Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Pyle Center, 720 Langdon St. UW Campus

Schedule

8:30am – 9:00am: Coffee and Refreshments

9:00am – 9:15am: Opening Remarks

• Derek Johnson (CFL Director & Professor and Department Chair of Communication Arts at UW–Madison)
• Kristin Eschenfelder (Interim Dean, UW–Madison College of Letters & Science)

9:15am – 10:15am: Keynote Address 1

What futures does AI make possible for creative industries?

• Ben Relles (Creator and Entrepreneur, Reid AI & Founder and CEO, Make Believe)

10:25am – 11:15am: Breakout Session 1 – Practices

What changes have we already seen in the day-to-day practices of creative workers and to what future challenges might those current trends lead? How do account for the specifics in different industry sectors?

• Music and Podcasting
  • Jeremy Morris (Faculty, UW–Madison)
  • Dusty Weis (President and Founder, Podcamp Media)
• Film and Television
  • Miranda Banks (Faculty, Loyola Marymount University)
  • Amber Samdahl (Director of Design and Innovation, PBS Wisconsin)
• Social Media and Marketing
  • Brooke Duffy (Faculty, Cornell University)
  • Nikki Baker (CEO, Fallon)

11:25am – 12:15pm: Breakout Session 2 – People

How have work forces, local communities, and media audiences responded to the potential of AI creativity? What challenges and opportunities do those responses pose?

• Workforces
  • Kate Fortmueller (Faculty, Georgia State University)
  • Jillian Arnold (Labor & Technology Intelligence Officer, IATSE & Local 695 President)
• Local Communities
  • Jing Wang (Faculty, UW–Madison)
  • Dan LaCloche (President and Video Marketer, DLC)
• Media Audiences
  • Jonathan Gray (Faculty, UW–Madison)
  • Sarah Greenspan (EVP Global Audience Strategy, Publicis Groupe)

12:15pm – 1:15pm: Lunch

• Sponsors Talks (12:30-1:00pm)

1:15pm – 2:15pm: Keynote Address 2

What new concepts and frameworks do we need to develop to make sense of the creative potential behind AI?

• Tarleton Gillespie (Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research & Affiliated Professor, Department of Communication and Department of Information Science at Cornell University)

2:25pm – 3:15pm: Breakout Session 3 – Platforms

What kinds of platforms will most effectively deliver on the creative potential of AI technologies? How can our approach to the regulation of AI in relation to intellectual property, policy, and future
technological development support the future of AI creativity?

• Intellectual Property
  • Ben Sobel (Faculty, UW–Madison Law School)
  • Jeffrey Peterson (Partner, Michael Best and Friedrich LLP)
• Tech Policy
  • Jess Maddox (Faculty, University of Georgia)
  • Katie Harbath (CEO, Anchor Change)
• Platform Futures
  • Devon Powers (Faculty, University of Michigan)
  • Sam Ford (Founding Partner, InnoEngine)

3:25pm – 4:25pm: Panel Discussion

How can we work together to advance these questions over the next year?

• Introduction
  • Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska (Vice Chancellor for Research, UW–Madison)
• Moderator
  • Derek Johnson (Derek Johnson (CFL Director & Professor and Department Chair of Communication Arts at UW–Madison)
• Panelists
  • Aneri Shah (Writer/Producer/Founder, Aneri Shah Studios)
  • Clancy Ryan (Director, Covetrus)
  • Madison Barnes-Nelson (Ph.D. Candidate in Media and Cultural Studies, UW–Madison)
  • Kyle Joseph (Associate Director of Business Engagement, UW–Madison)

4:30pm – 4:45pm: Closing Remarks

Derek Johnson (CFL Director & Professor and Department Chair of Communication Arts at UW–Madison)

5:00pm – 8:00pm: Social + After Party

Music by WSUM UW–Madison Student Radio

Graduate Student Research Demos