SHARED ON BEHALF OF THE SHEEN CENTER FOR THOUGHT & CULTURE
NEW YORK—The 2021 New York Encounter, an annual three-day public cultural event featuring panel discussions, artistic performances, and special exhibits, will take place February 12-14, 2021. It will be broadcast live from New York City in collaboration with The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture and made available on the New York Encounter website.
● The 2021 theme, When Reality Hits, looks the unprecedented past year squarely in the face by offering conversations on rethinking work and the economy, the media, mental health concerns, education, and more. Fueled by an incisive dynamic of questioning, it draws on real experiences that address the neediness of our culture and ourselves that was so exposed in 2020. With our illusion of control debunked, a deeper, truer core of our humanity is emerging — one of expectancy, one of hope. Can the dramas and changes we were a part of in 2020 and into 2021 become positive milestones on our journey of life? Participants include economists such as Raghuram Rajan, former Chief Economist at IMF and Governor of the Bank of India, Social Science Pontifical Academy’s President Stefano Zamagni; corporation and media experts, such as Matt Stoller and Matthew Taibbi; mental ethics and health protagonists, such as UC-Irvine’s Aaron Kheriaty and St. John’s Mary Townsend; racial justice commentators such as Anika Prather and Jaqueline Rivers; moral philosophy scholars, such as Notre Dame’s Paolo Carozza and McGill’s Charles Taylor; advocates for domestic and world peace, such as Jerusalem’s Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Archbishop Christophe Pierre; and myriad passionate professionals in the field of education.
● Now in its 13th year, the Encounter aims to give witness to a new, flourishing life, generated by faith. Supported by the work of hundreds of volunteers, it catalyzes intense engagement among people from all walks of life whose common ground is that of inquiry, the desire for dialogue, and, ultimately, judgements that bring hope.
Highlights:
● Saturday, Feb. 13, 12:00 pm — NOT BY PROFIT ALONE
Assessing work, business, and economy in a post-COVID world, with Raghuram Rajan, Prof. of Finance, University of Chicago, Ratna Sahay, Deputy Director, IMF, and Stefano Zamagni, Italian Professor of Economics and President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences
● Saturday, Feb. 13, 2:00 pm — THE CORE OF OUR HUMANITY
Probing the Encounter theme with Notre Dame’s Paolo Carozza, professor and Director of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, and McGill’s Charles Taylor, philosopher and professor
● Saturday, Feb. 13, 6:00 pm — DEFENSELESS?
Examining the power of big tech corporations, free information, and social media censorship with Matt Stoller, of the Open Markets Institute, and Matthew Taibbi, journalist
● Sunday, Feb. 16, 12:00 pm — WHY ON EARTH?
Exploring the currrent epidemic of suicide and mental health concerns with Aaron Kheriaty, professor of Psychiatry, UC-Irvine, Jeremy McLellan, comedian, and Mary Townsend, professor of philosophy, St. John’s University
All events will be live-streamed via Youtube from the Sheen Center in New York and available, free of charge, on the Encounter website. No registration necessary. Contact for interviews: [email protected] or (240 )793-5132.