Cities
My City Our Music: Where Silicon Valley’s AI Revolution Meets the Cultural Heartbeat of the East Bay
15 May 2026
My City Our Music, LLC announces the My City Our Music Conference, a landmark convergence of music, artificial intelligence, and cultural innovation to be held on Saturday, May 23, 2026 at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, the historic Oakland, California landmark, overlooking Lake Merritt.
For the first time in history, the two most powerful epicenters in the global innovation and cultural landscape - San Francisco and the Peninsula - will share the same stage. The birthplace of the smartphone, the cloud, and now the home of the artificial intelligence revolution, both have long defined the world’s technological frontier to reshape civilisation.
Forty minutes east, across the Bay, Oakland and the greater East Bay region have built their own empire: a multi-generational musical legacy that gave the world hyphy, prolific wordsmith E-40, LaRussell one of the most talked about artists of the day, singer songwriter Kehlani, Ryan Coogler, director of Black Panther and Sinners, conscious rap, and an undeniable voice in the global cultural conversation.
“My City Our Music is built on a profound but simple truth -The cities of the Bay Area each carry a distinct sound with Oakland’s grit, Richmond’s defiance, Vallejo’s legacy, Berkeley’s consciousness, and Stockton’s hunger. ‘My City’ is the pride of where you are from. ‘Our Music’ is the recognition that together, these sounds form something larger than any one city can contain alone.” — Shawn Granberry, Host Committee Chair, CEO, HipHopTV.
My City Our Music
The My City Our Music conference will bring together 1,500 artists, technologists, entrepreneurs, producers, venture capitalists, and cultural leaders for a full day of forward-looking panels, monetisation sessions, hands-on AI workshops, high-level networking that respects both the culture and the boardroom, all followed by mainstage music performances.
Key highlights:
AI x Music Panels: Panels with global tech leaders, artists, creators and investors developing the next generation of innovation, music monetization, distribution, and discovery tools.
Mainstage Performances: World-class hip-hop artists from across the Bay Area performing as the “Chief Creative Officers” of their cities.
Hands-On Innovation Workshops: Live AI workshops, beat production with from the leaders of the craft, and artist-led sessions on maintaining authenticity and control in the age of generative technology.
The Boardroom Meets the Block: Curated networking experiences where select venture capitalists, independent artists, creators and startup founders share the same conversation in the same room.
Pitch Competition: Globally recognised venture capitalists lead a pitch competition for new start-ups.
Host Committee Leadership
The event is led by Host Committee leaders who are the world’s foremost authorities on music creation, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and the intersection of innovation and human society. With regional, national, and international experts, My City Our Music represents the ideal bridge between the world of machine intelligence and the independent pioneers from the world of culture.
“For decades, the world watched Silicon Valley build the future with code, and watched Oakland build the future with sound. At Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts on May 23rd, we are not bridging two worlds. We’re revealing that they’ll always be connected. What if the powers that be in technology, AI and music, placed community at the center of innovation?" — Dinis Guardia, Host Committee Chair, Founder and Chair, Cities ABC
Tickets are limited to 1,500. This is an intentional decision not a limitation, but a declaration. One thousand five hundred people in one historic venue on one historic day inside the historic Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts after its recently completed $100 million renovation where Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Santana, James Brown and Frank Sinatra once held the stage.
The conference website and early bird tickets are available now at www.mycityourmusic.com.
About My City Our Music
My City Our Music is an annual conference dedicated to the convergence of music culture and emerging technology in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rooted in the Bay Area’s musical legacy and powered by Silicon Valley’s innovation ecosystem, the conference exists to ensure that the cities, artists, and communities that built Bay Area culture have a seat at the table where its technological future is being designed, and where technology can imagine its possibilities from some of the world’s greatest creative innovators. This is the first of an annual conference coming to a city near you.
