Future of StoryTelling

Launched in 2012 as a one-day, invitation-only summit for 300 people, the FoST Summit went on to expand to a week-long summit and festival for nearly 6,000 people. The event encourages attendee participation via small roundtable discussions led by experts from the worlds of business, technology, marketing, academics, and other fields; hands-on creative workshops; immersive performances; and exhibitions of storytelling projects and technologies.^[1] Past FoST Summit speakers, workshop leaders, and performers have included former Vice President Al Gore; Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda; Disney animator and director Glen Keane; Angela Ahrendts, former SVP of Retail at Apple; author Margaret Atwood; filmmaker Darren Aronofsky; choreographer Bill T. Jones; Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud; and Todd Yellin, VP of Product at Netflix.

The FoST summit takes place at Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island, an architecturally and historically significant site that was built in the mid-1800s as a home for retired sailors. Attendees meet in lower Manhattan and are transported by private ferry across New York Harbor to the 83-acre waterfront campus.

Launched in 2020 and hosted by FoST founder and CEO Charles Melcher, the bi-weekly FoST Podcast features conversations with storytellers from diverse backgrounds. Past guests have included former Vice President Al Gore, author Margaret Atwood, actor Neil Patrick Harris, musician Jacob Collier, political commentator and activist Van Jones, writer and producer Wendy Calhoun, actor Rainn Wilson, and Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of the Public Theater.^[2]

FoST produces a monthly digital newsletter, FoST in Thought, which features articles on trends and breakthroughs in the storytelling world, as well as news from FoST and its community members and a calendar of immersive storytelling events taking place around the world.^[3]