Creative coding for allA living history · 2016 to 2026
Ten years. Still curious.
What happens when you give people a little code, a place to gather, and permission to play?
CC Fest brings artists, teachers and beginners together to make art with code. What began at NYU ITP in October 2016 has continued through festivals and camps, in person and online.
In October 2016, around 40 people came together at NYU ITP to see what they could make with code.
Saber Khan, Danny Fenjves and Stephen Lewis organized the first CC Fest. Dan Shiffman opened with a question about why creating software should matter to people from different backgrounds.
The invitation was simple: bring your curiosity. Learn beside artists, teachers and beginners. Make something, ask a question, then try again.
You don’t have to be a coder. You just have to be curious.
The invitation, then and now
Scenes from the gatherings that followed
New York · 2024
Photo by Asher Dorlester
New York · 2019
Photo by Colin Samuels and Ella Chung
San Francisco · 2018
Photo by Ryan Gallagher and Eric Wild
02 · A decade, togetherFollow the thread
A small gathering. An expanding circle.
From shared tables in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco to shared screens around the world.
The whole decade, in one view
24festivals documented, October 2016 to March 202614 in person · 10 online
6camps, July 2020 to summer 2026
2016 to 2019
A workshop format travels
The first festival was one room at NYU ITP, with about forty people. Over the next three years the same workshop format went to Los Angeles and San Francisco, and came back to New York. Between 2016 and 2019 there were twelve in-person festivals, with workshops in p5.js, Processing and interactive art. Read the 2016 account ↗NYU ITP's fall 2017 news ↗
A workshop table in Los AngelesLaptops open around a long orange worktable as a session gets going. CC Fest LA at UCLA Design Media Arts, September 2017.Photo by Casey Reas
2020 to 2022
The room moves online
In July 2020 the festival moved into a shared online space. The first virtual CC Fest also raised funds for TRANSIT ART, a youth program. From 2020 to 2022 all five festivals were virtual, with workshops on p5.js, Python, Hydra, machine learning and games. Zoom Meeting on Youtube ↗Recap of summer CC Fest 2022 ↗
The room became a shared screenA demonstration during the first virtual CC Fest, July 11, 2020: Aiyo shows the p5.js reference for circle(). Watch the recording ↗Still from the event recording
2023 and 2024
Two ways to gather
In January 2023 the festival came back to a room in New York, at the Dalton School, with keynotes by Dan Shiffman and Christy Crawford. It returned there in January 2024. Online festivals continued alongside, in March 2023 and July 2024. Across the available records from October 2016 through March 2026, an estimated 148 people registered for both in-person and online festivals, matched by email address. Teacher Camp began in fall 2024, adding ten online sessions on making art with p5.js. The January 2023 festival ↗
Hands on, back in the roomTwo participants put together a small wheeled kit at a workshop table. CC Fest NYC at the Dalton School, January 2024.Photo by Asher Dorlester
2025 and 2026
More time to learn
In 2025, the spring CC Fest camp and the fall Teacher Camp each offered five sessions. Camps continued in 2026 alongside the virtual festivals, with a spring coding camp and a free summer camp, Learning Machines, whose sessions were recorded. Camps are counted separately from festivals. Learning Machines ↗
A festival that pointed to campBetween workshop rounds, the September 2025 virtual festival held a Teacher Camp info session. See the full poster ↓Detail from the schedule poster by Shristi Singh
Where we gathered, year by year. Festivals and camps documented in the archive.
NYCLASFOnlineCamp
Select a year to explore it. One block = one festival or camp. Dashed blocks are camps. Filter by year or place. Open a festival for its story and its poster.
24 festivals, October 2016 to March 2026 · 6 camps, July 2020 to summer 2026The October 2026 event is upcoming and not counted here.
Counts describe the records included here, not total attendance or a claim of completeness. The September 2017 LA event is included using its original dated poster.
03 · The timelineFestivals and camps, in order
24 festivals · 6 camps
2016October 22
New York · NYU ITP · In person
A room for the curious
Read more
Forty people gathered for the first CC Fest. Saber Khan, Danny Fenjves and Stephen Lewis brought together three workshop tracks, with an opening keynote by Dan Shiffman.
Teachers and learners gathered at UCLA to explore digital art, animation and games. The original event poster dates this Los Angeles gathering to September 23, 2017.
Kit Kuksenok and Anil Dash gave keynotes at the spring virtual festival. Workshops explored accessibility, computational poetry, generative art and creative learning.
This timeline brings together the events we could document from archived programs and event pages. Dates are checked against each festival's public page and its original poster.
Browse all 23 posters, in date order
Posters, in order.
Each poster from the public archive, oldest first. Select a poster to see it larger. A designer is credited only where one is named.
2017 · New York2017 · Los Angeles2017 · New York2018 · New York2018 · Los Angeles2018 · San Francisco2018 · New York2019 · New York2019 · San Francisco2019 · Los AngelesKeren Megory-Cohen2019 · New York2020 · OnlineJolina Kitaji Clement2021 · Online2021 · Online2022 · Online2022 · OnlineKatie Chan2023 · New YorkTheo Chan2023 · OnlineJoo Park2024 · New York2024 · OnlineShristi Singh2025 · OnlineShristi Singh2025 · OnlineShristi Singh2026 · OnlineFrancisca José Rodrigues
Posters are shown as the archive holds them. The 2016 festival has no poster in the set.
Est. October 2016NYC to everywhere
10
Years of making roomfor something new.
04 · The shape of the storySmall beginnings, lasting connections
A community that kept gathering.
Thousands of registrations. People signing up again. Artists, teachers and volunteers making the gatherings possible. The archive offers a few ways to see the community that formed around CC Fest.
5,189Festival registrationsAcross 23 festivals with registration records, October 2016 to March 2026.
691Repeat registrants, estimatedRegistered for two or more festivals, matched by email address.
Registration totals cover 23 of the 24 festivals documented here. July 2020 is missing. Registrations count sign-ups, not attendance; repeat registrants are estimated by matching email addresses.
05 · The people make the festivalFrom the photo archive
You had to be there.
The talks, the tables, the moment something clicks. A few glimpses of a community learning together.
Open a photograph to see it larger, with its original credit.
Before the first session, the welcome slide asks everyone to make a name tag and introduce themselves to someone. CC Fest NYC at the Dalton School, January 2024. Photo by Asher Dorlester.
A presenter talks with the room beside a slide that reads “Celebration of Creative Coding for Teachers and Students.” CC Fest SF at San Francisco Friends School, October 2019. Photo by Ryan Gallagher.
Two presenters share a session in the library, one at the laptop and one speaking, beside a slide on iterative process. CC Fest SF at San Francisco Friends School, October 2018. Photo by Ryan Gallagher and Eric Wild.
Seated presenters talk with the audience, with a list of projects projected behind them. CC Fest LA at UCLA, September 2018. Photographer not named in the source.
A presenter with a microphone stands between two projections titled “lullabies for ai” while participants work at laptops. CC Fest NYC at NYU ITP, November 2017. Photo by Ellen Nickels and Dominic Barrett.
06 · Speakers, presenters and volunteersNamed on posters and event records
The people who made it happen.
Speakers, workshop leaders and volunteers made these gatherings possible. Select a name to explore their contributions and the events they supported.
Ten are chosen at random on each visit. Show all for the full list, A to Z.
07 · The invitation becomes a practiceTeacher Camp · since 2024
Make something. Then pass it on.
What if a festival could keep going in the classroom?
Teacher Camp began in fall 2024, offering ten online sessions on making art with p5.js. In 2025, the spring CC Fest camp and the fall Teacher Camp each offered a free, five-session experience: time to explore shapes, motion, interaction, generative art, and ways of teaching with code.
175estimated people registered for four camps, fall 2024 to summer 2026.
All 19 feedback responses from the two 2025 camps said they would recommend the camp to other educators.
The spring 2026 Coding Camp’s tools are public. A free online camp for AP CS A teachers runs in November and December 2026.
New York · 2024
New York · 2019
San Francisco · 2018
