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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Cambridge Forum

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Cambridge Forum hosts free, public discussions that inform and engage, so that people can better explore the varied issues and ideas that shape our changing world. CF broadcasts its live events via podcasts, weekly NPR shows and online presentations via GBH Forum Network on YouTube.

http://www.cambridgeforum.org

Learning To Look

Wed, Apr 30, 2014

You love Sebastian Smee's pieces about art and the local art scene in the Boston Globe and you've loved Paul Tucker's Monet exhibitions at the MFA. Now, meet them at Cambridge Forum as part of ArtWeek Boston to discuss the ways that looking at a work of art can open it up to reveal a rich web of information about the work itself, its maker and the society in which it was created. How does a work of art become meaningful for the beholder? Where can that appreciation lead the ordinary person?

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Wendy Lesser: Why I Read

Wed, Jan 22, 2014

"Author and essayist Wendy Lesser discusses her latest book Why I Read with poet Robert Pinsky. Their conversation explores the ways that literature and, especially, poetry touch readers and change their lives as Cambridge Forum continues its series My Life Touched by Art. In a culture that is increasingly visual and virtual in orientation, what role does old-fashioned reading play? What power does the written word have in our lives? This program is part of the series My Life Touched by Art, supported by a grant from the Cambridge Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a public agency."

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Mary McGrath & Jo Radner: The Power of Narrative

Wed, Apr 9, 2014

Radio OpenSource producer, Mary McGrath and award-winning storyteller Jo Radner discuss their materials--facts, memories, voices, pregnant pauses, music, sound effects--and the ways they are put together to create a narrative that inspires the imagination and moves the heart.

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Theatre: Realizing Imaginary Space

Wed, Feb 24, 2010

Actress Maeve Kincaid and American Repertory Theatre artistic director Diane Paulus examine the four imaginations--of playwright, actor, director, and audience--that work together to create a theatrical space that feels "real," but actually does not exist outside the theatre.

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Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

Wed, Mar 3, 2010

In *Empire of Illusion*, Chris Hedges argues that we now live in two societies: one, the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world, that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other, a growing majority, is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. In this "other society," serious film and theatre, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins. In the tradition of Christopher Lasch's *The Culture of Narcissism* and Neil Postman's *Amusing Ourselves to Death*, Hedges navigates this culture--attending WWF contests as well as Ivy League graduation ceremonies--exposing an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion.

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Modeling the Impact of Sea Level Change (Audio)

Thu, Jan 28, 2010

Paul Kirshen examines the threat of rising sea levels brought about by climate change, and discusses how serious the threat is. An internationally recognized expert in integrated water resources management, he has developed detailed models mapping the impact of sea level rise on coastal communities in New England, Florida, and California. Kirshen has been conducting research on climate change since 1988 and leads an initiative to develop a climate change adaptation practice that will address the multidimensional impacts of climate change. This talk is part of Cambridge Forum's After Copenhagen: Global Climate Change Conference, recorded by Steve MacAusland. Photo: [Klem@s/Flicker](https://www.flickr.com/photos/klemas/4136180558 "")

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After Copenhagen: Real Solutions for Global Climate Change

Thu, Jan 28, 2010

The December 2009 Copenhagen talks on global climate change failed to produce a new international accord, and environmental scientist James Hansen is not wasting time bemoaning that failure. Rather he looks on it as opportunity to renew and expand the discussion of climate change and look for new ideas that will lead to real solutions to this global problem. What might the road forward look like? Where should scientists turn their attention "After Copenhagen?" What should citizens be doing? This talk is part of Cambridge Forum's After Copenhagen: Global Climate Change Conference, recorded by Steve MacAusland.

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Daniel Mendelsohn and Charles McGrath on Criticizing Creativity

Wed, Mar 17, 2010

Literary and cultural critic Daniel Mendelsohn and former editor of *The New York Times Book Review* Charles McGrath examine the ways in which criticism itself becomes a creative act.

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Role of Citizen Action in Solving Global Warming

Thu, Jan 28, 2010

Graphic designer Ken Ward and community organizer Andree Zaleska discuss how ordinary citizens can contribute to finding solutions to global warming. While governments debate climate change policy and researchers investigate its causes and models its effects, Ward and Zaleska argue that this problem that is bigger than any one of us, but will affect all of our lives. This talk is part of Cambridge Forum's After Copenhagen: Global Climate Change Conference, recorded by Steve MacAusland.

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Common As Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership

Wed, Jan 26, 2011

Lewis Hyde defends the concept of the "cultural commons." How has our cultural heritage, the store of ideas, art, and inventions we have inherited from the past, come to be seen as "intellectual property?" Have we taken the concept of "ownership" too far?

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