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, Professor and Department Chair of Communication Arts at UW-Madison

9:15am – 10:00am: Keynote Address 1

• What futures does AI make possible for creative industries?
• Ben Relles, Creator and Entrepreneur, Reid AI

10:20am – 11:10am: 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
• Film and Television
• Social Media and Marketing

11:15am – 12:05pm: 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
• Local Communities
• Media Audiences

12:00pm – 1:00pm: Lunch

1:15pm – 2:15pm: Keynote Address 2

• Tarleton Gillespie, Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research New England and Adjunct Associate Professor in Communication at Cornell University

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

• Intellectual Property
• Tech Policy
• Platform Futures

3:25pm – 4:25pm: Panel Discussion

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

4:30pm – 4:45pm: Closing Remarks

5:00pm – 8:00pm: Social + Dinner + After Party