUTURE DREAMSPACE: A Revolution of Love), and printed art products (calendars, prints). The studio also offers commissioned services including transformative experiences, sonic portals, visual art and media, and speculative design using their proprietary Social Dreaming framework. A membership program, the Secret Society of Black Utopians, provides community access, exclusive releases, and creative collaboration opportunities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Secret Society of Black Utopians: A global community of artists, speculative world builders, freedom dreamers, fugitive designers, futurist maroons and prefigurative makers collectively imagining, shaping and co-creating an archipelago of spaces and places where Black people are thriving, euphoric, sovereign and free. Members receive access to private WhatsApp community, first releases on experiences and artwork, opportunities for creative collaboration, and exclusive essays and gatherings.
• Futures of Repair
• Archipelago: A Sonic Manifesto

Products and services

• Futures of Repair A social dream space installation at the intersection of art, imagination, and community, exploring futures made possible by a dream of Reparations through interactive multi-sensory art, extended reality, guided dreaming, storytelling, textile art, and restorative practices. Commissioned by Anchorage Museum for the 'How We Survive' exhibition (2023-2024).
• Archipelago: A Sonic Manifesto A dream space located in Memphis, TN, combining sonic and manifest-style elements to envision more beautiful futures through audio simulations and collective dreaming experiences.
• Portals (Mixed Media Dreamscapes) Hand-made mixed media dreamscapes that serve as sonic portals to more beautiful worlds, featuring bold visions of desired futures through images that inspire and catalyze imagination.
• Shape the Future Dreamspace: A Revolution of Love An immersive virtual art-making and writing salon centering Black utopian artists, dreamers, and world builders, exploring love's revolutionary possibilities through grounding rituals, memory work, guided imagining, free writing, collective art making, and movement. Offered on a sliding scale basis.
• 2026 Shape the Future Calendar A 2026 calendar featuring twelve vibrant hand-made mixed media artworks with monthly prompts for dreaming and imagining, including solstice, equinox, and new and full moon cycles to guide rituals. Priced at $22 with pre-order fulfillment through a local union print shop.
• Commissioned Speculative Design & Immersive Experiences Custom commissioned work for cultural institutions, brands, and creative industry leaders spanning four service lines: transformative physical environments and multi-sensory dreamspaces; high-concept audio simulations (sonic portals) using ancestral frequencies; high-end mixed-media collages, murals, limited-edition zines, and speculative artifacts; and speculative design using the Social Dreaming framework to build story worlds, content, cultural strategies, and creative brand identity.
• Secret Society of Black Utopians A global free membership community for artists, speculative world builders, freedom dreamers, fugitive designers, futurist maroons, and prefigurative makers. Members receive access to a private WhatsApp community, first releases on experiences and artwork, creative collaboration opportunities, and exclusive essays and gatherings.

Quantifiable outcome

• 120 artists, creatives, organizers, and leaders participated in six world building peoples assemblies for Futures of Repair project

Named customers15 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• APSminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommissioning partner for creative projects. APS appears in the commissioned by section alongside other cultural organizations.
• Beautiful VenturesminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommissioning partner. Beautiful Ventures appears in the commissioned by section of the commissions page.
• Black DiscourseminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommissioning partner for cultural production work.
• Center for Artistic ActivismminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommissioning partner listed in the commissions page.
• Chorus FoundationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommissioning partner for creative and cultural initiatives.
• CinereachminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFilm and media commissioning partner.
• Center for Third World OrganizingminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommissioning partner for organizing and cultural work.
• GristminorGTM or Marketing PartnerMedia organization commissioning partner.
• Independent LensminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPBS documentary series commissioning partner.
• Law for Black LivesminorGTM or Marketing PartnerJustice-focused organization commissioning partner.
• Movement for Black Lives (M4BL)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerMajor movement organization that has commissioned work from the studio.
• MSCminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommissioning partner listed in commissions page.
• New Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNew Museum's incubator program where Intelligent Mischief was a member (2021). Deep strategic partnership providing incubation, mentorship, and institutional support for cultural innovation.
• Pop Culture CollaborativeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCulture change organization commissioning partner.
• Race ForwardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term strategic partner. Intelligent Mischief has participated in multiple Race Forward programs including Butterfly Lab for Immigrant Narrative Strategy (Inaugural Fellows 2021), Chrysalis Lab (2022), and Reparations Narrative Lab (2022-2023).
• The Black Mecca ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned as Inaugural Artist In Residence (2021). Strategic partner focused on Black cultural and creative ecosystems.
• ZealminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCooperative commissioning partner.
• Big WeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommissioning partner for creative projects.
• Good MirrorscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGenel Ambrose, team member, also leads Good Mirrors as founder. Social practice studio and research consultancy. Strategic alignment on creativity, connection, and story practices.
• GrowhouseminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommissioning partner listed in commissions page.
• Borders Like WaterminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCreative project partner. Borders Like Water artwork featured on commissions page.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Meow Wolf: Large-scale immersive art experience company producing permanent and touring dreamlike installations. Comparable as a peer producing speculative, narrative-driven immersive environments for broad audiences.
• Pentagram: Largest independent design firm, working across cultural institutions, brand identity, and public-interest design. Comparable as a high-end creative studio serving cultural institutions and mission-driven organizations.
• teamLab: Interdisciplinary art collective producing large-scale immersive digital and mixed-media installations. Comparable for its immersive, multi-sensory dreamlike environments and speculative artistic methodology.
• Studio Olafur Eliasson: Artist studio producing large-scale immersive installations with social and environmental impact. Comparable for immersive environmental design, world-building methodology, and partnerships with cultural institutions.

Direct peers

• Local Projects: Immersive experience design studio that builds interactive installations and exhibitions for cultural institutions. Highly comparable to Intelligent Mischief's dream spaces and commissioned installations for museums and performing arts venues.
• For Freedoms: Artist-led civic engagement organization producing public art installations, billboards, and participatory programs around justice themes. Comparable in mission-driven cultural production at the intersection of art and social change.

Others

• Black Futures Lab: Organization building Black political and cultural power with a futures orientation. Adjacent thematically in Black futurology, speculative imagination, and narrative/cultural strategy work.
• The Laundromat Project: Community-based arts organization that has incubated and commissioned Intelligent Mischief's founders. Highly adjacent in using art for social change and in Black/community cultural production.
• MASS Design Group: Design practice using architecture and design for social impact. Adjacent as a peer applying design methodology to systemic social and cultural change across institutions.

Regional players

• Creative Time: NYC-based public art organization commissioning bold public interventions and immersive projects. Comparable as a peer producing high-concept cultural projects for institutions and public spaces in New York.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/IntelMischief
• Facebookfacebook.com/intelligentmischief
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/intelligent-mischief

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Intelligent Mischief