Discover the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. Inspired by works of art by Vincent van Gogh and poetry by Mary Oliver, writers of all levels explore the lessons that the season of spring offers us when we slow down, look closely, and reflect.
Looking for a choral program that celebrates memorable music across the decades? This is the one for you. Join fellow music lovers to sing timeless classics from the 1920s and ’30s all the way to ’70s and ’80s hits under the direction of choral conductor and music educator Ernest Johnson. The experience is designed to entertain, challenge, and educate adult singers of all skill levels—and you can take a bow at the performance that concludes the program.
Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for three online workshops that spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. This writing session is inspired by Vanessa Bell’s A Conversation.
Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for three online workshops that spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. This writing session is inspired by Cecilia Beaux’s Sita and Sarita.
Curiosity drives basic scientific research, is the engine behind creativity in all disciplines, and provides a necessary ingredient in every form of storytelling. Astrophysicist Mario Livio interprets cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience that explores the origin and mechanisms of human curiosity. His own curiosity on the topic led him to interview linguist Noam Chomsky and the virtuoso lead guitarist of the rock band Queen, Brian May (who holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics).
Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for three online workshops that spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. This writing session is inspired by Canaletto’s Entrance to the Grand Canal from the Molo, Venice.
Complexity theory addresses the mysteries that animate science, philosophy, and metaphysics: how the teeming array of existence, from the infinitesimal to the infinite, is a seamless living whole and what our place, as conscious beings, is within it. Physician, scientist, and philosopher Neil Theise discusses this “theory of being,” one of the pillars of modern science, and its holistic view of human existence.
What makes for a long, happy, meaningful, and good life? The simple but surprising answer is relationships. It’s based on 85 years of work by the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which is still active. Marc Schulz, the study’s associate director and co-author of the new book The Good Life, Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, highlights findings from the Harvard Study as well as others that point to the critical role of relationships in shaping happiness and health.
Meet your new favorite coworker: Henry David Thoreau. In their book Henry at Work, John Kaag and Jonathan van Belle rethink how we work today by exploring an overlooked aspect of the multi-faceted transcendentalist: Thoreau the worker. They reveal that his ideas have much to teach us in an age of remote work and automation in which many people are reconsidering their working lives.
