DIS:PLAY Creative Tech Summit

DIS:PLAY is a one-day creative tech summit hosted at Cornell Tech that invites creatives, technologists, and founders to disrupt the display and play with the rules. We’re excited to kick off NYC Design Week. Across fashion, film, music, and design, DIS:PLAY centers works and practices that are raw and unapologetically experimental. Powered by FLORA.📅 Event Agenda
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM — Exclusive Portfolio Session (open to Cornell students)
Drop in for 1:1 portfolio reviews and feedback from creative directors and industry guests.
12:00 – 12:45 PM — Creative Studio Networking
Meet creatives and studios across fashion, design, and emerging tech: SavoirFaire, Code and Theory, ArtBound Initiative, Eric Forman Studio, ChanceAI, and more.
12:45 – 1:00 PM — Opening Remarks
Welcome to DIS:PLAY pillar overview and theme manifesto from the organizing team.
1:00 – 1:40 PM — Workshops Block I
Synthetic Fashion: AI as Material (Fashion × Tech)
Led by Sasha Zabegalin (powered by FLORA). A hands-on intro to using AI as a new kind of fabric for fashion and self-expression.
Vibe Code Your Next Project (Design × Tech)
Led by creator Mori Liu. Build real creative projects by vibing with code, no CS degree required, just curiosity and an idea.
1:45 – 2:30 PM — Workshops Block II
Direct a Film With a Prompt (Film × Tech)
Led by Tao Prompts (powered by KLING). Make a short AI film from prompt to final cut, footage without a camera.
Sound Doesn’t Follow Rules (Music × Tech)
Led by sound designer and audio engineer Kailey Kielle. Design sonic worlds for film, games, apps, or projects that don’t have a name yet.
2:30 – 2:50 PM — Startup Talks
Lightning talks from founders and builders at Ponder (Timothy Wang, Co‑founder) and Infron AI (Merida Hou, Chief Technical Staff).
2:50 – 3:00 PM — Break
2:45 – 3:30 PM — Fireside Chat: Creativity at Work and After Hours
A conversation about staying restless inside structured environments. How do you push past “good enough”? When do side projects become the real work? And what happens when your 9‑to‑5 output and your creative identity pull in different directions?
3:30 – 3:50 PM — Keynote: A Studio That Refused to Wait
Louis Moncouyoux (SavoirFaire) on building a studio that doesn’t wait for permission to experiment.
4:00 – 4:45 PM — Panel: Years in the Making
Creative tools change every year. Taste takes a decade to build. Practitioners at the edge of creative × tech talk about what lasts, what doesn’t, what they had to unlearn, and how to build a point of view that survives the next platform shift.
Moderator: William Leon (Cornell Tech Professor)
Panelists: Eric Forman (Eric Forman Studio / Newlab), Raj Muhar (Agentic AI; Amazon), Wendy Ju (Cornell Tech Professor), Christopher Brignola (Eccho AI).
4:45 – 5:05 PM — Keynote: Sell Like You Mean It
Khurram Kalimi on building a business and sales techniques for creatives.
5:15 – 6:00 PM — Panel: Nobody Asked You to Pick a Lane
For anyone who’s been told they’re “too creative for engineering” or “too technical for art.” How do you get a hybrid skill set taken seriously? When do you stop explaining what you do and just show it?
Moderator: Michelle Hui
Panelists: Koh Terai (Founder of Martini, Y Combinator), Karyn Nakamura (Artist & Engineer), Britney (Film Producer), Gazi.
6:00 – 6:45 PM — Panel: Music × Tech — What’s Real Right Now?
At the intersection of music and emerging tools — how AI is entering the creative process, reshaping workflows, and raising new questions around ownership, authorship, and sound.
Moderator: Soumya Duriseti
Panelists: Juliette Rolnick (Product & Deployment - Music at ElevenLabs), Polina Ivko (Entertainment attorney and Partner at Adwar Ivko), Jessica Gramuglia (Music Supervisor at Gramuglia Music & Media).
6:45 – 7:00 PM — Keynote: Entrepreneurship and Leadership in the Creative Industries
Closing remarks from Professor Mukti Khaire.
7:00 – 8:00 PM — After Party (separate RSVP)
Hosted with Epic Connector. Mio Matcha Pop Up.