2026 | April 10th - 11th

Big. Real. Future.

The design-forward summit for creators, disruptors, and builders shaping tomorrow’s culture, tech, and cities.

2026 | April 10th - 11th

Big. Real. Future.

The design-forward summit for creators, disruptors, and builders shaping tomorrow’s culture, tech, and cities.

Not Just a Conference.

A Movement.

Not Just a Conference.

A Movement.

The Creative Futures Con  is   where culture meets innovation, and ideas become blueprints. Over two days in San Antonio, hundreds of thinkers, designers, entrepreneurs, strategists, and dreamers come together to build what’s next. Through hands-on activations, keynotes, panels, showcases, and masterclasses—we’re igniting a bold future shaped by real creators.


We don't follow trends. We build worlds.

2 Days of World-Building Discovery

2 Days of World

Building Discovery

2 Days of

World-Building Discovery

Inspire. Educate. Connect.


The Creative Futures is built for creators  who do more than imagine the future—they build it. Our 2026 theme, “Building Worlds,” invites you to explore how creativity, technology, community, and entrepreneurship shape the systems we live in.


Across two packed days, you’ll move between ideas and action through four immersive tracks—each designed to spark breakthroughs, forge connections, and give you the tools to bring bold visions to life.


Creative Industries

Explore storytelling, design, film, fashion, and digital culture. This track celebrates the creators shaping how we see, speak, and express.


Innovation & Tech

Dive into civic tech, AI, data, and smart systems. This is where the digital frontier meets human-centered solutions.


Community & Cultural Impact

Centering people, place, and purpose. This track highlights how creativity can drive equity, sustainability, and social change.


Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth

Scale your creative vision. From startups to investment, this track equips innovators with the strategy, insight, and inspiration to build lasting impact.


This isn’t a passive experience.  It’s 48 hours of immersive conversations, collaborations, and creative fuel to help you build what’s next—together.

DAY  1

  • 8:00 AM | Registration Opens - Brunch Begins

    Activation + Breakout

    Location: Geekdom 5th Floor >>

  • 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM | The Creative Futures Brunch Powered by Whataburger & The Down Market

    Community & Culture

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >>


    Featuring: The Down Market Team, Dr. Luis Martinez (Capital Factory)


    Day 1 opens with a community brunch bringing creatives, founders, students, and civic leaders together for connection and context. Featuring opening remarks from Luis Martinez titled “Big. Real. Future.”, the brunch sets the tone for the day’s conversations around creativity, leadership, and long-term impact.

  • 9:45 AM – 10:15 AM | Keynote: Steven Darby

    Creative Industries + Design

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >>


    Featuring: Steven Darby, (Heavy Heavy)


    A keynote on creative leadership, systems thinking, and what it means to build lasting work inside complex cultural and economic ecosystems—grounded in practice, not theory.

  • 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM | Building the Engine: Big. Real. Future. San Antonio. State of Innovation, Tech, and Entrepreuership

    Innovation & Tech

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >>


    Featuring: Charles Woodin (Geekdom), Emily Binet Royell (Parters for Public Good), Matthew Espinosa (Launch SA)


    Together, this panel explores where San Antonio and Texas more broadly stands today in innovation, entrepreneurship, and city development. Not from a hype perspective, but from the inside: what’s working, what’s fragmented, and what becomes possible when leaders across sectors stop operating in silos and start building together.

  • 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM | LiLCreators: Spring into Creativity

    Creative Industries + Design

    Location: Geekdom 3rd Floor >>


    Featuring: Nimmy ( Fine Arts & Imagination), Drew (Design + AI for Kids), Teresa (Teen Digital Artist & LiL Illustrator), Melvin (Parenting & Raising Creative Kids)


    Host: Anthony Rose


    A panel for kids, parents, and community leaders exploring how art, design, and AI spark creativity in the next generation, featuring artists, designers, young creators, and parents in conversation.

  • 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM | Hiring That Scales: Building Teams That Last

    Entrepreneurship + Civic Dev

    Location: Geekdom 5th Floor >>


    Featuring: Yael Iffergan (SPHR - Managing Director) & INFINITalent Partners


    A practical session for employers, founders, and hiring managers drawing from your 20 years of experience placing thousands of professionals across Fortune 500 companies and third-party recruitment. The session will cover setting new hires up for success, resume screening strategies, identifying and interviewing for key skills, conducting effective interviews, salary negotiation, and when to leverage a third-party recruiter.

  • 10:45 AM - 11:30 AM | TBD


  • 11:30 AM - 3:00 PM | Collage City: Presented by San Antonio Association Of Graphic Designers (Hands-On Workshop)

    Community & Culture

    Location: Geekdom 5th Floor >>


    Featuring: San Antonio Association of Graphic Designers


    This drop-in workshop invites attendees to reconnect with tactile, physical creativity through collage-making.

  • 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM | Conference Break**


  • 12:30 PM – 1:15 PM | Influence Is Built, Not Branded bigcitysmalltown — live podcast at The Creative Futures

    Community & Culture

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >>


    Featuring: Lionel and Kathy Sosa with Andi Rodriguez


    Host: Cory Ames


    A live recording and candid conversation on leadership, creative risk, and how culture quietly shapes San Antonio’s economy, innovation, and civic future—past, present, and what’s next.

  • 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM | The Trinity Community Impact Sprint

    Entrepreneurship + Civic Dev

    Location: Geekdom 3rd Floor >>


    Featuring: Cristy Lime (The Optimization Specialist) & Carmen Aramanda (Trinity University)


    This interdisciplinary Sprint brings students, creatives, and community entrepreneurs together to tackle real San Antonio challenges through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collaborative problem-solving.

  • 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM | 30 Years of Public Art Public Art as Civic Infrastructure

    Community & Culture

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >>


    Featuring: City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture"


    Host: Kimberly Mirelez, (Public Art Administrator), 


    This seated panel discussion reflects on 30 years of public art in San Antonio, not as a retrospective, but as a living civic system still in motion. The conversation explores how public art has functioned as civic infrastructure, shaping neighborhoods, supporting cultural equity, influencing development, and embedding creative voice into the public realm. Designed for a live audience and live streamed, the session documents both legacy and future direction through a thoughtful, moderated stage discussion.

  • 2:15 PM – 3:00 PM | TBD

    Entrepreneurship + Civic Dev

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >>


  • 3:15 PM – 4:30 PM | TBD


  • 3:15 PM – 4:30 PM | Event Builder: Experiential Design Game (Workshop)

    Creative Industries + Design

    Location: Geekdom 5th Floor - Cumulus Room (Tech & Data) >>


    Featuring: David Ramirez


    A hands-on, game-based workshop where participants design live experiences using randomized constraints, adapting in real time as chaos is introduced.

  • 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM | What Do Eye Like!: Creative Spaces, Portraits & Body Movement (Workshop)

    Creative Industries + Design

    Location: Geekdom 5th Floor - Fog Room (Startup) >>


    Featuring: Drew Reinartz, Justine Scott, and Tally Neal


    An open, hands-on workshop exploring how photographers shape compelling images through space, styling, and movement, this session breaks down things to consider of styling a scene, directing subjects, and working with bodies in motion. Designed for working professionals and confident beginners alike, the workshop blends discussion, live demonstration, and camera-in-hand experimentation, creating space for questions, practice, and real-time feedback. Bring your camera and curiosity.

  • 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM | TBD


  • 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM | TBD


  • 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM | The Nite-CAP @ 300 Main Salon (Mixer)

    Entrepreneurship + Civic Dev

    Location: 300 Main Sky Lounge | Penthouse >> 


    Featuring: Captial Factory,  300 Main, The Down Market, TFII, Community Incubator


    An evening gathering rooted in C.A.P. (Culture, Art & Placemaking), hosted with Capital Factory and Sojourner Bar, featuring sponsor drinks, community connection, and a fashion-forward showcase in collaboration with Texas Fashion Industry Initiative, bringing style, place, and creative exchange together.

  • 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM | Design Duel at The Creative Futures: Presented by San Antonio Association Of Graphic Designers

    Activation + Breakout

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >>


    Featuring: Josh Castillo & Regina Morales


    A live, high-energy design showdown presented by the San Antonio Association of Graphic Designers, where creatives go head-to-head in one-on-one battles judged by their peers—for bragging rights, community glory, and a night to remember.

  • 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM | Last Call: Culture & Conversation @ Sojourn Trading Co. (Bar)

    Activation + Breakout

    Location: Sojourn Trading Co.>>


    Host: Sojourn Bar Staff


    Last Call: Culture & Conversation @ Sojourn Bar — A late-night Creative Futures meetup featuring specialty cocktails and curated drink offerings designed exclusively for the festival, where conversations continue offstage and relationships take shape after the official program ends.

DAY 2

  • 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM | Sweat San Antonio: Group Workout + Downtown Run

    Community & Culture

    Location: Legacy Park (Wellness) >>


    Featuring: Chasity Morales (The Yard) , Clair Pineda (Zen Haus), Madison King (300 Main), 

    A high-energy 45-minute group workout and downtown run led by The Yard and , designed to activate the body and build momentum through shared movement in public space.

  • 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM | Sweat San Antonio: Yoga + Breathwork (Concurrent Session)

    Community & Culture

    Location: 300 Main REC >> 


    Featuring: Mia Rose (Beloved Yoga) & Clair Pineda (Zen Haus)


    Running simultaneously with the group workout, this yoga and breathwork session offers a slower, grounding option for attendees seeking restoration and reflection.

  • 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM | Leading Well: Movement, Community & Creative Life: Salon & Mixer

    Community & Culture

    Location: 300 Main Sky Lounge | Penthouse >>


    Featuring: Chasity Morales (The Yard), Clair Pineda (Zen Haus), Madison King (300 Main), & Jessica Eskandr (Dreamers Run Club).


    The morning concludes with a relaxed community mixer featuring a matcha bar, light breakfast and brunch snacks from local sponsors, and music from a live DJ. A space to cool down, connect, and ease into the rest of Day 2’s programming.

  • 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM | LiL Creators: Spring into Creativity — Hands-On Workshop**

    Creative + Media Design

    Location: Geekdom 3rd Floor >>


    Featuring: Oil Pastel Spring Art – Nimmy Design Thinking + AI Fun – Drew Digital Art Tutorial (screen demo) – Teresa will work on ipad and kids can work on paper and oil pastel Parenting & Creative Growth – Melvin (Will be working with parents when kids participate in workshop - this will distract them from interfering in kids activities and will get more time for us to educate about lilcreators)


    A two-hour, interactive workshop where kids explore creativity through art, design, and beginner-friendly technology—while parents engage in parallel conversations around creative growth and learning.

  • 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM | ArtWKS: Pitch Practice + Maker Sprint

    Creative + Media Design

    Location: Geekdom 5th Floor - Fog Room: (Startup) >>


    Featuring: Cherise Royal (Collaborative Founder & Creative Director)


    A hands-on workshop designed as a launchpad into Creative Futures, helping artists and creatives confidently position themselves, network with intention, and turn conversations into real opportunities. The session blends practical guidance with dedicated deep-work time so participants leave prepared—not just inspired.

  • 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | TBD


  • 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | TBD


  • 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM | TBD


  • 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM | Collage City: Presented by San Antonio Association Of Graphic Designers (Hands-On Workshop)

    Creative + Media Design

    Location: Geekdom 5th Floor  >>


    Featuring: San Antonio Association of Graphic Designers


    This drop-in workshop invites attendees to reconnect with tactile, physical creativity through collage-making.

  • 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Mural Ride: Downtown — The Creative Futures Experience

    Community & Culture

    Location: Sojourn Trading Co (Bar) >>


    Featuring: Brian Benavidez


    A guided, scenic 3-mile e-bike ride, exploring 20+ murals across historic neighborhoods and transformed industrial corridors. Using comfortable, power-assisted e-bikes, participants glide through the city while learning the stories behind the artists, the art, and the local culture shaping San Antonio’s creative identity.

  • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | Activating Downtown: How Local Creators Are Reimagining San Antonio’s Urban Core

    Community & Culture

    Location: Sojourn Trading Co (Bar) >>


    Featuring: Shek Vega & Burgundy Woods (San Antonio Street Art Initiative), Lauren Beckman (Mixtli), Kevin Mancha (The Local SATX)


    A candid panel conversation examining how San Antonio’s downtown revival is being driven by local creators, artists, hospitality leaders, and mobility innovators. This session highlights the grassroots ecosystem connecting street art, food, markets, nightlife, and human-scaled transportation to build a more walkable, creative, and people-centered urban core.

  • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | Mural Ride: Downtown — Second Tour

    Community & Culture

    Location: Sojourn Trading Co (Bar) >>


    Featuring: Brian Benavidez


    A guided, scenic 3-mile e-bike ride, exploring 20+ murals across historic neighborhoods and transformed industrial corridors. Using comfortable, power-assisted e-bikes, participants glide through the city while learning the stories behind the artists, the art, and the local culture shaping San Antonio’s creative identity.

  • 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM | Sources: Creative Process Behind the Bar

    Community & Culture

    Location: Sojourn Trading Co (Bar) >>


    Featuring: Derik Cortez (Sojourn), Lauren Beckman (Mixtli), Jack Corney (Jazz, TX), Colton Fox (Sojourn)


    A discussion-driven, interactive class exploring where cocktail bartenders draw creative inspiration—and how ideas move from concept to glass. Rather than focusing on technique or recipes, Sources centers on creative process, examining how art, music, culture, memory, and lived experience shape what we create behind the bar, as facilitators collaboratively develop Creative Futures specialty drinks in real time.

  • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | bigcitysmalltown — live podcast at The Creative Futures

    Entrepreneurship + Civic Dev

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >> 


    Featuring: Cory Ames


    A live recording of bigcitysmalltown featuring Special Guests! 

  • 1:00 PM - 1:45 PM | Adobe Presents: Design, Creativity & Tools — Talk with Jon Rodz (Workshop)

    Creative + Media Design

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >>


    Host: Jon Rodz 

  • 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM | Adobe Presents: Permission to Begin Again Keynote: Michael Fugoso (FUGSTRATOR)

    Creative + Media Design

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >>


    Featuring: Michael Fugoso


    Host: Corey Mac 


    A powerful story of reinvention, late bloomers, and betting on yourself. From business school and banking to creating work for NASA and global brands, Michael shares what it takes to trust the pivot, build discipline, and create a Big. Real. Future.

  • 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM | Adobe Presents: Keynote Panel w/ Hallease Narvaez: Making the Work, Keeping the Voice.

    Creative + Media Design

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >>


    Featuring: Hallease Narvaez (Filmaker)


    Host: Corey Mac 

  • 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM | Sixth Seat x The Creative Futures — Finale Experience (VIP)

    Community & Culture

    Location: Geekdom Event Center >>


    Host & Moderator: Jade Paris


    "Lifting the Veil: What It Takes to Create”

    A live-taped Sixth Seat dinner experience where creatives across film, fashion, tech, wellness, and art/media share the unseen realities behind building meaningful work.

  • 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM | TBD


  • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM | Unprogrammed: Last Call: Culture & Conversation

    Activation + Breakout

    Location: Sojourn Trading Co.>>


    Featuring: The Down Market and The Community


    A no-agenda, late-night meetup for organic conversations, unexpected connections, and creative decompression.

Locations

Revolutionaries at the Helm

From cultural strategists to startup founders, filmmakers to urban planners, our speakers aren’t here to just talk.

They’re here to build, mentor, and spark real creative motion.

Backed by Brands  That Build

We partner with those who care about culture—not just capital.
Join forces with creators and future-builders to shape the narrative, host activations, and support real innovation.