Authentic photograph, not AI-generatedPhoto: Michelle Diamond.
Listen
Hear the room think out loud.
Take in ideas, hard questions, and perspectives that do not arrive pre-agreed.
Vancouver · Oct 28-30, 2026
The most honest AI conversation happening this year.
Once a year, we make room for three days of candid conversation, creative work, and people comparing what AI is really doing.
Authentic photograph, not AI-generatedPhoto: Michelle Diamond
Call for Talks
What's a talk you want to hear that nobody's giving yet?
Send the thing you want to give, or the one you wish someone else would. Rough ideas, first drafts, and unusual formats are welcome.
Call for Talks closes August 15, 2026
Pitch your ideaEarlyworm Festival Pass
CA$650
Three festival days. Lock the early price before the countdown runs out.
Opening night plus two program days at H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, October 28-30, 2026.
Get the Earlyworm passEarlyworm pricing ends
August 15, 2026
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CA$650 now · CA$950 after
Lock the Earlyworm Festival Pass before the countdown ends and the price steps up.
- Opening night at H.R. MacMillan Space Centre
- Two full program days
- Closing gathering included with the pass
First-announced voices
People worth listening to. More on the way.
The festival
A festival, not a pile of sessions.
Opening night and two program days belong to one festival, so ideas, questions, creative work, and the people carrying them can meet in the same place.
Ways in
Listen. Make. Experience.
Futureproof Festival is built for attention, participation, and the kind of discovery that needs other people in the room. Find the path that fits — attend, speak, exhibit, sponsor, or go deeper with the community below.
Authentic photograph, not AI-generated
Authentic photograph, not AI-generatedPhoto: Michelle Diamond - Vancouver AI Meetup
Make
Put ideas to work.
Build, test, compare notes, and learn what changes when people get their hands on the technology.
Authentic photograph, not AI-generatedPhoto: Michelle Diamond.
Experience
Feel what changes in person.
Share creative work, close attention, and the energy that only happens when people gather in a real room.
Find your way in
Four reasons to be in the room.
You do not need the same background, job title, or opinion as everyone else. Bring the part of this conversation that is real for you.
Curious
For people trying to get an honest read on AI.
Bring your questions, your doubts, and the parts that still do not fit into a neat answer.
Creative
For people making culture in a changing medium.
Artists, filmmakers, designers, and storytellers belong in the centre of the conversation.
Builder
For people who learn by making.
Bring a working prototype, a practical question, or something you want thoughtful people to try.
Community
For people helping others make sense of change.
Teachers, organizers, researchers, and public-interest practitioners can compare what is working in the real world.
Get involved
Help shape the first Futureproof Festival.
Some people want to attend, some want to speak or sponsor, and some want to build, volunteer, or go deeper with the retreat and matchmaking. Choose the path that fits and connect with us directly.
Tickets
Registration is open.
Choose the pass that fits on the tickets desk, then continue to checkout when you are ready.
Exhibit
Put your work on the table.
The CA$2,000 Startup Exhibitor Package gives your crew two full passes and a working table on Thursday and Friday.
Speak
Pitch a talk.
Send the thing you want to give, or the one you wish someone else would. Rough ideas are welcome.
Sponsors
Partner with the festival.
Talk with us about practical ways your organization can support the festival and the community behind it.
Volunteer
Help run the show.
Work a shift across the festival and leave with a comped festival pass.
Hackathon
Build with data and story.
The Data Storytelling Hackathon returns with BC + AI and Rival Technologies — join the list for the brief.
Retreat
Go slower, together.
A smaller gathering for people who want real time to think about AI, culture, and ethics.
Matchmaking
Find a co-founder.
A private intake for registered attendees and exhibitors to find a co-founder or collaborator.
Ticket notes
Not ready to register?
Get the private first-ticket note in your inbox.
Built From Community
The community was here first.
Futureproof Festival grew out of a community that was already gathering in public: building, teaching, experimenting, and debating together. The festival is an extension of that foundation.
Packed roomAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
A packed room facing the stage. This is what community proof looks like.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
Space Centre courtyardAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
People still talk to each other here. Useful, weirdly radical, deeply Vancouver.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
Community announcementsAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
Community announcements from the Space Centre stage. The program starts in public.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
BC + AI Film ClubAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
Creative AI culture under blue light. The room already knows how to watch closely.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
From the stageAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
The human part stays on screen. That is the work.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
Mind, AI & ConsciousnessAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
MAC brings the weird questions with enough rigor to hold the room.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
Stage energyAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
Human energy on the mic. The opposite of a keynote mannequin.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
Courtyard mingling
Courtyard mingling: broad community proof without a stage cue card.
Photo: BC + AI community archive.
Community on stageAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
A stage group with the community screen behind them. Public by design.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
Festival home
The Space Centre is already alive.
H.R. MacMillan Space Centre is Futureproof Festival's home and venue partner, grounded in Vanier Park and already familiar to the Vancouver AI community.
1100 Chestnut St, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9·Festival home base: opening night + two program days
Venue details and mapSome rooms are built to move people through. This one is built to let an idea stay long enough to change.
Latest from the festival
News from the room.
Speaker announcements, program updates, and festival milestones, posted as they happen.
Earlyworm registration