Play Story Fest @ Joan Ganz Cooney Center & Games for Change
An inaugural ½ day salon of facilitated conversations around play, culture and positive social impact.
The inaugural Play Story Fest took place the Afternoon of July, 20 at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center the day before the 2026 Games for Change Festival. We had a wonderful group of participants who engaged in great conversations throughout the fest.
The Fest was a ½ day starting around 12:30pm and going until 4:00pm. From around 1:00-4:00, there were three conversation topics that flowed across discussions. There was a nice break for open reflection and further conversations, and throughout the Fest we had a hands-on creative activity with LEGO bricks.
Each topic had a facilitator to help guide the conversation. One was a focus on play in our lives. Another was on psychology and sociology perspectives on pop culture, media and games. The third was on manifesting positive social impact through our lives. Throughout, we considered play, media and positive impact for kids and families.
Drew Davidson is a professor, producer and player of interactive media. His background spans academic, industry and professional worlds and he is interested in stories and transformational experiences across texts, comics, games and other media. Currently, he’s studying the value of play in our lives, supported by major industry and non-profit organizations, and the shared stories inspired him to found Play Story Press, an open community publishing consortium.
Rachel Kowert, Ph.D is a research psychologist, visiting professor at the University of York (UK), and founder of Psychgeist, a multimedia production company for the science of games. She has 15 years facilitating global policy and product development through data driven research focused on mental health and trust and safety in games. Dr. Kowert has been featured in various media outlets, including the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wired Magazine. To learn more about Rachel and her work, visit https://rkowert.com.
Sara DeWitt is Senior Vice President and General Manager, PBS KIDS and Education. She is responsible for the strategic direction of the dynamic educational media service that supports children, their parents, teachers and caregivers, and local communities. Under her leadership, PBS KIDS has produced award-winning games and apps, AR and AI experiences, podcasts and second screen technologies; developed a learning analytics platform to better understand children’s learning gains through gameplay; and established itself as a gold standard in children’s digital privacy and security.