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Artistic Intelligence Poster

California Theatre Conference: Artistic Intelligence to take place October 26, 2026.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (9 October 2026) – Theatre Bay Area, is thrilled to announce the expansion of our long-running annual conference to include state-wide theatre artists and companies. After more than 20 years of producing northern California’s premier gathering for theatremakers, the transformation from the TBA Annual Conference to the California Theatre Conference marks an expanded vision of an interconnected, statewide, arts ecosystem.  

California Theatre Conference: Artistic Intelligence puts a sharp focus on the creativity, wisdom, and collective knowledge we have built across generations of theatremaking.  

As part of Theatre Bay Area’s 50th anniversary season, this conference explores how we draw on deeply rooted artistic legacies to build bold and sustainable futures for the field. Featuring a keynote by Roberto Bedoya, writer, cultural strategist, and the former Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Oakland, Artistic Intelligence invites us to explore our artistic lineage and legacy while setting the stage for the future of theatre.   

The conference celebrates storytelling, collaboration, and shared experience as essential forces shaping what comes next by centering the uniquely human power of live performance. Bringing together theatremakers from across the state, the California Theatre Conference invites participants to connect across disciplines, regions, and generations to explore the future of live theatre in California. 

Highlighted California Theatre Conference Sessions 

State of the State: Arts and Culture in California 

Featuring: Emilya Cachapero, Julie Baker, Lyz Luke, Josy Miller, and Lily Tung Crystal 

California theatre is evolving. New partnerships are emerging, audiences are changing, and the challenges facing our field demand fresh thinking. Join leaders from across California for a conversation about the forces shaping theatre today and the opportunities ahead. Together, we’ll explore where we’re gaining momentum, what questions deserve our attention, and how we can build a stronger, more connected future for California theatre. 

Before You Decide: A Working Session on AI and Theatre 

Featuring: Shubham Atreja 

Some of us are already using AI in their work. Some have decided not to. Most have questions they haven’t had a good place to ask. What does it actually do? When it makes something, whose work is it? What happens to the people who were paid for that work? Join Dr. Shubham Atreja of USF’s Center for AI and Data Ethics for a session that’s neither a sales pitch nor a eulogy. A short, plain-language look at what these systems really do and don’t do. Most of the hour will focus on real situations theatres are facing now, where the answer isn’t obvious, and the room won’t agree. No technical background required. No position required. Bring your enthusiasm (or skepticism); it will be useful here. 

The Art of Clown: Legacy Trailblazers Teaching Us About Today 

Featuring: Josh Matthews, Lance “Derique” McGee, and Jeff Raz. Dedicated to Judy Finelli 

The Bay Area has a rich tradition of Clown and Physical Theater, with an exciting range of organizations including performance companies, training programs, and healthcare clowning. Join this session where trailblazers and keepers of these artistic traditions share what they find crucial in Clown in the current moment, socially, politically, and artistically. Inviting us in as they look forward to the future of Clown and Physical Theatre and share their hard-won knowledge from the past. 

Art in the Face of Demonization 

Featuring: Dr. Dawn Monique Williams, Nabra Nelson, and Ezra Reaves.

Art is an essential tool of resistance, and yet artists are also often targets. Leaving us to continually ask, in the face of bigotry, fascism, and demonization what is our role as theatremakers? How can we continue sustainably meet this moment? Join us for a panel led by director and TBA Board Chair, Dr. Dawn Monique Williams where experienced local theatre leaders breakdown the impact of systemic demonization on targeted artists, what we can do to support one another, and how theatremakers can use the power of our art to shift the national narrative towards justice. 

The full conference program includes the plenary panel listed above, two featured performances, 11 breakout sessions, the presentation of awards, and a keynote speech from writer, cultural strategist, and the former Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Oakland, Roberto Bedoya. Conference attendees can also choose to attend one of two lunch discussion groups or add-on individual coaching sessions with industry experts as part of their day.  

The California Theatre Conference is supported by Partake Arts, Benvenuti Arts, Ashville Creative Arts, Ensemble.os, Theatre of Yugen, Joe Goode Performance Group, and Z Space.  

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ABOUT THEATRE BAY AREA 

Founded in 1976, Theatre Bay Area is one of the largest regional performing arts service organizations in North America. Our members—some 200 theatre companies and 3,000 individual artists—produce thousands of performances and engage more than a million arts patrons each year.  

Theatre Bay Area is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to unite, strengthen, promote and advance the theatre community in the San Francisco Bay Area, working on behalf of our conviction that the performing arts are an essential public good, critical to a healthy and truly democratic society, and invaluable as a source of personal enrichment and growth. Visit theatrebayarea.org for more information. 

EVENT DETAILS 

What: California Theatre Conference: Artistic Intelligence 

Where: Z Space, Theatre of Yugen & Joe Goode Annex in San Francisco, CA 

Dates: Monday, October 26, 2026 

General Admission: $175 

Discounts available for TBA Members, groups of 5 or more, and students 

Information Website: www.TheatreBayArea.org/tbacon26