MIT MUSEUM Announces Line-Up for Inaugural MIT FUTURE FEST; Governor Healey, MIT President Kornbluth to Kick Off Festivities
- Five-day festival will explore the future of science, technology, art and design from Wednesday, Sept 30 to Sunday, Oct 4
- Governor Maura Healey and MIT President Sally Kornbluth will kick off the festivities with a panel celebrating Massachusetts innovation and talent
- Curated programming to include 100+ speakers, public talks, tours, performances, exhibitions, installations, open laboratories, and more
- More below and at mitfuturefest.org
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS — August 28, 2026 — The MIT Museum announced the full programming line-up for the inaugural MIT Future Fest, a new annual festival exploring the future of science, technology, art, and design, which will take place across MIT’s campus from September 30–October 4, 2026. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and MIT President Sally Kornbluth will kick off the festival with “The Future Begins Here” panel, a celebration of Massachusetts innovation, talent and the bold questions shaping what comes next.
Curated and produced by the MIT Museum, which will offer free admission to all visitors throughout MIT Future Fest, the five-day program includes more than 100 participants from the worlds of AI and robotics to climate, health, and life sciences, engaging in more than 70 public talks, tours, performances, exhibitions, installations, open laboratories, and more. The festival programming offers unique access to MIT’s community of faculty, inventors, researchers, collaborators, artists, and designers.
“Massachusetts is where the future is being invented, and MIT Future Fest is a chance to showcase our leadership in technology and design to the world,” said Governor Maura Healey. “From AI and robotics to clean energy and life sciences, the breakthroughs happening here are changing how we live and work. As Governor, I want Massachusetts to be the place where the best minds from around the world come to study, conduct research, start companies and scale their ideas. Our administration is investing in the talent, research and partnerships that make that possible, and we’re proud to launch MIT Future Fest with MIT.”
“The breakthrough discoveries that shape modern life came from decades of scientists and creators asking fundamental questions about how the world works. MIT Future Fest celebrates that same spirit of curiosity on mission," said MIT President Sally Kornbluth. "When you bring together engineers, inventors, artists, scientists, designers and entrepreneurs, you create the conditions for truly transformative innovation. This festival is an invitation to join that conversation, with the conviction that the future isn't something that happens to us—it's something we create together."
“MIT Future Fest is an invitation to join an urgent conversation about how curiosity and imagination can change the world, together with the scientists, engineers, designers and artists who are creating the future right here at MIT,” said MIT Museum Director Michael John Gorman. “We are thrilled to open the doors of the MIT campus to the world and invite you to join us in exploring topics from quantum computing to coral reefs, from fusion to future manufacturing with some of the world’s most daring thinkers, doers and creators, drawn from the MIT community and our creative collaborators.”
Festival highlights include:
- The Future Begins Here: The opening of MIT Future Fest, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and MIT President Sally Kornbluth will be joined by Moderna co-founder and Flagship Pioneering founder and CEO Noubar Afeyan and MIT professor and entrepreneur Sangeeta Bhatia, Economic Development Secretary Eric Paley and more to explore how public, private, and educational institutions can work together to sustain talent pipelines, turn discovery into impact, and build the future
- Sensing Oceans: The opening of the centerpiece exhibition of MIT Museum’s OCEANS thematic season, featuring immersive installations by London-based artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast
- Future Labs: A series of activations that open up lab spaces around MIT campus for exploration and discovery, including the Design Intelligence Lab, the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT Laboratory for Information & Decision Systems, MIT.nano, and the Plasma Science and Fusion Center
- Adaptive Archipelago: The debut of a temporary floating installation, adjacent to the MIT Sailing Pavilion, exploring how design, engineering, and ecological thinking can come together, and designed and constructed by Daniel Sundlin of Bjarke Ingels Group in collaboration with MIT students and designer, computer scientist, and MIT associate professor Skylar Tibbits
- BLKNWS®: MIT Edition (working title): Renowned artist and filmmaker Kahlil Joseph presents a new work created especially for the festival and featuring conversations with the MIT community filmed on campus, extending Joseph's landmark media platform at the intersection of cinema, journalism, jazz, video art, and entrepreneurship into one of the world's most consequential research communities
- Ocean of Dreams: Artist and designer Behnaz Farahi will premiere their new work, transforming the Kendall Square Plaza into a living, dreaming ocean
- The Weavers:The Festival will host the world premiere of a new augmented reality staging of Gerhart Hauptmann's Nobel Prize-winning play about textile workers, automation, and labor rights presented by MIT's Head of Music & Theater Arts, Professor Jay Scheib
- Cambridge Science Carnival: This popular attraction returns, featuring more than 100 activity booths and demonstrations, including the Robot Petting Zoo
- Met Warehouse: The public unveiling of MIT’s new design hub and home of MIT's School of Architecture and Planning, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R)
- Over 100 leading thinkers share their visionary ideas for what's next across AI, engineering, technology, architecture, art, design, and more, including Nobel Prize winner Daron Acemoglu, MoMA senior curator of architecture and design Paola Antonelli, Dataland founder Refik Anadol, Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess, inventor of the iPod Tony Fadell, MIT Quantum Initiative faculty director Danna Freedman, AI researchers Asu Ozdaglar, Marzyeh Ghassemi, Daniela Rus, Sherry Turkle, and Pat Pataranutaporn, bionicist Hugh Herr, artist Grisha Coleman, architects Carlo Ratti, Caitlin Mueller, and John Oschendorf, economists Gary Gensler, Andrew Lo, and Jonathan Gruber, scientists Mary Gehring, Michael Triantafyllou, and Jim Collins, and many more
To join the MIT Future Fest experience and view the full programming line-up, please visit mitfuturefest.org. Free tickets are available for Cambridge residents and members of the MIT community.
About the MIT Future Fest:
MIT Future Fest is led by the MIT Museum in collaboration with MIT Technology Review and the MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MAD), with guidance from an advisory panel of leading researchers and experts. The Festival is supported by the MIT Office of the Provost, MIT School of Architecture and Planning, MIT School of Engineering, MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, MIT School of Science, MIT Sloan School of Management, and the MIT Office of the Vice Provost for the Arts.
The Festival is supported by The British International School of Boston, the City of Cambridge and Networking Sponsor AstraZeneca, as well as the Cambridge Office for Tourism. Additional support is provided by the MIT Museum Corporate Members; at the Pioneer level: Takeda. At the Catalyst level: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Biogen, Bose, Google, Merck, MilliporeSigma, Murata, and the Russian School of Mathematics, with a contribution from MIT’s Investment Management Company.
About the MIT Museum:
The MIT Museum welcomes all to participate in MIT’s unique culture of problem-solving and playful creativity, bringing together science, technology, art, and design in surprising ways to explore potential futures.
In addition to exhibitions, programs, a maker hub, and learning labs, the museum invites visitors to take part in ongoing research while demonstrating how science and innovation will shape the future of society. In October 2022, a reinvented MIT Museum opened in a new location in the heart of Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA.
Highlights of the Museum include freshly conceived exhibitions featuring objects from the Museum’s collections of over 1.5 million objects, along with loans of art and other objects; the Lee Family Exchange event space for public dialogue and conversation; the hands-on Heide Maker Hub, where audiences can create and invent; and an expanded MIT Museum Store.
The MIT Museum is open daily from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. For more information, including accessibility and amenities, please visit mitmuseum.mit.edu
Address: MIT Museum, Gambrill Center, 314 Main Street (MIT Building E28), Cambridge, MA 02142.
Located next to the Kendall/MIT MBTA Red Line stop at the new Kendall Gateway to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Campus.
About MIT Technology Review:
MIT Technology Review is a world-renowned independent media company founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1899. MIT Technology Review’s insight and analysis explain the newest technologies and their commercial, social, and political impacts through award-winning journalism and premium live events. Our mission is to empower our audience with credible insights to understand what’s coming next in emerging technology, and why it matters.
MIT Technology Review’s relationship to the world’s foremost technology institution—and its editors’ deep technical knowledge, capacity to see technologies in their broadest context, and access to leading innovators and researchers—provide a degree of authority unmatched by any other technology publication.
www.technologyreview.com
About MIT MAD:
The MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MIT MAD) is an interdisciplinary hub that celebrates the transformative power of design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and beyond. MAD exists to foster innovation, empower individuals, and reshape the way we learn.
MAD weaves in science, engineering, architecture, planning, humanities, and business to foster an environment where design acts a catalyst for positive change.
mad.mit.edu
About the Healey-Driscoll Administration:
Governor Maura Healey and her administration have made strengthening Massachusetts’ innovation economy a top priority. In 2024, Governor Healey signed the Mass Leads Act, an economic development bill that makes significant investments in climatetech and life sciences while creating jobs, supporting business growth and expanding workforce development programs. Her recently filed Mass Wins Act seeks to make Massachusetts a global destination for investment while strengthening the state’s leadership in key industries such as quantum, climatetech, defense and robotics. The Healey-Driscoll Administration has worked closely with the state’s world-class research institutions and universities, including MIT, to advance Massachusetts’ innovation economy. This includes committing $25 million to support the new Quantum Systems Laboratory at MIT and launching the Discovery, Research and Innovation for a Vibrant Economy (DRIVE) Initiative to protect critical scientific research and jobs threatened by federal cuts.
PRESS CONTACTS
For more information and to request a media pass, please contact:
Sasha Wallinger, Director of Marketing and Communications, MIT Museum
sashaw@mit.edu
Camron Global
mitmuseum@camronglobal.com
Jacqueline Manning, Press Secretary, Office of Governor Maura Healey
jacqueline.manning@mass.gov
