René Pinnell

René Pinnel is the CEO & founder of Artizen, an open source platform and the largest marketplace for artist grants (supporting digital and XR artists). He was executive producer on dozens of XR projects, screened at major festivals, and collectively raised more than $16MM in artist grants, including the first seven-figure deal for a VR project at Sundance. Born in Austin, Texas, René is a 2004 UT Graduate with a bachelor's degree in Radio-Television-Film. While pursuing an MFA in Design René was awarded a $100k research grant to start The Smart Building Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin. As a filmmaker & designer, René produced the acclaimed comedy show Backpack Picnic, directed the feature documentary The King of Texas, sold a TV pilot to MTV, designed 5 products, and founded 3 companies.