Sunshine Fest 2026 Recap

The second-annual Sunshine Fest, March 15-17, 2026, in Washington, D.C., welcomed 233 people from throughout the country – and from England, Mexico and Ghana – to discuss solutions to the most pressing problems in government transparency. 

The sold-out event was coordinated by the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications to note the 60^th anniversary of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

Despite a tornado warning that shut down the venue for the afternoon of Monday, March 16, attendees participated in 20 sessions with 87 speakers. In post-conference feedback, 79% of attendees reported that the sessions were extremely or very informative and 90% said they would come back next year. Recordings of the three plenary sessions are posted at the Sunshine Week YouTube page, and are available from this page. In addition, 62 handouts, slide decks and links related to the sessions are available at the Handouts page. Some of the highlights included:

Ways to promote freedom of information with the public

The opening session focused on how the FOI community can better reach the public, lawmakers and funders (see video). The session featured results from a survey of 1,000 Americans that explored what terms and concepts resonate with the public, presented by Ann Searight Christiano of the University of Florida Center for Public Interest Communications. Amalie Nash of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation talked about the funding of FOI literacy. Warren Seddon, from the United Kingdom Information Commissioner’s Office, discussed FOI promotion globally, and Seth Stern from the Freedom of the Press Foundation urged news companies to drop their paywalls for records-produced stories.

More than 250 big ideas to improve freedom of information

In the final plenary, a crowd competition solicited 35 ways of improving freedom of information, building on more than 200 ideas generated by a pre-conference convening (see summary of all the ideas). The three winners (voted by the audience) were teaching sixth graders FOI, creating FOI small claim courts, and posting online for everyone records that are requested (release to one, release to all). The brainstorming was kicked off with comments by Nicholas Santos of MuckRock, Bobby Talebian, former director of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Information Policy, and Toby McIntosh of Eye on Global Transparency (see video).

Transparency topics, from carnage to practical tools

Eighteen other sessions addressed a variety of topics, including court transparency, FOI champions, practical research findings, vexatious requests, criminalization of requests, global backsliding toward secrecy, funding FOI, FOIA at 60, and records-based journalism. Training included agency best practices, fundraising tips for state coalitions, and access strategies for requesters. A FOIA trivia contest and “Transparency Tool Time” engaged the attendees, as well as half-hour breaks and two receptions for networking.

Planning for 2027 Sunshine Fest

We are figuring out when and where to hold Sunshine Fest 2027. If you would like to propose speakers, plenary session topics, breakout sessions, hands-on training or interactive activities, fill out this pitch form. The conference will likely be during Sunshine Week sometime (March 14-20) at a bigger venue in Washington, D.C. In a post-conference survey, most people (80%) prefer a two-day conference and 18% preferred more than two days. Half said they would go if it were in a more central part of the U.S., and three-quarters said the time of year doesn’t matter, or they prefer it be held during Sunshine Week. If you have ideas for Sunshine Fest 2027 or would like to be a sponsor, reach out to David Cuillier, Brechner FOI Project, at cuillierd@ufl.edu.

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