Westland Impact Festival is headed to Montana this June. #Powerjournalist Markos Papadatos has the scoop.
Forged in Montana and rooted in purpose, the June 11-13, 2026 Westland Impact Festival—a three-day gathering featuring 27 films, 15 panels, more than
40 speakers, live music, and programming across four venues in downtown Whitefish. Westland Impact Festival reflects the relationships, the courage, and the belief that when people gather with purpose, new ideas—and new partnerships—can take root. Westland’s tagline says it simply: “A Power Generator for the Greater Good.”
Founder and native Montanan, Anderson Rosenthal states, “What we’ve built this year has truly exceeded every expectation. Five months ago, when we began to chart our programming, it would have been hard to imagine the caliber of groundbreaking content, noted experts, artists, and elite scientists we’ve assembled. To accomplish that — and simultaneously execute a first-of-its-kind clean energy demonstration project on-site — makes this second edition of our Impact Festival enormously gratifying.”
Films and filmmakers from Sundance Labs, the Rockefeller Foundation, National Geographic, the Bush Foundation, and Emmy-winning producers and writers —along with projects that include Academy Award-winning actors, directors, and celebrated names: Viola Davis, Jeff Bridges, Wes Studi. Directors include Oscar nominee Sara Dosa, Leya Hale, Susan Kucera, Ramzi Bashour, Richie James Follin, Matthew Thompson, Parker Croft, Steven Reich, Kamran Rosen, Daniel Glick, and Melissa Bloom.
Beyond film, we bring a meticulously curated selection of experts spanning finance, biomimicry, sustainable data center innovation, attainable housing, regenerative agriculture, AI, philanthropy, and traditional ecological knowledge. Our culture tracks include two panel discussions on the future of sports and entertainment. Our Ignite Speaker, Ayisha Siddiqa, was a prominent cover of Time magazine’s Woman of the Year at age 23. She’s currently an advisor-in-residence at The Hague, in the Netherlands, while simultaneously finishing law school at NYU.
A New Standard in Live Event Production
Perhaps our most historic achievement: We will power our 3-day festival using solar energy—3 x 14-hour days across four venues—by deploying a suite of transportable batteries provided by our partner, New Use Energy (NUE). The batteries will be trucked directly from an event at Google in San Francisco to Whitefish. Battery charging will not rely on the grid; it will be powered by our on-site Festival Solar Pavilion. Local solar company, Northstone Solar, is providing the panels.
Westland will not only be a multicultural, content-rich, entertaining, and educational top-tier connecting experience — it will be a living demonstration project showing what’s Possible.
Westland Festival Producer, Kimberly Rachelle, reports, “To further demonstrate our commitment to sustainable practices, all of our festival merchandise is being custom-made by our local partners at FDES. They will be using thrift-flipped garments in partnership with Flathead Industries to repurpose them into one-of-a-kind tees, hats, and button-downs. We have also partnered with TripZero for travel-related carbon-erasure.”
Opening Night Honors Indigenous Leadership
Opening Night on June 11th will begin with a cocktail gathering for All-Access Festival Pass Holders in the O’Shaughnessey’s theatre lobby from 4:30-6pm. Then a moment we’re especially proud of – attendees will move into the theatre to experience a traditional honor song and ceremony before introducing our Indigenous Forum – part of a full day of Indigenous programming featuring filmmakers and leaders representing the Blackfeet, Salish-Kootenai, Sicáŋğu Lak̇ óta Oyáte (Rosebud), Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Dine, Navajo, Pueblo, and Crow Nations, as well as filmmakers from Indigenous nations across Canada, Mexico, and South America.
2026 Festival Highlights Include:
Live Performances Include:
● Sterling Drake — 2024 Nashville Honky Tonk Artist of the Year
● Rachel Crow — The X Factor, Nickelodeon, and Disney alumna
● AY Young — United Nations Young Leader and founder of Battery Tour
● 20 Grand — Whitefish’s beloved local 9-piece funk band
● Katels — Solo acoustic performer from Polson, Montana
To learn more about the Westland Impact Festival, click here.
