TICKETS $15

Doors 6:30 p.m.; Event 7 p.m.

Click here to learn more about accessibility at the Tomorrow Theater. 

THE EXPERIENCE

Oregon Humanities and the Tomorrow Theater present a conversation about the failings and challenges of democracy in the United States and what we can do about them with Danielle Allen, director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center. How can we find common purpose to build a stronger democratic society amid today’s complex political climate?

Danielle Allen is a seasoned leader, public policy and public affairs expert, national voice on pandemic response, and distinguished academic and author. Danielle’s work to make the world better for young people has taken her from teaching college and leading a $60 million university division to driving change as board chair for a $6 billion foundation, writing for The Atlantic, and, most recently, running for governor of Massachusetts.

Allen cochaired the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, formed to explore how best to respond to the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in political and civic life. Its final, bipartisan report, Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century, was released in June 2020 and includes six strategies and thirty-one ambitious recommendations to help the nation emerge as a more resilient democracy by 2026, the nation’s 250th anniversary. During the height of COVID in 2020, Allen’s leadership in rallying coalitions and building solutions resulted in policies adopted in federal legislations and a Biden executive order. Allen is also the author of several books addressing the broad history and personal significance of justice and democracy including Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, Cuz: An American Tragedy, and, most recently, Justice by Means of Democracy.

Consider This is a series presented by Oregon Humanities that has featured onstage conversations with writers, artists, and civic leaders in venues across Oregon.

HOSTED BY: Oregon Humanities – Consider This

Since 2009, Oregon Humanities has hosted onstage conversations with writers, civic leaders, and artists in venues in Portland and around Oregon. You can find recordings of many of these events in our archive. Originally called Think & Drink, the program was renamed Consider This in 2020.

These onstage conversations between featured guests and an interviewer have taken place in Ashland, Astoria, Bend, Eugene, Grants Pass, Hood River, Portland, Pendleton, Salem, and Tillamook.

Consider This is made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Oregon Cultural Trust, The Standard, Susan Hammer Fund of Oregon Community Foundation, and Pacific West Bank.