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Upcoming Online Events

The Agora Foundation is a nonsectarian 501(c)3 non-profit endeavor, providing great books seminars and other educational opportunities to those who are busy with careers, families, and daily responsibilities yet are seeking to further their education. The goal of these offerings is to provide an understanding of the ideas that shape civilizations and to promote civil discourse on complicated subjects. The Agora Foundation has facilitated over 1,000 great books seminars and teacher trainings, covering a wide variety of topics including literature, philosophy, political science, theology, history, art, psychology, and more, featuring ancient and modern texts from around the world. In addition to seminars, since 2014 Agora has produced 35 panels, gatherings, and video interviews, promoting civil discourse on controversial and complicated subjects. Hundreds of these events can be freely viewed and listened to on this website.

 

Generously funded by The Ahmanson Foundation, Southern California Edison, The Shanbrom Family Foundation, the Ventura County Community Foundation, the WRG Foundation, the Constance Eaton and William Hart Fund, the Ojai Valley Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of Ojai, CIty of Ojai, and private donations, the Teachers for Lifelong Learning Program provides training to high school teachers in this engaging approach to learning, and The Ojai Chautauqua provides panels promoting civil discourse on controversial and complicated subjects. 

Upcoming Regular Events

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Online Seminar Series

Finnegans Wake by James Joyce

Wednesday, October 15

12:30-2:00PM PDT

A story with no real beginning or end, the work has come to assume a preeminent place in English literature. Published in 1939, the book would take Joyce two decades to complete. Join us as we read this text a few pages at a time, every other Wednesday afternoon.

 

October 15 Reading:

Book Three - Chapter One of Finnegans Wake by Joyce (page 412, Line 7)

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Schedule:

12:30 - 2:00PM PDT

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Tutor:

Barry Rabe

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Location:

Online. Register to receive the link.

Online Seminar Series

Immanuel Kant - Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics

Thursday, October 16

12:00-1:30PM PDT

What can we say we know with certainty? What does it mean to say that we know something? In the Prolegomena Kant explores the possibility of metaphysics as a science by examining the limits and structure of human knowledge.

 

October 16 Reading:

Second Part (pp. 35-63)

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Schedule:

12:00 - 1:30PM PDT

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Tutor:

Carol Seferi

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Location:

Online. Register to receive the link.

Online Seminar Series

The Emperor of All Maladies - A Biography of Cancer
by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Saturday, October 18

12:00-1:30PM PDT

The Emperor of All Maladies won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction: the jury called it "an elegant inquiry, at once clinical and personal".We invite you to this monthly offering, reading several chapters each time.

 

October 18 Reading:

Part Two - An Impatient War - 

(pages 105-150)

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Schedule:

12:00 - 1:30PM PDT

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Tutor:

Andy Gilman

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Location:

Online. Register to receive the link.

View the Free Onsite Ojai Chautauqua Panel Series
The Future of Ojai - What is Special About Ojai? -
What should be nurtured, protected, or expanded? 

Thursday, July 31, 2025

​​The Agora Foundation's Ojai Chautauqua project is embarking on a series of onsite panel discussions that will take place in 2025 and 2026, entitled The Future of Ojai. The goal of the project is to bring together knowledgeable and varied points of view in the spirit of learning, shared inquiry, and civil discourse. Panels will take place about two months apart with each focusing on a different topic such as housing, our economy, sustaining our environment, the state of education, the arts, and more. Events will have different moderators and panelists, representing our diverse community. As with all of our prior events, we hope to bring thoughtful conversation to complicated areas that affect us all, both today and in the future.

 

All panels will be free and open to the community. This is the first event in the series, intended to set the stage for future offerings.

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Location: 

El Roblar Hotel

122 East Ojai Avenue in Ojai

Panel Moderator: 

Kimberly Rivers - Journalist and Editor

 

Panelists:

Emily Ayala – Co-Owner of Friend’s Ranch

Andra Belknap - Journalist and Commentator

Atticus Ford-Reyes - Board President  of Ojai Unified School District 

Andy Gilman - Mayor of Ojai and Agora Foundation Director

Saw Naing - Co-Owner of The Dutchess and Joplin’s

Fabiola Sosa - Mother and Ojai Community Farmers Market team

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Schedule:

5:30-7:30PM PDT​

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The event is at capacity:

While the event is free, seating is limited. If desired, please add your name to the waiting list below. The panel will be recorded and posted.

An Introduction to The Agora Foundation. What is liberal education? 

An Introduction to The Agora Foundation's Ojai Chautauqua Panels.

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