August 9, 2025

Conversation Project: Talking About Values Across Political Divides

“How can I be me without making it difficult for you to be you?” This question gets at the fundamental challenge of being in society together. We live in a contentious political world, and it’s difficult to talk about our deepest values and beliefs in safe, civil, and respectful ways. In 2021, the Pew Research Center found that nearly six in ten Americans felt that political conversations with those you disagree with are generally stressful and frustrating, as opposed to being interesting and informative. If we avoid such conversations, we lose opportunities to form a community with others that reflects our best selves. How can we learn to share our values in ways that bring us together rather than push us further apart?

2:00 p.m., Jacksonville Branch Library, Jacksonville

August 19, 2025

Conversation Project: Reentry and Empathy

Reentering society after being imprisoned or dealing with addiction is a difficult process, and people who go through it are often stigmatized. This conversation will explore the feelings, challenges, and experiences people encounter while reentering society and encourage participants to reflect on similarities to their own feelings and experiences. We will illuminate the connections we have with one another, and leave with a better understanding of what it is like to return to community after time away and a stronger sense of connection to those who are doing so.

Register for this free online conversation.

3:00 p.m. Pacific, Virtual Event, statewide

August 21, 2025

Conversation Project: Talking About Gender

Do you remember the first time you were taught how to “be a man” or “act more ladylike”? Do you recall moments of permission where you got to break free from the pressures of your gender? Everyone experiences gender differently, which can cause confusion when the gender of others challenges our own understanding. By exploring our own histories with gender, we can open ourselves up to being curious about the experiences of others. In this conversation, participants will be invited to reflect on and share the ways gender was taught to them, moments they challenged gender expectations, and ways they live in their gender today.

RSVP for this free online conversation.

3:00 p.m., Virtual Event, statewide

September 3, 2025

Celebrate Our Summer Issue

Join us for a happy hour celebration of our Summer 2025 issue! Come connect with the Oregon Humanities team and fellow readers as we mark the release of our latest magazine, "Real".

4:00 to 6:00 p.m., The Zipper, Portland

October 18, 2025

Astoria Creative Writing Festival

Oregon Poet Laureate Ellent Waterston will appear alongside other writers at a weekend of readings, workshops, and literary happenings all centered in Oregon's oldest coastal town. Learn more about this event.

All day, Barbey Center, Astoria

October 19, 2025

Author Reading with Ellen Waterson, Oregon Poet Laureate

Join the Hoffman Center for the Arts for an afternoon of poetry by Ellen Waterston. Connect with community and poetry on the North Coast of Oregon.

3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Hoffman Center for the Arts, Manzanita

October 22, 2025

Facilitation Training for Libraries

Oregon Humanities will present three trainings in 2025 for staff, board members, volunteers, and program partners of Oregon libraries of all types (public, academic, school, and tribal). These trainings will help people involved with libraries strengthen their skills in leading conversations about vital issues and ideas across differences, beliefs, and backgrounds. With the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence as a jumping off point, participants will learn about facilitation and reflective conversation, practice new skills and techniques, and learn to design and facilitate conversations that allow people and groups to learn more about themselves and each other.

9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, Corvallis

October 27, 2025

Consider This with Akhil Reed Amar: La Grande live stream

Join Oregon Humanities staff for a live screening of our Consider This conversation with Akhil Reed Amar, one of the nation's leading thinkers on constitutional law and history.

7:00 p.m., HQ, La Grande

October 27, 2025

Consider This with Akhil Reed Amar

Join us for a conversation with one of the country’s leading thinkers on constitutional law. We’ll explore how equality has been a core part of our laws, history, and self-understanding, and consider how we strive toward this ideal today. We’ll also dig into the arguments and assumptions that informed the US Constitution, how it has evolved over the past 238 years, and what the future may hold for our nation’s most basic laws.

7:00 p.m., Alberta Rose Theatre, Portland

November 6, 2025

Reflective Conversation Training (virtual)

During our virtual facilitation training, participants will:

• learn about facilitation and reflective conversation
• have an opportunity to practice new skills and techniques
• reflect on and share your own beliefs and assumptions and listen to beliefs, backgrounds, and experiences different than your own
• design and participate in reflective conversations and debriefs that analyze facilitation tools and choices.

This virtual training will take place online via Zoom over the following sessions:

• Day 1: Thursday, November 6, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (PST)
• Day 2: Friday, November 7, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (PST)

To register for this virtual training, click here.

Virtual trainings are limited to the first twelve people to sign up. Please note that these trainings will take place on Zoom, and we’ll ask participants to turn their video on and keep it on as much as possible during the training. There will be plenty of screen breaks during the two training days, and a lunch break off screen for at least an hour on both days.

9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Pacific), Virtual Event, statewide