Founded in 2012 by

Charles Melcher Charles Melcher (born 1965) is a creator, curator, and thought leader in the storytelling and technology space, as well as an early-stage investor in media and technology companies. He is the Founder and CEO of Melcher Media and the Founder and Dir ...

, Founder and CEO of

Melcher Media Melcher Media is a book packager and publisher in New York City, New York, founded in 1994 by Charles Melcher. The company’s focuses include theater-, movie-, and TV-related books; environmental titles; pop-up books; and DuraBooks. The compa ...

, Future of StoryTelling (FoST) produces content throughout the year, including the two-day, invitation-only FoST Summit; storytelling workshops; curated exhibitions with local and international organizations; a monthly newsletter, FoST in Thought, and the bi-weekly FoST Podcast. FoST also teaches, consults, and helps with storytelling for companies such as

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primari ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

, and others.

FoST Summit

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. Past FoST Summit speakers, workshop leaders, and performers have included former Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

; ''

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

'' creator

Lin-Manuel Miranda Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, actor, playwright and filmmaker. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals ''Hamilton'' (2015) and ''In the Heights'' (2005), and the soundtracks for the Disney animate ...

;

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

animator and director

Glen Keane Glen Keane (born April 13, 1954) is an American animator, author and illustrator. He was a character animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios for feature films including ''The Little Mermaid'', ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''Aladdin'', ''Pocahonta ...

;

Angela Ahrendts Angela Jean Ahrendts, DBE (born June 7, 1960) is an American businesswoman who was previously the senior vice president of retail at Apple Inc. She was the CEO of Burberry from 2006 to 2014. Ahrendts left Burberry to join Apple in 2014. Ahrendts ...

, former SVP of Retail at

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

; author

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...

; filmmaker

Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films are noted for their surrealistic, melodramatic, and sometimes disturbing elements, often in the form of psychological fiction. Aronof ...

; choreographer Bill T. Jones;

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

CEO

Anjali Sud Anjali Sud (born August 13, 1983) is an American businesswoman of Indian descent and the CEO of Vimeo, the online video platform. Sud was appointed to the position in July 2017, after previously serving as General Manager and head of marketing. S ...

; and Todd Yellin, VP of Product at

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. The FoST summit takes place at

Snug Harbor Cultural Center Sailors' Snug Harbor, also known as Sailors Snug Harbor and informally as Snug Harbor, is a collection of architecturally significant 19th-century buildings on Staten Island, New York City. The buildings are set in an park along the Kill Van ...

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, an architecturally and historically significant site that was built in the mid-1800s as a home for retired sailors. Attendees meet in

lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

and are transported by private ferry across New York Harbor to the 83-acre waterfront campus.

FoST Podcast

Launched in 2020 and hosted by FoST founder and CEO

, the bi-weekly FoST Podcast features conversations with storytellers from diverse backgrounds. Past guests have included former Vice President

, author

, actor

Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received multiple accolades throughout ...

, musician

Jacob Collier Jacob Collier (; né Moriarty; born 2 August 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His music incorporates a combination of jazz with elements from many other musical genres, and often features extensive use of reha ...

, political commentator and activist

Van Jones Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (born September 20, 1968) is an American news and political commentator, author, and lawyer. He is the co-founder of several non-profit organizations, a three-time ''New York Times'' bestselling author, a CNN host and c ...

, writer and producer Wendy Calhoun, actor

Rainn Wilson Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'', for which he earned three consecutive Emm ...

, and

Oskar Eustis Oskar Eustis (born July 31, 1958) has been the Artistic Director at the Public Theater in New York City since 2005. He has worked as a director, dramaturg, and artistic director for theaters around the United States.Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

FoST in Thought Newsletter

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.

FoST Films

Since its founding, FoST has produced an ongoing series of short films featuring its Summit speakers and other leaders from the storytelling world speaking about their areas of interest, such as interactive theater, immersive journalist, artificial intelligence, and the neuroscience of empathy. Past subjects have included Disney animator

, former GE Vice Chair

Beth Comstock Elizabeth "Beth" Comstock is an American business executive. She is a former vice chair of General Electric. She operated GE Business Innovations, which developed new businesses, markets and service models; drives brand value and partners to enha ...

, architect

Bjarke Ingels Bjarke Bundgaard Ingels (; born 2 October 1974) is a Danish architect, founder and creative partner of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). In Denmark, Ingels became well known after designing two housing complexes in Ørestad: VM Houses and Mountain D ...

, filmmaker

Chris Milk Chris Milk is an American entrepreneur, innovator, director, photographer, and immersive artist. He is co-founder and CEO of Within (Virtual Reality) (formerly Vrse), a virtual reality technology company, and co-founder of Here Be Dragons (for ...

, Niantic CEO

John Hanke John Hanke (born 1967) is an American technology executive. Hanke led Google's Geo product division, which includes Google Earth, Google Maps, StreetView, SketchUp, and Panoramio. He is founder and CEO of Niantic, Inc., a software company spu ...

, journalism pioneer

Nonny de la Peña Nonny de la Peña is an American journalist, documentary filmmaker, and entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of Emblematic Group, a digital media company focused on immersive virtual, mixed and augmented reality. De la Peña is widely credite ...

, and Scott Trowbridge, Portfolio Creative Executive for Disney Imagineering.

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library

In 2019, FoST was engaged as the official Executive Storytellers for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, which is currently scheduled to open to the public in 2025.{{Cite web, title=Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, url=https://www.trlibrary.com/, url-status=live, access-date=April 21, 2021, website=

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is a planned museum focused on the life and legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States. It is to be constructed at a site to the west of Medora, North Dakota, near Theodore ...

In this role, FoST runs all aspects of the institution's storytelling. In addition to managing the exhibits inside of the building, FoST also oversees all of the programming and activities emanating from the Library. FoST has also produced several pieces of print collateral for the Library, including a "Request for Qualifications," which was sent to select firms who were being considered for the Library's international architecture competition. Subsequently, FoST produced a digital “Request for Proposal” for the same competition as well as an extensive “Story Guide”—a reference book, onboarding tool, and style guide for current and future Library collaborators.

References

Storytelling events