2018 Initial Lineup Announced!

Darren Aronofsky is the Academy Award–nominated director of π, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, and Black Swan, and executive producer of the virtual reality experience SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime.

Rachel Tipograph has unlocked the secret of marketing to millennials and Gen Z. With her company MikMak, she single-handedly revolutionized the eCommerice landscape by creating a shoppable mobile video platform designed for the social media generation. She has appeared on Forbes's “30 under 30” and was named one of Fast Company's “Most Creative People in Business.”

Ryan Leslie is a Grammy-nominated recording artist, multiplatinum music producer, and avid technologist who has logged studio time with Madonna, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Beyoncé. After realizing the value of authentic and immediate correspondence with his audience, he taught himself to code and raised $5.5 million dollars to found SuperPhone, which lets users scale text communication while providing insights on how to optimize correspondence.

Vince Kadlubek believes we are living in a crisis of imagination, but he has plans to change that—starting with his creation, Meow Wolf, an immersive art experience that has become New Mexico’s #1 tourist attraction. Meow Wolf will soon open locations in Las Vegas and Denver, and has become a model for immersive exhibitions across the world.

Karina Wilsher is steering Anomaly to become one of the hottest agencies in the world. They have won multiple Cannes Lions awards and were named Ad Age’s 2017 Agency of the Year. Their client list includes Apple's Beats by Dre, Sonos, and Coca-Cola Co., among others.

Grace Boyle is a multi-sensory storyteller. She debunks the notion that we have 5 senses, and instead believes we have closer to 33. When we tell stories that engage all of our senses, we’re able to tell more powerful and emotional stories.

Curtis Hickman has dedicated his life to making the impossible possible. Having started out as a magician, he now works with fully immersive, location-based, hyper-reality experiences that merge virtual and physical environments. The result is a powerful experience where audiences have to remind themselves of what’s real and what isn’t. As Time.com put it, “these guys basically created a holodeck.”

Named one of “10 Women to Watch in Tech” by Inc. Magazine, Dr. Vivienne Ming wants to create better people—through technology. Whether she’s creating expression recognition AI or using cutting edge neuro-prosthetics, Vivienne’s goal is the same: to augment human potential.

Dr. Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn explores how embodied experiences like VR influences our attitudes and behavior. Her research investigates how interactive digital media such as virtual and augmented reality transform traditional rules of communication and social interactions, looking at how virtual experiences shape the way the way that people think, feel, and behave in the physical world.

Neuroscientist Anil Seth is interested in understanding the biological basis of conscious experience, a topic he considers one of the greatest challenges for 21st century science. His groundbreaking research provides fascinating insight into what this means for storytelling. His 2017 TED talk has been viewed over 5 million times.