Night of Ideas 2026
Enlightenment, Now!
Join us for a nocturnal celebration of art, philosophy, and activism!
Enlightenment, Now!
As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of its independence, the 2026 Santa Cruz Night of Ideas invites us not to celebrate the Enlightenment, but to interrogate it. Long associated with democracy, progress, and universal reason, the Enlightenment’s legacy remains deeply ambivalent – coexisting with enduring forms of exclusion, colonial violence, and economic exploitation. These unresolved tensions, strikingly visible today, demand renewed scrutiny.
Rather than treating the Enlightenment as a closed chapter or shared inheritance, this edition centers young local voices and civil society to ask urgent questions: whose reason matters, whose freedoms are secured, and whose futures are denied?
Through conversations, workshops, performances, and visionary talks, Enlightenment, Now! becomes a space for lived experience and collective experimentation. Featuring contributions from local performers Crista Berryessa and Beati Quorum, Alex Olwal’s audiovisual collaborations with AL-EK, and Juan Ospina, flautist and composer with Olemano, our event will also bring together Thomas Sage Pedersen, Ronaldo V. Wilson, Gina Athena Ulysse, and many other guests. The aim is not consensus, but momentum: rethinking progress and imagining new political, ethical, and cultural possibilities under radically changed conditions.
Join us on Friday, April 17 at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences to explore what remains of the Enlightenment, and what it might become!
This event is brought to you by the Center for Public Philosophy, with support from the Institute of the Arts and Sciences, The Humanities Institute, the Marc Sanders Foundation, Villa Albertine, and the Institut Français.
Learn more and sign up for updates at nightofideas.org.
Night of Ideas 2026 Schedule:
MAIN HALL
5:00pm: Crista Berryessa and Beati Quorum + introductory remarks by Jeanne Proust
5:30pm: Thomas Sage Pedersen, Staying with Discomfort. Why Our Capacity for Uncertainty Shapes the Systems We Create
6:00pm: Community Soundscape with Beati Quorum and Sarah Cruse
6:30pm: Gina Athena Ulysse, Ronaldo V. Wilson & Libia Posada, artist performances and remarks
7:30: Juan Ospina & Olemano live performance
8:30: Alex Olwal & AL-EK live performance + participatory dance with Brigitte Wittmer
CONFERENCE ROOM (Room 1)
6pm: Kyle Robertson, Contesting the Rule of Law
7pm: Adela Najarro, From Body to Word: Finding Enlightenment Through Poetry
8pm: Iris Oved, Mind the Gap: Masks, Goggles, and the Search for Authenticity
WEST ROOM (Room 2)
6pm: Jean-Paul Gazzaneo-Duarte, Identity Under Oppression: Lessons from Latin American Philosophy
7pm: Sam Kahn, Moving Beyond the Standard Story of the ‘Attention Crisis’
8pm: Ethics Slam! Workshop for collective debate
ONGOING
Philo-booth: “Ask a philosopher a question!”