This is your chance to hear from the CHF team about the theme, our favorite programs, and any other questions you might have.The event is free to attend, though reservations are required. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres will be provided, along with a cash bar.

Join your friends in their 20s and 30s for CHF Shortlist's annual kickoff of exclusive programs and perks at Fallfest/17: Belief, and beyond.

Live programming, games, snacks, and a complimentary glass of champagne.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang had a revelation in a soccer stadium: being in a crowd was both sociable and lonely. The fruit of that thought is crowd out, a piece that combines lyrics generated via search engine, the human voice spoken, sung, and shouted, and the dynamic movement of people in a public space. In collaboration with Illinois Humanities, which is reaching into all 50 of Chicago’s wards to gather participants, CHF will produce the American premiere of Lang’s gargantuan work. Be sure to be at Cloud Gate for this unique event.

Reservations not required. Visit crowdoutchicago.org for more information

“The moral compass of American diplomacy.” – Forbes

When Barack Obama appointed activist, author, and academic Samantha Power as the United States' ambassador to the United Nations, she became the youngest person ever to hold that post. Known for her commitment to democracy and an interventionist approach to foreign policy, Power's tenure included responding to pressing human rights issues ranging from the persistence of gender discrimination around the world to the plight of refugees from the rise of the Islamic State. Now that she has left government service, Power comes to CHF to discuss what she believes is the right way forward on human rights, in conversation with foreign affairs journalist and author Robin Wright.

This annual lecture honors the late Joanne H. Alter's pioneering work on behalf of women interested in social action and public service.

Charter Humanists must RSVP for complimentary entry to this program by calling (312) 605-8444.

This program is a special Festival fundraiser. Following her public event, Samantha Power will join the Chicago Humanities Festival Gala. Click here for more information.

If you would like to request an accessibility accommodation, please email us at [email protected] or call the CHF Box Office at (312) 605-8444.

Presenters:

Ambassador Samantha Power has been called the “conscience” of U.S. foreign policy. A leading voice internationally for principled American engagement in the world, global cooperation, and human rights, she has a unique perspective – spending half of her career explaining complex geopolitical events as a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, war correspondent, and Harvard professor, and the last eight years helping to shape them. The youngest-ever U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, she was also a member of President Obama’s Cabinet and a senior adviser at the White House.

Robin Wright has reported from more than a 140 countries on six continents for The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, TIME, and others. Her foreign tours include the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Wright has been a fellow at Yale, Duke, Stanford, Brookings, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the U.S. Institute of Peace. Among many awards, she won the U.N. Correspondents Gold Medal, the National Magazine Award, and the Overseas Press Club Award for "best reporting in any medium requiring exceptional courage and initiative." The American Academy of Diplomacy selected her as the journalist of the year in 2004.

“Her intelligence is like a salve for all thinking people who have felt wounded or marginalized by The God Wars.” – Elizabeth Gilbert

“I've been wondering who might fill the intellectual void that plagued me after James Baldwin died. Clearly it's Ta-Nehisi Coates.” – Toni Morrison

In her Peabody-award winning public radio show and podcast, On Being, Krista Tippett provides a space for deep and meaningful conversations with profound thinkers of our time. In a live taping of her show at CHF she will interview Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of the acclaimed Between the World and Me, on the occasion of his latest book, We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, a collection of essays that examine the eight years of the Obama presidency, a dramatic era in politics, activism, and culture that has reshaped this country and its public discourse. As part of On Being's Civil Conversations Project, they will explore issues ranging from the idea of a “post-racial” world to Coates' meticulously constructed case for reparations for slavery.

If you would like to request an accessibility accommodation, please email us at [email protected] or call the CHF Box Office at (312) 605-8444.

Presenters:

Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author. She created and hosts the public radio program and podcast On Being and curates the Civil Conversations Project, an emergent approach to the differences of our age. She received the 2013 National Humanities Medal at the White House for “thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence.” Krista was a journalist and diplomat in Cold War Berlin and holds a Masters of Divinity from Yale University.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic. His book Between The World And Me won the National Book Award in 2015. Ta-Nehisi is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. He lives in New York with his wife and son.