Shaping Tech Imagination, One Story at a Time
Looking Back on The Tech We Want at The Impact Lounge at Sundance 2025
When The Tech We Want (TTWW) and Omidyar Network go to Sundance Film Festival, we bring more than just a presence; we bring a purpose.
Represented by Aniyia Williams (Director, Programs & Policy) and Nicole Allred (Principal, Cultural Strategy & Narrative Change), we entered the 2025 festival - one of the first major cultural convenings of the year in North America - with a clear vision: to harness the power of cultural storytelling as a lever for social change.
Over five days in Park City, we hosted high-impact panels, cultivated key relationships, and positioned technology as not just a tool of disruption, but a domain for imagination, justice, and joy.
The Impact Lounge: A Strategic Cultural Hub
Our home base was The Impact Lounge: a gathering point for artists, funders, creatives, and movement builders working at the intersection of storytelling and social impact, produced by Caspian Productions - our partner in bringing The Light House to life.
While much of Sundance centers on spotlighting new films, The Impact Lounge creates a parallel current: a space where decision-makers could meet storytellers, where ethics and innovation could share a table, and where our vision of responsible tech finds a welcoming audience.
Four Conversations that Moved the Room
Across four featured events, we engaged over 150 participants and reached more than 1,000 industry leaders, creators, and innovators through extended invitations and visibility. Each event reframed the relationship between culture, technology, and power:
“Between Dystopia and Delight”
Moderated by Nicole Allred, this panel drew on science fiction as a mirror and map for our digital future. With voices from both Silicon Valley and Hollywood—Sarah Papazoglakis, Lynn Renee Maxcy, and Kamala Avila-Salmon—we explored the speculative edge of narrative technology and how fiction shapes reality.“Rewriting the Future”
In an intimate fireside chat, Nicole Allred sat down with BAFTA Award-winner Naomi Ackie to reflect on the joy, experimentation, and tension at the heart of modern storytelling. From AI-enhanced filmmaking to her role in the near-future drama 2073, Ackie shared how tech is reshaping not just production but performance
“Outsiders to Insiders”
Aniyia Williams led a powerful discussion on how nontraditional funders can reshape the film industry. The conversation featured Jess Devaney (Multitude Films), Ameet Shukla (1Community), Aisha Goss (Center for Cultural Power), and actress Annie Gonzalez, who together made the case for philanthropy as a force for industry reinvention; one rooted in equity and sustainability that can help more stories get told, platform new voices, and create connections across different types of storytellers.“Pop Culture, Film & Creators: Making the Most of the Zeitgeist”
With Aniyia back at the helm, this dynamic conversation emphasized cultural momentum as a strategic asset. Daniel K. Forkkio (Represent Justice), Nicholai Joaquin (Pop Culture Collaborative), Iyabo Boyd (Brown Girls Doc Mafia), and Carolina Garcia Jayaram (Elevate Prize Foundation) unpacked how creators can move hearts, minds, and systems.
Culture as Infrastructure, Hope as Strategy
We didn’t just come to talk; we came to listen. Across every room, we heard a common theme: people are hungry for new stories and new alliances. There’s optimism about tech’s creative potential, a deepening interest in cultural infrastructure, and a clear recognition that innovation is no longer the sole domain of the tech industry. Creatives are leading, and TTWW is showing up to follow, fund, or fight alongside them.
Our events sparked a surge of interest in Omidyar Network’s work and strategy, positioning us as a connective tissue between the cultural and technological sectors. We built community through shared meals, storytelling, and deep conversation; strengthening bonds with current grantees while planting seeds for new collaborations.
Looking Ahead
Showing up at Sundance reaffirmed one of the central theses of our work: to shape the future of technology, we must shape the stories we tell about it. That means showing up in cultural spaces, backing the creators who dare to imagine alternatives, and funding narrative change with the same rigor we bring to systems change.
We’re taking this energy to The Impact Lounge and THE LIGHT HOUSE again in 2026. With new collaborations on the horizon and a deepening strategy for cultural engagement, we’re just getting started.
Special thanks to the TTWW team, our partners at Caspian and New Media Ventures, and our champions at Omidyar Network, for making this work visible, vibrant, and visionary.
