CultureCon and 1Park9 Reimagine Brooklyn Navy Yard as an Expansive Cultural Campus for 2026

The production studio designed, built and operated the expanded two-day experience, bringing together large-scale production, technical infrastructure and cultural storytelling.

Full-service content and experiential production studio 1Park9 was behind the physical production of CultureCon 2026, transforming multiple buildings and outdoor spaces at Brooklyn Navy Yard into an expansive festival campus for the October 3–4 event.

Created by The CultureCon Collective and presented by Chase Ink, CultureCon welcomed more than 12,000 attendees over two days. The festival featured more than 200 speakers, moderators and performers, over 150 programmed sessions and 45 activations, celebrating the people, ideas and creativity shaping contemporary culture.

Working closely with The CultureCon Collective, 1Park9 oversaw the festival's physical production from master planning and creative development through technical design, fabrication, show operations and final load-out.

The 2026 edition marked another expansion of CultureCon's footprint at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, building on its existing multi-building campus with the addition of Building 216, creating more space for creative programming, professional development, brand experiences and community connection.

Among the additions was Building 216, a two-floor industrial space transformed into a dedicated destination for the Career Stage and Career Lounge, Small Business Vendor Market and Braindate programming. Elsewhere, 1Park9 designed and produced three programmed stages, coordinated the campus-wide sponsor activation footprint and brought the festival's "Museum of Us" theme into the physical environment through gallery-inspired installations, artist-featured stage walls and immersive photo moments.

Delivering the expanded experience demanded a considerable technical and operational undertaking. Brooklyn Navy Yard's working industrial buildings required extensive infrastructure to support the festival, with 1Park9 responsible for the campus power, climate control, technical production, security planning, guest experience and on-site operations.

The Duggal Greenhouse alone required two 500kW generators and two 230-ton chillers to support the main stage and the environmental demands of the space. Across the wider site, the team coordinated the production and operational requirements of multiple buildings, outdoor installations, stages and activation environments within a single festival schedule.

Following approximately six months of pre-production, the project involved an 11-day on-site production window, with installation, technical rehearsals, two public show days and overnight strike.

"What people experience over two days is the result of months of work they never see," says Tahira White, Founder and CEO of 1Park9. "We weren't walking into a purpose-built festival venue. We were transforming a working industrial campus into a place where thousands of people could come together, discover new ideas and feel part of something. That takes creativity, engineering, planning and a huge amount of collaboration. The challenge is making all of those moving parts work together while staying true to the spirit of CultureCon."

The production also created opportunities for emerging industry talent. 1Park9 introduced a paid production assistant fellowship, bringing ten early-career production assistants onto the crew to gain experience working on a major live event. Alongside their paid roles, fellows received mentorship from the studio's production and operations leadership and access to its Beyond The Frame production education course.

The relationship between 1Park9 and The CultureCon Collective dates back to 2023, when the companies collaborated on Creative Class In Session, a branded content initiative with HBO. CultureCon 2026 represents a significant evolution of that relationship, bringing 1Park9's expertise in content, design and large-scale production together across the festival experience.

"CultureCon has always been about building the room our community deserves," says Imani Ellis, Founder and CEO of The CultureCon Collective. "Each year, we continue to expand that vision, creating more space for our community to connect, discover and grow. Tahira and the 1Park9 team were instrumental in bringing this year's expanded experience to life, translating our vision into an environment that reflected the creativity and spirit of CultureCon."

In addition to the physical production, 1Park9 recorded all programmed stage sessions for a post-event archive, extending the life of the festival's content beyond the weekend itself.

For 1Park9, CultureCon reflects the breadth of a studio whose work spans commercial campaigns, content production, branded experiences and live events, bringing creative ambition and production expertise together from concept through delivery.