Events that bring us together

What role can art play in helping us meet this moment? As communities face growing loneliness, burnout, environmental anxiety, and civic division, the arts can create spaces for healing, connection, and hope. Join us as we celebrate 50 years of healing arts at Commonweal, building on an earlier convening of leaders in arts, health, and community practice. This public gathering, hosted by Commonweal Board Member Lisa Simms Booth, opens the conversation to all with Maria Rosario Jackson, Deborah Cullinan, and Catherine Olweny.

Lecture and Workshop with Visiting Scholar Catherine Olweny

Bringing with her the traditional Aboriginal practices of dadirri—a sacred practice of deep listening, reflection, stillness, and connection to the land—and yarning—a conversational practice used by indigenous Australians to share knowledge, stories, and culture—Catherine Olweny will talk about ways that art and narrative techniques allow difficult experiences to be shared.

Vivek Murthy and Host Serena Bian

Known for bringing loneliness and social connection into the national conversation, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy joins host Serena Bian at Commonweal’s New School to reflect on the deeper currents beneath his work. Beginning with his spiritual biography, we explore the questions, traditions, and experiences that shaped his understanding of service, healing, and what it means to belong.

A Conversation with Alejo di Risio and Host Susan Grelock Yusem

As part of Commonweal’s Omega Resilience Awards' narrative research initiative, the Ecology Team of researchers led by Alejo di Risio—journalist, environmental consultant, and cultural strategist—set out to document emerging stories of resilience grounded in environmental stewardship, land connection, and sustainable practices across the Global South. In this conversation, Host Susan Grelock-Yusem will talk with Alejo to explore their journey and what they learned about ecological imagination, narrative as resistance, local wisdom at global scale, and the power of community. Following the conversation, join us for a live interactive dialogue with the full Ecology Research Team.

Maurizio Benazzo and Zaya Ralitza Benazzo with Host Susan Grelock Yusem

Join us for a conversation and film screening of Eternal Song, the first in a series of award-winning films that explore the devastating impact of colonization on indigenous people and lands, and cultures--and how our collective future depends on remembering the eternal song of existence which calls us back to our original sense of belonging. Co-presented with SAND (Science and Non-Duality) and Bolinas Film Festival.

Francis Weller and Host Jaune Evans

Join Francis Weller and Host Jaune Evans as we explore the medicine we need for the Long Dark, the medicine we bring to the Long Dark, and surprisingly, the medicine we find in the Long Dark. The event will include conversation with Francis, time to listen, and a community ritual to allow for receiving and “risking revelation.”

Jane Hirshfield and Host Michael Lerner

As the winter solstice approaches—a time for contemplation, exchange, and renewal—and Commonweal nears the end of our 50th year celebrations, this conversation with Jane Hirshfield and Host Michael Lerner will attend to how we might best address ourselves to the invitations of precipice and turn: with a spirit of permeability, imagination, and embrace of change.