The Creative Futures
Creative economy summit · San Antonio · 2026
A city’s creative class in one room, with a plan.
San Antonio has plenty of talent and not enough places where it meets money, tools and each other. The Creative Futures built that place: a two-day summit, with months of smaller rooms leading up to it.
The programme
One summit. A year of rooms.
- 10–11 April 2026
The Creative Futures Con, Part I
Two days at Geekdom in the Rand Building and at Legacy Park. 300 to 400 people. Keynotes, panels, masterclasses, film screenings and live activations across four tracks: creative industries, innovation and technology, community and cultural impact, and entrepreneurship. - April 2026
On the stage
An Adobe-sponsored keynote with Michael Fugoso, and an enterprise design session led by design leaders from Netflix and Whataburger. Backed by the City of San Antonio’s arts and culture programs and Geekdom. - Monthly from January 2026
ArtWK Sessions SATX
Workshops at Form Studios with United By Design: business foundations, revenue strategy and pitch practice, so local artists walked into the summit ready. - 7 October 2026
The Creative Futures Brunch
Part of San Antonio Startup + Tech Week, powered by Whataburger, at 300 Main. Music, coffee, founders and creatives. - 2026
The Creative Circle
A fashion and creative industry night, co-hosted with Texas Fashion Week.
What the lab did
Four jobs.
- 01
Infrastructure
The platform under the program: talent profiles, matching and an admin console, so a room full of people becomes a record you can work from. - 02
R&D
The monthly ArtWK Sessions were the test bed. We watched where artists got stuck on pricing, revenue and pitching, and shaped the summit around it. - 03
User experience
Four tracks, two venues, two days. Designed so a first-timer knew where to be and why. - 04
Distribution
The smaller events did the marketing. A brunch during Startup + Tech Week, a night with Texas Fashion Week, a workshop every month. By April the audience already knew each other.
What it moved
People, culture, money.
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Social
300 to 400 people across two days, with creatives, founders and technologists in the same sessions.
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Cultural
Film, fashion, design and music treated as one industry, with the City of San Antonio’s arts and culture programs behind it.
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Economic
Artists arrived with a price, a revenue plan and a practiced pitch, because the workshops started in January.