Useful Arts Is Coming to Cannes Lions 2026

Every June, Cannes Lions draws together the people who shape how brands think, spend, and create. CMOs. Creative directors. Agency leaders. Platform executives. It's where the advertising and marketing industry takes stock of where it's going.

It's also, increasingly, where AI is on the agenda — but often in ways that sidestep the harder questions. Questions about authorship. About transparency. About what it means for the creative professionals whose work underlies so much of what brands produce.

That's the conversation Useful Arts wants to bring to Cannes Lions 2026.

What we're planning

We're developing an activation at Cannes Lions that engages brand and marketing leaders in a substantive conversation about AI, creative accountability, and what responsible AI adoption actually looks like in practice. The format is still being finalized — we're in conversations with The Marketing Agency and other potential partners — but the intent is clear: to move the conversation beyond AI as a productivity tool and toward AI as a question of creative trust, attribution, and industry norms.

For brand leaders and CMOs, this isn't just an ethical conversation. Transparency in AI use is becoming a legal and reputational consideration. Companies that build clear practices now will be better positioned than those that address it reactively. Useful Arts is building the frameworks that make that possible — and Cannes is where we want to make that case.

Sponsorship and partnership opportunities

We're actively developing a sponsorship and partnership model for the Cannes activation. If your organization works at the intersection of AI, marketing, and creative production — and you want to be part of a conversation that will matter to your clients, your talent, and your industry reputation — we'd like to talk.

Sponsor and partner benefits are being defined now, and early conversations will have the most influence on the shape of the program. Reach out to hello@usefularts.info to start the conversation.

Stay in the loop

The Cannes program is still coming together, and details will be announced through our Substack — What's Left of Us — as they're confirmed. If you want to be notified when registration and sponsorship details are available, subscribing is the best way to stay close to it.

Subscribe at usefularts.substack.com, or reach out directly at hello@usefularts.info.