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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

American Rhetoric: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Saturday, November 15

12:00-2:00PM PST

In one of the greatest examples of the exercise of free speech in all our history, the burning issue at stake was freedom itself, and whether it could prevail against its hideous opposite, its negation. We invite you to join us as we read and discuss all eight debates, roughly one month apart. 

 

November 15 Reading:

Quincy Debate (October 13, 1858) -
pages 211-249

or click here for an online version.

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Schedule:

12:00 - 2:00PM PST

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Tutor:

Eric Stull

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Location:

Online. Register to receive the link.

Online Seminar Series

Monday Night Poetry Group

Monday, November 17

5:00-6:00PM PST

Join us as we explore, through close reading, what makes a poem. Each online session will focus on a single poem or two shorter ones. Whether you're new to poetry or a seasoned reader, these gatherings will deepen your ability to see how poems work their particular magic, revealing the craft behind moments of beauty, surprise and insight.

 

November 17 Reading:

Musée des Beaux Arts by W.H. Auden

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Schedule:

5:00 - 6:00PM PST

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Tutor:

Carol Seferi

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Location:

Online. Register to receive the link.

Online Seminar Series

Shakespeare in Britain and Greece: Comic, Tragic, Both

Saturday, November 22

12:00-2:00PM PST

In the geography of his poetic imagination, Shakespeare seems to find world enough in time -- a stage in every age. In these plays, the poet’s constant themes are love, betrayal, identity, disguise, given in about as many combinations and permutations as one could wish, romantic, comic, tragic, and blends thereof.

 

November 22 Reading:

Pericles by William Shakespeare

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Schedule:

12:00 - 2:00PM PST

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Tutors:

Eric Stull and Jordan Hoffman

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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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