Calm Before the Storm #SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH’s halls will be buzzing with billion-pixel dreams; this is the warm-up jam where indie devs, VFX wizards, sustainability hackers, and curious first-timers trade sketches, prototypes, and half-baked questions without gatekeepers.
Our meetups have always been inclusive spaces for discussions that mix creatives, developers researchers, and educators in one delicious creative soup.
Think of BC’s AI ecosystem as a living mycelial web — diverse minds passing creative “nutrients” back and forth to spark new growth.
We’ll gather at the Alibi Room on Saturday 9 August 2025 (the day before SIGGRAPH Vancouver 2025 kicks off) to cross-pollinate ideas over pints and playlists.
Other upcoming events...
Surrey AI Community Meetup - In The ParkVancouver AI Community Meetup: 08/27
Show‑Up‑When‑You‑Can / Drift‑Out‑When‑You‑Need
No agenda. No lightning rounds. No polite applause breaks. Roll in any time between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Grab a corner booth if it’s free, weave between tables if it’s packed, and trade half‑baked notions with strangers who speak your dialect of future‑building.
Why Bother?
SIGGRAPH is a pressure‑cooked firehose; this is the slow‑flow serendipity space. Indie tool‑smiths, VFX wizards, climate‑tech agitators, and curious first‑timers can share back‑of‑napkin sketches without gatekeepers or slide decks.
Some of us coach at Google’s AI Journalism Lab, some build weird art with machines, some code the future at local startups—but titles stay at the door.
House rules: Community-first, open-source heart-on-sleeve, zero tolerance for hype-driven extraction. Bring a friend who’s normally “outside the AI bubble.”
We support British Columbia’s transition into ethical, inclusive AI—by helping public institutions, businesses, and community leaders build the knowledge, skills, and partnerships they need to navigate emerging technologies.
DISCLAIMER:
This event is, in absolutely no uncertain terms, NOT official SIGGRAPH anything—unless by “official” you mean “officially a bunch of actual, non-robotic humans making the most out of whatever weirdness lands in our city.” No SIGGRAPH overlords, no secret handshakes, just genuine people, questionable ideas, and maximum realness.
If you accidentally learn something, make a friend, or start a revolution, that’s on you.
About BC + AI Ecosystem Association
BC + AI is the province-wide layer: a community-driven, nonprofit industry association built to create public-interest infrastructure for AI in British Columbia.
Not a corporate lobby. Not a think tank. A commons where meetups turn into working groups, prototypes turn into shared tools, and community values turn into governance.
Join / support: https://bc-ai.ca/membership/