Builders, founders, and product leaders
People deciding what gets built, how it behaves, and how emerging capabilities become real products, companies, and decisions.
VancouverPresented by
Partner with the room where AI meets public life.
Bring your people. Contribute something useful. Leave with a sharper read on what matters — in a deliberately small Space Centre room.
Photo: Michelle Diamond - Vancouver AI Meetup - 2026
Audience and fit
Who you'll meet. Who fits.
This is not access to a list. It is access to a room.
The useful part is the mix: people making technology, institutions, culture, and community asking better questions of one another while the answers are still open.
People in the room
Artists, filmmakers, and cultural producers
People shaping how AI enters storytelling, design, media, performance, and public imagination.
Educators, researchers, and institutional leaders
People responsible for how learning, knowledge, healthcare, and cultural institutions respond.
Governance, public-interest, and community practitioners
People working on trust, rights, responsibility, policy, adoption, and the social infrastructure around technical change.
First edition, real roots
The festival is new. The community is not.
Futureproof Festival 2026 is the first edition. The live roster and three-day format describe what is coming. The record below belongs to BC + AI and the programs it has already run.
Current 2026 edition
What is already public about this first festival.
- announced speakers
- 11
- Public voices already joining the 2026 conversation.
- As of August 2, 2026
- Public speaker roster →
- named collaborators
- 8
- Community, academic, creative, and venue relationships shown by name.
- As of July 23, 2026
- Current collaborator list →
- connected days
- 3
- Opening night followed by two full program days at the Space Centre.
- As of 2026 edition
- Festival overview →
BC + AI community track record
People were showing up before the festival had a name.
These are BC + AI community numbers. They are not past Futureproof Festival attendance, sponsor outcomes, or a promise about what happens next.
- Meetup #25 attendees
- 250
- Vancouver AI filled the Space Centre for its January gathering.As of January 2026Vancouver AI recap →
Ways to collaborate
Four useful ways to show up.
Start with what the partnership should do. The right tier or contribution shape follows from that job.
Supporting or Founding Partner
Bring your people
Give staff, clients, or collaborators Festival Passes, useful preparation, and a reason to compare notes after the room comes together.
Compare passes and accessFounding or Presenting Partner
Stand behind the room
Take a prominent position across the festival while the editorial line and speaker choices stay independent.
Compare anchor packagesStartup Exhibitor · CA$2,000
Put a working product in the room
Pair two full Festival Passes with a startup table on Thursday and Friday through the separate Startup Exhibitor Package.
Explore startup exhibitingCommunity, institutional, or in-kind
Make a useful contribution
Bring knowledge, reach, place, hospitality, access, or care. Custom contributions are scoped only after a fit call around a real need.
Start a partner conversation2026 sponsorship
Choose how deeply you want to participate.
Pricing stays plain. Every package combines Festival Passes, visible credit, consent-based relationship access, and useful context before and after the room comes together.
1 available
Presenting Partner
CA$25,000
An organization standing behind the whole festival and bringing a prepared crew into the room.
Passes
- 8 Festival Passes
At the festival
- Lead credit on shared festival sponsor signage
Online
- Top linked logo and short profile on the sponsor page
- Lead placement in the homepage partner strip
People
- 4 invitations to the speaker and partner gathering
- Up to 2 introductions, with everyone's okay
Before and after
- A private briefing for your festival crew
- A private debrief and selected photos after the festival
See what is included
Passes
- 8 Festival Passes
At the festival
- Lead credit on shared festival sponsor signage
Online
- Top linked logo and short profile on the sponsor page
- Lead placement in the homepage partner strip
People
- 4 invitations to the speaker and partner gathering
- Up to 2 introductions, with everyone's okay
Before and after
- A private briefing for your festival crew
- A private debrief and selected photos after the festival
3 available
Founding Partner
CA$10,000
A team that wants visible, credible participation and a useful way into the wider conversation.
Passes
- 5 Festival Passes
At the festival
- Founding Partner credit on shared festival signage
Online
- Prominent linked logo on the sponsor page
- Placement in the homepage partner strip
People
- 2 invitations to the speaker and partner gathering
- Up to 1 introduction, with everyone's okay
Before and after
- A shared partner briefing before the festival
- A shared partner debrief and selected photos after the festival
See what is included
Passes
- 5 Festival Passes
At the festival
- Founding Partner credit on shared festival signage
Online
- Prominent linked logo on the sponsor page
- Placement in the homepage partner strip
People
- 2 invitations to the speaker and partner gathering
- Up to 1 introduction, with everyone's okay
Before and after
- A shared partner briefing before the festival
- A shared partner debrief and selected photos after the festival
5 available
Supporting Partner
CA$5,000
A small crew that wants to attend, learn, and be clearly connected to the festival.
Passes
- 2 Festival Passes
At the festival
- Supporting Partner credit on shared festival signage
Online
- Linked logo on the sponsor page
People
- 1 invitation to the speaker and partner gathering
Before and after
- A short festival guide before the event
- A festival follow-up with selected photos and links
See what is included
Passes
- 2 Festival Passes
At the festival
- Supporting Partner credit on shared festival signage
Online
- Linked logo on the sponsor page
People
- 1 invitation to the speaker and partner gathering
Before and after
- A short festival guide before the event
- A festival follow-up with selected photos and links
| Compare the offer | 1 available Presenting PartnerCA$25,000 An organization standing behind the whole festival and bringing a prepared crew into the room. | 3 available Founding PartnerCA$10,000 A team that wants visible, credible participation and a useful way into the wider conversation. | 5 available Supporting PartnerCA$5,000 A small crew that wants to attend, learn, and be clearly connected to the festival. |
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Names, networks, place
The room has history and a pulse.
A public speaker roster, year-round communities, a Space Centre home, and real photographs tell a stronger story than a reach estimate.
Public speakers so far
Meet the full public roster →Different relationships to the systems shaping our lives.
01Amber CaseFounder · Calm Tech Institute02Ana SerranoPresident & Vice-Chancellor · OCAD University03Lynda Brown-GanzertCEO · RxPx Inc04ZaroCommunity Intelligence Architect · zaro.me05Kris KrügFounder & Festival Director · BC + AI Ecosystem Association06Mayumi RollingsFounder & CEO · Tiny Ghost Studios07Anthonia OgundeleFounder & Executive Director · Ethọ́s Lab08Kaoru YoshihiraHead of Partner Development · BytePlus09Peter BittnerAI Trainer & Consultant · The AI Upgrade10Kevin FrielFestival Director · BC + AI Film Club11Brewster KahleFounder & Digital Librarian · Internet Archive
Community and venue collaborators
Built with communities, not around them.
Some collaborators bring people, knowledge, places, and trust. Their networks are shown in their own context, not added together as festival reach.
Presented by
community
1,600+ member volunteer network
community
200+ data governance professionals
academic
SFU research community + AI arts practitioners
community
Film + AI crossover community
community
AI filmmaking + creative-tech community
community
Vancouver creative and professional community
venue
250+ regular meetup attendees
community
Youth, educators, and BC + AI education collaborators
From the community
What the room already feels like.
From the communityAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
Sponsors meet the actual community, not a rented crowd.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
Hackathon energyAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
A prize moment with the room still in it. Builders get seen here.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
Community minglingAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
The reception before the reception. This is what a working room sounds like.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
Courtyard crowdAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
Another courtyard angle: architecture, daylight, and people who showed up.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
The room talks backAuthentic photograph, not AI-generated
Sponsor money landing somewhere real, with the room cheering it on.
Photo: Michelle Diamond.
Vancouver
Vanier Park, Granville Island, mountains, water: the festival has a real geography.
Vancouver, BC
Before anyone signs
We ask what a partnership costs the room before we ask what it's worth.
That question is why the editorial line stays independent no matter the package size.
Support the room, not the editorial line.
Your support helps make Futureproof Festival possible. It does not buy a keynote, speaking slot, attendee or speaker contact list, editorial control, or guaranteed access to any one person. Introductions happen only when everyone involved says yes. BC + AI presents Futureproof Festival.
Start the conversation
Twenty minutes is enough.
We lead these conversations ourselves. Tell us who you want to bring, what you want them to learn or contribute, and roughly where the budget sits. If there is a fit, we send back one clear proposal.
Kris Krüg · Executive Director, BC + AI · Expect a human reply within 3 to 5 business days