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
Online Seminar Series
The Emperor of All Maladies - A Biography of Cancer
by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Saturday, July 12
12:00-2:00PM PDT
The book won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Literary Review commended: "It is so well written, and the science is so clearly explained, that it reads almost like a detective story—which, of course, it is." We invite you to this monthly offering, reading several chapters each time.
July 12 Reading:
Prologue, Part One - A suppuration of blood, A monster more insatiable than the guillotine, Farber's Gauntlet, A Private Plague, Onkos (pages 1-50)
Schedule:
12:00 - 2:00PM PDT
Tutor:
Andy Gilman
Location:
Oline Seminar Series
Monday Night Poetry Group
Monday , July 14
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.
July 14 Reading:
The Song of Wandering Aengus
by William Butler Yeats
Schedule:
5:00 - 6:00PM PDT
Tutor:
Carol Seferi
Location:
Onsite Free Community
Seminar Series
Eastern Classics - Tao Te Ching
Tuesday, July 15
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. Centering around the bodies of work from China, Japan, and India, 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.
July 15 Reading:
The Tao Te Ching - Chapter 36
Schedule:
12:00 - 1:00PM PDT
Tutor:
Andy Gilman
Location:
111 East Ojai Avenue
Ojai, California 93023
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 - 5:30-7:30PM
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.
Location:
122 East Ojai Avenue in Ojai
Panel Moderator:
Kimberly Rivers - Journalist
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
Elizabeth Haffner - Co-Owner of Ojai Valley Brewery
Additional panelists posted soon.
Schedule:
5:30-7:30PM PDT
Reserve Your Seat:
While the event is free, seating is limited. Please RSVP below:
An Introduction to The Agora Foundation. What is liberal education?
An Introduction to The Agora Foundation's Ojai Chautauqua Panels.