Name: Wet Paint
Start: 2026-07-08T16:00:00.000-07:00
End: 2026-07-08T22:00:00.000-07:00
Location: The Firehouse at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture

Future of Us is a civic imagination festival, collective, and initiative to co-build the future of civic culture, launching on the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Future of Us

San Francisco has been many cities: boom town of gold, startup haven, and counterculture center. It's always repainting and reinventing itself. When tomorrow comes, who do we want it to be?

"Wet Paint" puts the paintbrush in your hands. Weave through three immersive stations and contribute your vision for how this city could look, taste, and feel. The stations explore the flavors of SF, how we inhabit our streets, and our relationship with the machine.

The Firehouse at Fort Mason opens into three warm, candlelit rooms, each holding its own installation. Move through at your own pace.

Expect food from outside the usual SF culinary gaze, drinks, music, good company, and even better conversations.

Launching on America's 250th anniversary, the inaugural Future of Us festival is a 10-day celebration of civic imagination and possibility. We're turning community-sourced, expert-crafted visions of the future into art, storytelling, and participatory experiences. With 100+ events spanning every corner of the city (floral labyrinths, speculative future worlds, dance parties with a purpose, and neighborhood meet-ups), it's a living exploration of what a more creative and generative civic culture could feel like. Organized around four themes (Green Futures, Social Futures, Science & Tech Futures, and Media Futures), Future of Us is breaking down the barriers between art, ideas, and each other, and everyone is invited to co-imagine what comes next.

The Future Culture Fellowship is a yearlong program that resources the people best positioned to shape the future of civic life in San Francisco: the community builders, artists, and grassroots visionaries already rooted in neighborhoods and traditions across the Bay. Fellows design and host original, science- and arts-centered experiences that reflect their unique perspectives on what's possible, and become part of a growing Future Culture Collective dedicated to making civic life in SF more vibrant, connected, and imaginative. The event you're signing up for was dreamed up by one of the 2026 Fellows.

https://www.future-of-us.com/2026-fellows/tobi-ogunnaike

⚡ Learn more about the Fellows Program: 

Wet Paint

Tobi Ogunnaike

Have a little extra cash on hand? Your contributions will help us keep the festival alive and thriving! Fun fact: Anything over the Suggested Price is tax-deductible.

VC (Vision Catalyst)

Can't cover the suggested price but still want to contribute? Or looking to make a more sizable contribution? Just like the future, you can choose your own way to pay!

Pay What You Want

The future is for everyone. To keep the festival accessible to all, please only select this option if ticket prices are prohibitive.