BUMP Urban Art Conference
OF SIMMERING, AND THE SURGE
August 13-15, 2026
This summer, join artists, curators, musicians, writers, journalists, architects, and cultural leaders from around the world for the third annual BUMP Urban Art Conference, our festival's Ideas Hub.
Centered around the theme Of Simmering, and the Surge, this year's program explores how ideas percolate, persist, gain traction, and ultimately transform the world around us. If 2025 asked how cities remember, 2026 asks how they might break or become.
Across three days of keynote talks, artist presentations, and panel discussions, we'll examine the unseen forces shaping culture beneath the surface, from journalism and music to public art, architecture, and grassroots organizing - and how ideas travel from the margins into the public consciousness.
Featuring keynote speaker Faye HeavyShield, special presentations by Sook-Yin Lee and Marigold Santos, and conversations spanning public art, housing and affordability, artificial intelligence, cultural movements, and global creative practice, the 2026 BUMP Urban Art Conference is where the festival gathers to think, debate, and imagine what comes next.
BUMP Festival returns August 3–17, 2026, transforming Calgary through murals, sculpture, music, placemaking, and artistic dialogue. Stay tuned on all our 2026 festival programming and artists at @yycbump.
