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
Monday Night Poetry Group
Monday, February 9
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. We'll examine how language becomes art, taking note of everything from forms and sound patterns to imagery and word order, discovering how poets transform ordinary language into “machines made out of words” that resonate on emotional, sensory and imaginative levels.
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February 9 Reading:
by Wallace Stevens
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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.
Onsite Free Community Seminar Series
Eastern Classics - Tao Te Ching
Tuesday, February 10
1:00-2:00PM PST
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.
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February 10 Reading:
The Tao Te Ching - Chapter 38
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Schedule:
1:00 - 2:00PM PST
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Tutor:
Andy Gilman
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Location:
111 East Ojai Avenue in Ojai, California
Online Seminar Series
Male and Female - A Study of the Sexes in a Changing World
by Margaret Mead
Saturday, February 14
12:00-2:00PM PST
Male and Female by Margaret Mead examines how cultures construct different gender roles, moving beyond her earlier work by incorporating biological constants into her analysis. Join us as we read and discuss portions of the text in online seminars about one month apart, eventually completing the entire book.
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February 14 Reading:
Edition Introductions (pages xxv-xlv), Part One - Introductory (pages 1-44)
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Schedule:
12:00 - 2:00PM PST
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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:
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.