A FESTIVAL THAT FEELS LIKE THE FUTURES WE WANT
Future of Us is a 10-day, citywide festival that turns collective insight and public imagination into a civic practice.
Shaped by nationwide visioning and built on San Francisco’s legacy of experimentation and cultural creativity, it brings together neighbors, artists, technologists, scientists, and community leaders to explore what our shared futures could look like.
Instead of a single venue or format, the festival unfolds across the city in experiences that make possibility feel tangible: interactive exhibits, neighborhood pop-ups, edible storytelling, film, music, conversations, and hands-on workshops that invite people into curiosity and co-creation.
It’s a living demonstration of what it could feel like if connection and imagination weren’t sidebars to civic life, but the center of it.
TYPES OF ACTIVATIONS
JULY 4 - 12, 2O26
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JULY 4 - 12, 2O26 ✴
*EXACT LOCATIONS ARE STILL BEING FINALIZED & will be announced in 2026KEYSTONE EXHIBITIOnSHOST-LED
Crafted and designed by our team, these showcases will feature 10 days of art exhibitions, storytelling, and workshops that bring community-sourced, expert-shaped visions of the future to life.
DISTRIBUTED POP-UPSHOST-LED
Citywide interactions designed by our team as unhosted, self-guided pop-up experiences that can be completed throughout the festival at locations across the city.
COMMUNITY ACTIVATIONSFELLOWS-LED
Sculpted and led by our Future Culture Fellows, representing a cohort of civic visionaries in communities across the city, these activations will be as dynamic and diverse as SF itself.
PARTNER PROGRAMMINGPARTNER-LED
Curated, multiformat experiences led by mission-aligned partners translating festival themes through their own lens.
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Creative Exhibitions
Artist-crafted, expert-shaped installations and storytelling experiences where participants can explore ideas through art and conversation.
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Neighborhood Pop-Ups
From block parties to grocery store art –all dreamed up by our Future Culture Fellows – these are dynamic community-centered pop-ups embedded across the city.
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Edible Storytelling
Dinner parties and restaurant partnerships that explore civic issues using food and gathering as a vehicle for storytelling.
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Live Entertainment
Live music and performances spread across our keystone and Fellows-led programming.
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Interactive Films
Film screenings featuring critical civic ideas that go beyond passive consumption, creating time and space for discussion, reflection, and mingling with the experts who know it best.
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Talks & Panels
While we’re big believers in interaction, participant-focused programs, every stage has its place. The festival will focus on intentional formats that dive deep into frictions and possibilities.
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Side Quests
Scavenger hunts, challenges, puzzles, and game nights for those who crave a heavy dose of play in their civic adventures.
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Experiential Workshops
Hands-on creative and regenerative workshops featuring local expert- and artisan-led skill-building, dialogue, and crafting.
Program preview
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American Dreams Showcase
Exploring future worlds through art, science & storytelling
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Live Music Series
Local performance series crafted by the producers of Best in the Bay
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San Francisco Futures Newsroom
Imaginative visions explored through art and speculative news stories
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Castles in the Sky Exhibit
Immersive storybook created by the youth of San Francisco
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Creative Hackathon
Civic hackathon with artists and scientists solving local challenges
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Creative reuse Workshops
Artisan-led gatherings to give waste, like empty candleholders, a new life
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Earthlings
An immersive citywide story game and challenge exploring biodiversity
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Terrible Idea Jam
A safe space to share your most wonderfully wild and weird civic ideas
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Food City Dinner Series
Citywide exploration of green futures over meals, drinks, and games
A FEW
USEFUL
DETAILS
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Everyone! We’ll have:
Events about country-wide issues and visions
Events about San Francisco-specific issues and visions
Events for kids and families
Events for grown-ups
Events for people that want to have a good time
Events for people that want to have a nerdy time
It’s the Future of Us, and that means you.
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The festival schedule will include a lineup of events for you to choose from. You don’t need to register for the festival, but there will be a limited number of festival passes available for those who want to free range access.
Some events will be free, some will be ticketed, but as a rule of the festival – all public events will have a sliding scale ticket option to
This website, our mailing list, and our Instagram are the best ways to stay in the loop.
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The festival has a collaborative leadership model, co-created by Alisa Ahmadian, B Patt, Jasmine McAdams, Louise Wo, and Stephanie Fine Sasse, alongside a team of world class creative and technical contributors.
It’s being produced under the stewardship of The Plenary, Co., a 501(c)3 civic arts and science nonprofit based in San Francisco, in equal partnership with local cultural experience design company, Nothin But Hits. We’re collaborating closely with partners like SF Futures, Good Neighbor Lab, and SF Environment Department, as well as a slate of talented creatives.
It is truly a collaborative effort and an exercise in what’s possible when we put people, partnership, and possibility before profit.
Learn more about the leadership team here and our mission here.
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There are several ways to get involved in the festival:
As a Fellow: Learn more and apply to be a 2026 inaugural Future Culture Collective Fellow here.
As a Collective Member: Learn about partnership, co-building, joining as a creative affiliate or vendor, and our emerging coalition here.
As a Sponsor / Funder: Learn more about opportunities to support in-kind, through asset / venue sharing, or as a funder here.
Additional opportunities to support, including volunteering at Festival events, will be announced in the spring.
This is not a commercial marketplace. While the festival will include curated goods and sponsors, there will be no promotional events disguised as programming. Any products or promotions must be in service of the mission.
This is not a political rally. We are pro-democracy and non-partisan. While politics are an essential contour of civic life, the festival does not host programming that advocates for or against specific elected officials, candidates, or parties.
This is not an exclusive, high cost festival. Public activations will be open, welcoming, financially accessible, and designed to uplift all participants.
This is not prescriptive. The festival is not about telling people what to think. It’s about creating conditions for curiosity, exploration, and imagination to flourish.
This is not a platform for harm. While we encourage discourse across difference, it on the explicit condition of full, unambiguous respect. There is no space at Future of Us for hate, violence, or dehumanizing ideologies.