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
George Berkeley - Three Dialogues
Thursday, February 13
12:30-2:00PM PST
What can we say we know with certainty? What does it mean to say that we know something? How does knowledge differ from belief? George Berkeley was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called immaterialism.
February 13 Reading:
Third dialogue (pp. 61-94)
Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous
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Schedule:
12:30 - 2:00PM PST
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Tutor:
Carol Seferi
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Location:
Free Onsite Community Seminar Series
The Poetry of Mary Oliver
Tuesday, February 11
12:00-1:00PM PST
Online Seminar Series
Shakespeare in Britain and Greece: Comic, Tragic, Both
Saturday, February 15
12:00-2:00PM PST
Mary Oliver's poetry is widely recognized for its deep connection to the natural world, often focusing on detailed observations of plants, animals, and landscapes, with a central theme of finding beauty and meaning in everyday moments. We invite you to join us once per month to explore her poetry together.
February 11 Reading:
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Schedule:
12:00 - 1:00PM PST
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Tutor:
Andy Gilman
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Location:
111 East Ojai Avenue
Ojai, California 93023
In the geography of his poetic imagination, Shakespeare seems to find world enough in time -- a stage in every age -- from the worlds of mythical Greece to Britain before Merlin. 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..
February 15 Reading:
Troilus and Cressida 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:
Ojai Chautauqua Panel and the Ojai Fire Safe Council - Wildfire Insurance Coverage Panel
December 8, 2024
On December 8 the Ojai Fire Safe Council hosted representatives from: The Institute of Business & HomeSafety (IBHS), United Policyholders, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. The conversation, with a great deal of relevant data, covered: The realities of the insurance crisis and causes, effects of home hardening, and what individuals and communities can do to address these challenges. Visit www.firesafeojai.org to learn more.
An Introduction to The Agora Foundation. What is liberal education?
An Introduction to The Agora Foundation's Ojai Chautauqua Panels.