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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

Monday Night Poetry Group

Monday, June 16

5:00-6:00PM PDT

Join us as we explore what makes a poem. Each session will focus on a single poem or two shorter ones. We'll examine how language becomes art, taking note of everything from forms and sound patterns to imagery and word order. No preparation is required and join for any or all that interest you. 

 

June 16 Reading:

The Wild Swans at Coole 
by William Butler Yeats 

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Schedule:

5:00 - 6:00PM PDT

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Tutor:

Carol Seferi

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Location:

Online. Register to receive the link.

Onsite Free Community 
Seminar Series

Eastern Classics - Tao Te Ching

Thursday, June 12

12:00-1:00PM PDT

Like the west, the east has its own tradition of influential texts that address the perennial questions of human kind. This series will focus on the texts of Taoism, Confucius, Buddhism, and Hinduism. We invite you to join us and attendees can feel free to join intermittently.

 

June 17 Reading:

The Tao Te Ching - Chapter 34

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Schedule:

12:00 - 1:00PM PDT

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Tutor:

Andy Gilman

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Location:

The Ojai Library

111 East Ojai Avenue
Ojai, California 93023

 

Online Seminar Series

Lincoln's Words, America's Principles 

Saturday, June 21

12:00-2:00PM PDT

We invite you to an enriching six-part seminar series exploring the enduring wisdom of Abraham Lincoln’s greatest speeches. Through a careful study of several speeches we will examine how Lincoln’s words continue to illuminate the challenges of political leadership in a nation “of the people, by the people, for the people.”

 

June 21 Reading:

Cooper Union Address

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Schedule:

12:00 - 2:00PM PDT

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Tutor:

Karl Haigler

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Location:

Online. Register to receive the link.

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

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

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