Ryan Green is an innovative digital artist and video game developer who uses his work to tell powerful, personal stories. He is best known as the creator of the acclaimed video game, “That Dragon, Cancer.” The game is a heartfelt memoir that explores his family’s journey and his son Joel’s battle with terminal cancer, who passed away at age four. Through a series of interactive and emotional experiences, the game allows players to share in his family’s story of hope, faith, and grief. Before creating “That Dragon, Cancer,” Ryan worked as a senior developer in healthcare, designing user-friendly interfaces for electronic health records. His work has received numerous awards and has been featured in the media, including on PBS NewsHour and in The New Yorker. Ryan continues to be a leader in a new movement of game design where the focus is less on competition and more on meaningful narratives and artistic expression. He has been a speaker at events like the Games for Change Festival, promoting the idea that video games can be a powerful medium for art and empathy. Through his work, he aims to show that games can be a profound way to connect with others and explore the deeper parts of the human experience.

Dan Visconti is an innovative composer and concert curator who rethinks how we experience music. As the Artistic Director of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition at the University of Chicago, he works to present new music in ways that connect with a modern audience. With a love for American musical styles, Dan infuses his classical compositions with sounds from jazz, rock, and blues. His unique works have earned him commissions from major groups, including the famous Kronos Quartet and Opera Philadelphia. Formerly a TED Fellow, Dan is a passionate advocate for music as a form of cultural service. He has spent his career exploring ways to bring music to unexpected places and to forge partnerships with communities and artists from other fields. Through his leadership, his compositions, and his belief in the power of music to connect us all, Dan is working to make contemporary music more engaging and relevant than ever before.