Chicago Humanities Fall Festival

Schedule of Events:

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm: Joan Baez Laureate+ Pre-Event Reception

We are delighted to invite our Laureate and Humanist Circle supporters to an exclusive reception on October 24th preceding our highly anticipated Joan Baez program.

This special event will take place in the elegant Paradiso room of the Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture and offers a unique opportunity to mingle with fellow members and enthusiasts of the humanities. As a token of appreciation for your dedicated support, guests will receive a complimentary copy of her latest book, When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance: Poems.

This event is free to Laureate and Humanist members, however, tickets are required and do not include entry to the Joan Baez program. To reserve your tickets for Joan Baez, please click here.

Buy Tickets

7:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Joan Baez: When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance

A chat on poetry with Krista Tippett from On Being

Immerse yourself in the lyrical world of legendary artist and activist, Joan Baez. Sharing decades of personal poetry for the first time publicly, join us to discover how Baez has weaved her verse with experiences, activism, and her musical legacy. Bask in the inspiring stories of her childhood and poetic reflections on fellow friends and icons like Judy Collins, Jimi Hendrix, and her complex relationship with Bob Dylan. You will cherish this discussion and celebration of one of America's most beloved voices exploring the power of her words beyond music.

A book signing will follow this program.

Joan Baez
Singer, Songwriter, Musician

Joan Baez is a musical force of nature whose commitment to social activism has never wavered. Starting with her early 1960s recordings, her performances of traditional ballads exerted a powerful attraction on a generation and songs like “House of the Rising Sun” and “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” found their way into the rock vernacular. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

At the same time, Baez’s role in the human rights and anti-war movements around the world has earned her place in history, alongside friends and allies, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, the Irish Peace People, Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, and others.

Today, the life and times of Joan Baez are reflected in her “Mischief Makers” series of paintings that immortalize risk- taking visionaries, ranging from Dr. King and Bob Dylan to the Dalai Lama and Patti Smith.

Krista Tippett
Author, Journalist

Krista Tippett is a Peabody-award winning broadcaster, National Humanities Medalist, and New York Times bestselling author. She created the groundbreaking public radio show and podcast On Being, which pursues deep thinking, moral imagination, social creativity, and joy towards the renewal of inner life, outer life, and life together. It has won the highest honors in broadcast, Internet and podcasting, and been downloaded over 450 million times. The On Being Project, which Krista founded in 2013, also engages “quiet conversations” to accompany the generative people and possibilities within this tender, tumultuous time to be alive. She received the National Humanities Medal at the White House in 2014 for "thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence. On air and in print, Ms. Tippett avoids easy answers, embracing complexity and inviting people of every background to join her conversation about faith, ethics, and moral wisdom."

Krista grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, attended Brown University, worked as a young journalist and diplomat in Cold War Berlin, and later received a Master of Divinity from Yale. She is the author of three books, most recently Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living.

Buy Tickets