In this fascinating talk, we explore the unexpected connections between neuroscience, quantum computing, and visual art through a unique interdisciplinary collaboration at Yale University.

This talk features a panel discussion following the screening of a documentary about Italian visual artist Serena Campini, who served as an artist-in-residence at the Yale Quantum Institute. Through her residency, Campini created stunning multilayered artworks inspired by both neurological imaging and quantum states of light.

Our guests include:
Serena Campini, visual artist and art historian who has spent over a decade collaborating with neuroscientists and quantum researchers
Michael Higley, neuroscientist at Yale Medical School whose lab studies synapses and memory formation
Harshvardhan “Harsh” Babla, a PhD student researching quantum error correction and extending quantum memory
Donna Fetis, gerontologist and educator specializing in aging, caregiving, and dementia
Florian Carle, representing the Yale Quantum Institute

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Join us for an illuminating conversation about the transformative power of theater as a form of resistance and social change. In this compelling Ideas Talk, three distinguished theater artists explore how live performance challenges conventions, creates community, and gives voice to marginalized stories.

Featured Speakers:
Dexter Singleton - Executive Artistic Director and Founder of Collective Consciousness Theater, Senior Artistic Associate and Director of New Play Development at Theater Squared
Martyna Majok - Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, librettist, and screenwriter (Yale School of Drama alumna)
Godfrey Simmons - Artistic Director of Heartbeat Ensemble, actor, director, playwright, and Trinity College faculty member

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Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok delivers a stirring keynote weaving together Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and her own immigrant story to explore how art serves as resistance against cultural devastation and loneliness.

Drawing from her current Broadway adaptation of Fahrenheit 451, Majok examines Guy Montag's journey from book-burner to truth-seeker as a mirror for our own times of censorship, distraction, and disconnection. She reflects on the "loneliness epidemic" plaguing America and how meaningful art—like the books Montag risks everything to save—offers "quality" and "pores" that reveal life's complexity rather than the "wax moon faces" of comfortable conformity.

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Join us as Mercy Quay, founder and CEO of Connecticut's only anti-racist public relations agency, The Narrative Project, guides us through the complex world of news consumption and media literacy. With over a decade of experience as both a journalist and communications strategist, Quay examines how framing, bias, and sensationalism shape our understanding of current events.

In this thought-provoking episode, we explore the critical distinction between sensation and thinking in our modern media landscape, drawing inspiration from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and its warnings about information manipulation and societal control.

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In this thought-provoking discussion, hosts Juanita Sunday and New London Poet Laureate AnUrbanNerd explore how science fiction serves as a powerful lens for understanding our present and predicting our future.

Using Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Octavia Butler's A Few Rules for Predicting the Future as their foundation, they examine how speculative fiction doesn't create problems—it takes current issues and projects them forward to show us potential consequences.

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Join The Honorable Clifton Graves for a thought-provoking discussion that bridges Ray Bradbury's classic dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 with the urgent civic challenges facing America today. Speaking at New Haven Public Library - Stetson Branch, Judge Clifton Graves draws powerful connections between Ray Bradbury's 1953 vision of censorship and book burning in Fahrenheit 451 and contemporary concerns about democratic institutions, media manipulation, and civic engagement.

What You'll Hear
In this candid and wide-ranging conversation, Judge Graves explores how dystopian themes from literature have become reality for many Americans throughout history—from the suppression of literacy during slavery to the McCarthy Era's political persecution to today's ongoing struggles with book banning and institutional control. He shares personal family history, including stories of his great-grandfather, one of the first African American U.S. Deputy Marshals, while connecting historical patterns to present-day challenges

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In this intimate and inspiring conversation, legendary Chef Jacques Pépin reflects on his extraordinary culinary journey spanning nearly eight decades. From his wartime childhood in Lyon, France, to becoming one of America's most beloved cooking teachers, Pépin shares the profound philosophy that has guided his life: food as a universal language of love and connection.

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This deeply moving special episode honors Denise Santisteban, the festival's beloved curator of ideas and storytelling events, who passed away in April 2025. Host Tiffany Hopkins shares four of Denise's most powerful personal stories, performed live between 2017 and 2020, showcasing her remarkable gift for storytelling.

In these intimate narratives, Denise takes us on journeys both physical and emotional:

"Leo" - A heartwarming tale told from the perspective of an aging dog who finds joy in watching a runner pass by his window each morning, leading to an unexpected connection.

"Peru Trek" - Denise confronts her fears during an eight-day trek through the Peruvian mountains to Machu Picchu, discovering what it truly means to persevere when facing terrifying bridges, steep ledges, and her own panic attacks.

"The Little Brown Girl" - A powerful exploration of identity and racism, tracing Denise's experiences from a childhood incident in a schoolyard to adult encounters with prejudice, and her journey toward embracing who she is.

"What's in a Name?" - Denise reflects on a lifetime of navigating her difficult-to-pronounce surname, family heritage, and the surprising moment she learned she'd been pronouncing her own name wrong.

Through these stories, listeners experience Denise's humor, vulnerability, courage, and the deep humanity that made her such an influential voice in the storytelling community. This episode celebrates her legacy and the transformative power of sharing our truths.

Season 4 is dedicated to Denise's memory, featuring programs she was preparing before her passing.

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