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Forum Network

Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

Funding provided by:
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GBH Forum Network

The Forum Network is a public media service of the GBH Educational Foundation that offers thousands of video lectures by the world's foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, policymakers, and community leaders, made available to the public for free.

Lectures hosted on The Forum Network are presented by community organizations and educational institutions from the Boston area and beyond.

From science to the humanities, from local to global topics, The Forum Network is committed to providing outstanding educational content for lifelong learners, and to encouraging deeper understanding and civic engagement around the vital issues of our time.

Explore lectures by Topics, Series, Partners, and Speakers. To provide viewers with more information, lectures are further augmented with speaker biographies, related lectures and books, captions and transcripts, and downloadable audio.

In the past, GBH has collaborated with other public media partners—WETA in Washington, DC; Public Broadcasting Atlanta; and WNET New York—to record public speaking events. While the structure of the Forum Network changed in 2014 to focus specifically on the Boston region, previously recorded lectures remain archived in this website.

Major support for the GBH Forum Network comes from the Lowell Institute, an organization created to carry out the 1836 bequest of John Lowell Jr., to make free public lectures available to the citizens of Boston

Stay in touch with Forum Network. » Facebook Find us on Facebook and Twitter. Become a partner by joining our network as a local community content contributor. Email forumnetwork@wgbh.org with the subject line "New Partner".

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About GBH Educational Foundation

GBH enriches people's lives through programs and services that educate, inspire, and entertain, fostering citizenship and culture, the joy of learning, and the power of diverse perspectives. GBH serves New England, the nation, and the world with programs that inform, inspire, and entertain. GBH is PBS's single largest producer of content for television (prime-time and children's programs) and the Web. Some of your favorite series and websites -- Nova, Masterpiece, Frontline, Antiques Roadshow, Curious George, Arthur, and The Victory Garden, to name a few -- are produced here in our Boston studios. GBH also is a major supplier of programs heard nationally on public radio, including The World. And we're a pioneer in educational multimedia and in media access technologies for people with hearing or vision loss. Our community ties run deep. We're a local public broadcaster serving southern New England, with 11 public television services and three public radio services -- and productions (from Greater Boston to Jazz with Eric in the Evening) that reflect the issues and cultural riches of our region. We're a member station of PBS and an affiliate of both NPR and PRI. In today's fast-changing media landscape, we're making sure you can find our content when and where you choose -- on TV, radio, the Web, podcasts, vodcasts, streaming audio and video, iPhone applications, groundbreaking teaching tools, and more. Our reach and impact keep growing. GBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors -- Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards -- even two Academy Awards. In 2002, a special institutional Peabody Award cited GBH's 50 years of service to the "community, the nation, and the world with outstanding productions and collaborations."

GBH is devoted to bringing you new experiences, taking you to new worlds, and giving you the very best in educational content. We're here for you -- and it all happens thanks to your interest and generous support!

https://forum-network.org/

  • Historian **Rob Velella** (or rather, author Nathaniel Hawthorne) visited the Old South Meeting House to read a selection of the Salem-born writer’s short stories. Complete with a timid entrance and a gruff salutation, Velella’s performance as this literary icon is clearly well researched. Though famous for novels like _The Scarlet Letter_ and _The House of the Seven Gables_, Hawthorne penned his fair share of short stories, as well, such as “Monsieur du Miroir” (beginning at 2:38) and “Young Goodman Brown” (12:52).
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network
  • WGBH hosts a preview screening of part one of the *American Experience: Eyes on the Prize* series and a panel discussion with Coolidge Corner Theater audience members. The evening also includes a special performance by a group of Berklee students who welcome the audience with "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize," the theme song for the series. American Experience: Eyes on the Prize is an award-winning 14-hour television series produced by Blackside and narrated by Julian Bond. Through contemporary interviews and historical footage, the series covers all of the major events of the civil rights movement from 1954-1985.
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network
  • Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates, Grace Ross, Christy Mihos, Deval Patrick, and Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, debate at Boston's Faneuil Hall. As election day grows near, and negative political advertising increases, growing tension between Democrat Deval Patrick and Republican Kerry Healey bubbles over.
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network
  • Musicians and music experts explore the many connections between landscape and music, both historically and for present-day songwriters, composers and musicians. This event is cosponsored by the National Park Service/Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site and Brookline Adult and Community Education.
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network
  • Basic Black hosts an hour-long forum with panelists and an audience in the WGBH studio. The discussion explores how the Boston public school system can maintain a commitment to diversity and provide a quality education. Major areas covered in the discussion include: the re-segregation of schools and how this impacts the achievement of students of color; multilingual education and the obligation to address the needs of a swelling immigrant student population; the re-examination of school assignments; and the impact of the recent court decision that the voluntary desegregation plan in Lynn, MA is unconstitutional. One of the goals for the forum is to provide a setting where the academy meets the community--a gathering that promotes conversations and ideas among Boston's scholars, parents, education activists and students.
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network
  • Speaking on the idea of mass media, the blogosphere, where they meet and their place within a global village, David Liroff launches the Public Media Roundtable Speakers Series at American University's Center for Social Media. The Center for Social Media showcases and analyzes strategies to use media as creative tools for public knowledge and action. It focuses on social documentaries for civil society and democracy, and on the public media environment that supports them. The Center is part of the School of Communication at American University.
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network
  • Filmmaker Austin Hoyt discusses his new documentary, American Experience: Victory in the Pacific, which examines the final year of World War II in the Pacific, including the rationale for using the atomic bomb, and features first-hand recollections of both American and Japanese civilians and soldiers.
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network
  • The WGBH Conservation Initiative hosts a debate concerning the proposed development of America's first offshore wind farm in the shallow waters of Nantucket Sound. The Cape Wind offshore wind farm would provide Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket with approximately 75% of their electricity needs in average winds. However, there is strong opposition to this controversial project.
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network
  • Quil Lawrence discusses the Iraq War's seldom-told success story, the rise of the Kurds of northern Iraq. Lawrence has recently released a new book *Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood Is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East*, based on his experiences as a reporter in Iraq. Quil's photos of Kurdistan can be seen on the [ PRI's The World Flickr page.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/pritheworld/sets/72157604814728071/) Generously shared with the Forum Network by David Leveille and Stephen Snyder.
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network
  • Benny Golson discusses his life as a composer and arranger for such artists as Count Basie, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dizzy Gillespie.
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network