Core team leading the BC + AI Festival Week planning and execution.

Updated April 28, 2026.

Festival Leadership

• Festival Director: Kris Krüg
• Education Day: Anthonia Ogundele (Ethos Lab)
• Life Sciences Day: Simon Haworth (Intellomx)
• Data Nerds Day: Gordon Hamilton (Data for Good Vancouver) + Andrew Reid (Rival Technologies)
• MAC Day: Loki Jorgenson
• Ethics Day (AEFL): Jesi Carson (AEFL) + Sarah Downey (governance speaker)
• Film Festival + Squatchies: Kevin Friel (Nera Studios / BC + AI Film Club)
• DEFRAG: Philippe Pasquier (SFU Metacreation Lab), Erica Lapadat-Janzen, Arshia Sobhan Sarbandi, Kris Krüg

Partners & Collaborators (confirmed)

• Rival Technologies — Data Storytelling Hackathon sponsor ($5K prize pool, Round 5)
• Data for Good Vancouver — Data Nerds Day co-lead (1,600-member network)
• DAMA Vancouver — data governance programming, Data Nerds Day afternoon session
• Creative Pulse — AI Job Fair (confirmed inside festival week, Oct 30 afternoon)
• SFU Metacreation Lab — DEFRAG co-producer, Canada Arts Council-funded
• AI Ethical Futures Lab (AEFL) — Ethics Day lead and host (Parker Street Studios)