It is with fond memories that we remember this day last year, when we began to welcome back more than 100 former scholars to the Kluge Center for our first-ever #ScholarFest.
Through its first 15 years the Kluge Center supported and showcased exceptional scholarship by more than 1,000 scholars and invited speakers. #ScholarFest was our opportunity to celebrate that contribution to American intellectual life.
It was also a chance to unveil a new program format: “lightning conversations.” These quick-hitting, ten-minute dialogues paired scholars from different disciplines working on similar or related topics. They included:
- an astrobiologist in conversation with a historian of science;
- a neuroscientist in conversation with a professor of technology & human development;
- an African scholar in conversation with an African conservationist;
- an expert in Islamic civilization in conversation with an expert in Renaissance cartography.
In case you missed it, or you just wanna relive the fun, here are videos from the two-day event.
On the past and future of Brazil and India, with Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Romila Thapar (both Kluge Prize winners)
On the future of life–on Earth and beyond
On how we write about the past
On life in a multi-cultural world
On war and peace
On morality and ethics
On freedom of expression and why it matters
#ScholarFest was a wonderful event, but it didn’t end after two days at the Kluge Center. The influence of #ScholarFest is still being felt–scholars and audience members continue to tell us how much they enjoyed it, and one scholar even brought the format back to her university campus.
The Kluge Center will celebrate its next milestone anniversary in just four short years, when we turn twenty. So stay tuned for the next #ScholarFest in 2020!