Historical note, May 18, 2026: This article preserves the original April week-long planning announcement. The active public plan is now Futureproof Festival 2026: Oct 28-30 in Vancouver.
I have long dreamt of an avant-garde festival of the future. A mix of culture and business and science and art.
I didn't start these meetups to start a meetup. I wanted to have this big event, but I didn't have any community yet. So we started hosting meetups. And the meetups took on a mind of their own. It led to the nonprofit. It expanded. Which brought us here.
Now we're ready.
What we're doing
The original April plan imagined a full-week gathering where the big wide AI community could come together — artists and engineers, educators and ethicists, filmmakers and founders. That ambition now lives as the 2027 atlas, while the active 2026 launch is the October 28-30 focused-festival model.
Most AI conversations want you to pick a side. Boosters or doomers. All in or all out. We're not doing that. We walk forward with both hands full — critique in one hand, curiosity in the other.
This is hosted by BC + AI, but it's for everyone. Come from Toronto, Montreal, New York, LA, San Francisco, Seattle — wherever you are.
The Week:
- Sunday — Opening Party
- Monday — Education + Youth Day
- Tuesday — Life Sciences + DFRAG Creative AI
- Wednesday — Hackathon + Expo + Job Fair + Community Meetup
- Thursday — Mind, AI & Consciousness + DFRAG
- Friday — Ethics Design Jam + Artist Reception
- Saturday — Film Festival + Squatchies Awards + Closing
Where's the human-centric fork in all this? Where can you go to make sense of AI as it relates to your life — not just your work, but your kids' education, your healthcare, your community?
That's what this week is for.