As AI disruption, consolidation, and the collapse of local news reshape media, the question is no longer what’s changing—but what will endure, and who decides. This session explores the new creative economy rising from old systems: one powered by creators, mutual aid, and mission-driven networks. How can we upskill storytellers, fund independent work, and build storytelling infrastructure that protects both artistic freedom and civic purpose?

Netflix’s new AI use guidelines mark a milestone—and a warning. Without shared standards, creators face a confusing maze of conflicting policies across studios and platforms. This workshop uses Netflix’s framework as a starting point to co-create creator-first principles that balance innovation, transparency, and rights protection, defining ethical and practical safeguards for an equitable future of AI-assisted storytelling.

Storytelling has long shaped our visions of the future—but today, most popular media imagines dystopias. This interactive lab, led by Alan Gershenfeld (E-Line Media) and Jared Ruga (Vavani Productions), invites participants to use world-building techniques to envision hopeful, achievable futures. Through narrative design, systems thinking, and collaborative creativity, we’ll explore how entertainment can seed regenerative, inspiring visions across media.

As Americans grow more polarized, the arts can restore empathy and accuracy to how we see one another. This workshop explores how creators across media can use storytelling to challenge misperceptions, humanize “the other,” and reduce fear. Drawing on social psychology and real-world examples, participants will learn frameworks and tools to craft stories that bridge divides and rebuild social cohesion.

This moderated panel discussion explores how AI can analyze trends in narrative content, measure shifts in social norms, and strengthen creative strategy. Drawing on global case studies like MTV Shuga and the MAPGEN initiative, panelists will share early findings on AI’s potential to make narrative impact measurement more scalable, affordable, and actionable—offering practical insights for storytellers and strategists working across media, entertainment, and social change.

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, this session invites participants to move from reflection to activation—transforming shared narratives into collective action. Building on insights from Day 1, attendees will collaborate in small groups to explore how to tailor messaging across diverse regions, cultures, and demographics; identify opportunities for partnership; and generate new, inclusive ideas that bring democratic values to life. The session will culminate in a group report-out and shared reflection on how the Impact Guild’s Democracy Affinity Group can help sustain and scale this work leading up to the nation’s semiquincentennial.

As corporate consolidation dismantles DEI and CSR divisions across entertainment, this workshop gathers leaders and creators to chart what’s next. Together, we’ll examine where DEI-aligned professionals now sit across companies, and explore how the Guild can reconnect them into a living network of shared learning and support—preserving progress toward inclusive, impact-driven storytelling beyond corporate cycles.

As podcasts surpass traditional media in shaping public opinion, Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson explores how this medium now drives persuasion, polarization, and civic storytelling. In this fireside conversation, Wilson—once a Republican strategist, now a fierce critic of MAGA politics—examines how trust, authenticity, and emotion have replaced party structures and ad spending as the true engines of influence.