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Atlantic
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
The Atlantic Festival Announces New Events Across New York City
July 22, 2025—Today The Atlantic is announcing more speakers, events, and the agenda for the 17th annual Atlantic Festival, taking place September 18–20 for the first time in New York City. This year's festival will be anchored at the Perelman Performing Arts Center along with venues around the city, including the Tenement Museum, the Town Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Hauser & Wirth, and McNally Jackson Seaport. Among the speakers announced today: actor Robert Downey Jr. and Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, in conversation with The Atlantic 's editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg; actor Tom Hanks, who voices several historical figures in the new Ken Burns documentary series The American Revolution and who will join the premiere screening of the series at the Town Hall; comedian, writer, and director Richard Ayoade in a conversation moderated by talk-show host, comedian, and producer David Letterman; Executive Producer of The Apollo Kamilah Forbes; Professor of Marketing at NYU's Stern School of Business and a serial entrepreneur Scott Galloway; clinical psychologist and Founder and CEO of Good Inside Becky Kennedy; and TV personality, chef, author, and activist Andrew Zimmern. Previously announced Festival speakers include Mark Cuban, Jennifer Doudna, Arvind Krishna, Monica Lewinsky, Tekedra Mawakana, H.R. McMaster, and Clara Wu Tsai. The Atlantic Festival will also host an exclusive first look for Season 3 of Netflix's The Diplomat, which debuts this fall, followed by a conversation with the show's stars Keri Russell and Allison Janney and creator and executive producer Debora Cahn; a sneak peek screening of FX's The Lowdown, along with a talk with creator, executive producer, writer, and director Sterlin Harjo and executive producer and star Ethan Hawke; and a screening of The American Revolution, followed by a discussion with directors and producers Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein, along with actor Tom Hanks, who voices several historical figures, and historian Annette Gordon-Reed. New this year: The Atlantic Festival introduces Out and Abouts, intimate events around the city that are ticketed individually. Among the events announced today: Atlantic Reads book talks at McNally Jackson Seaport. Featuring Walter Mosley for his new novel Gray Dawn; Susan Orlean for her memoir Joyride; and a poetry conversation around The Singing Word: 168 Years of Atlantic Poetry, featuring the book's editor and Atlantic contributing editor Walt Hunter, with Singing Word contributor and MIT professor Joshua Bennett. Premiere of Dread Beat an' Blood at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), featuring a live performance by legendary poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. The Big Story Live events, across downtown venues: 'What Does it Mean to Be an American?,' at the Tenement Museum, featuring staff writers Xochitl Gonzalez and Clint Smith, plus more speakers to be announced. 'The Future of the Arts in a Changing World,' at Hauser & Wirth, featuring Jeffrey Goldberg, Noah Hawley, and Kamilah Forbes, with more speakers to be announced. With more to be announced, including a live taping of the Radio Atlantic podcast. The festival's Single-Day Passes and Out and About tickets will go on sale this Wednesday, July 23, at 11 a.m. ET. Atlantic subscribers receive an exclusive 30 percent discount on festival passes and select Out & About programming. Festival sessions will be led by Goldberg and many of The Atlantic 's writers and editors, including Adrienne LaFrance, Tim Alberta, Ross Andersen, Anne Applebaum, Gal Beckerman, Elizabeth Bruenig, Sophie Gilbert, Jemele Hill, Walt Hunter, Shirley Li, Ashley Parker, and Clint Smith. The 2025 Atlantic Festival is underwritten by Microsoft at the Title Level; CenterWell, Eli Lilly and Company, and Scout Motors at the Presenting Level; and Aflac, Allstate, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Destination DC, Diageo, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, Hauser & Wirth, KPMG, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation at the Supporting Level.
Los Angeles Times
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
What's next for PBS and NPR after Republicans strip funding?
Ken Burns has made more than 30 documentaries and won multiple Emmys. But without funding from public television, his educational programming such as 'The Civil War' and 'Baseball' might never have existed, he told 'PBS News Hour' in an interview Thursday. Even today, the acclaimed filmmaker whose works — including his upcoming project 'The American Revolution' — are broadcast on PBS, said his films get around 20% of their budgets from the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, the body Congress recently voted to defund. Projects that receive a higher percentage of their funding through public media 'just won't be able to be made,' Burns said. 'And so there'll be less representation by all the different kinds of filmmakers. People coming up will have an impossible time getting started.' The U.S. Senate this week passed the Trump administration's proposal to claw back $9 billion in federal funding previously allocated for foreign aid and public broadcasting, and the House of Representatives approved the package after midnight Friday, sending it to President Trump's desk. The Corp. for Public Broadcasting, which administers the funds for NPR radio stations and PBS TV affiliates, is on track to lose $1.1 billion that had previously been budgeted for the next two years. The impact of those cuts will be deeply felt across both NPR and PBS, leaders of both organizations told The Times. Layoffs and reduced programming are expected, and the blows will disproportionately strike smaller markets that rely more heavily on federal funding. 'This is going to hit hardest in the places that need it the most,' said Gabriel Kahn, a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Stations in smaller markets are staffed significantly less than stations in larger cities, often because of the disparity in funding. The Corp. for Public Broadcasting acted as 'the great equalizer,' Kahn said, padding the budgets of smaller stations so they could continue operating. 'It's just going to be increasingly lonely out there as these voices, who were of the community and generally very well trusted, are going to disappear,' Kahn said. 'Because within a year, you're not going to be able to hear these things on the radio anymore in a lot of places.' The cuts fulfill a longtime dream of conservatives and libertarians, who bristle at the notion of public funds supporting media organizations, especially ones they view as left-leaning. Republicans have for decades called for cuts to public broadcasting because of the perceived liberal slant of its programming. Trump has called NPR and PBS government-funded 'left-wing propaganda.' But several prominent voices in media and politics were quick to call attention to the harm the cuts will have, especially on communities where the local stations rely heavily on federal funding. 'A PBS station is really like the public library. It's one of those important institutions that may be the only place where people have access to local news,' Burns said. 'There's a kind of sense of local accountability, and as news becomes nationalized and even internationalized, there's a loss there.' PBS President Paula Kerger expressed similar concerns. 'Many of our stations which provide access to free unique local programming and emergency alerts will now be forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead,' Kerger said in a statement Thursday. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of two Republicans to vote against the package, said she strongly opposes the cuts to public media in a statement after the vote. She referenced a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Alaska this week that triggered a tsunami warning as an example of the public service stations provide. 'My colleagues are targeting NPR but will wind up hurting — and, over time, closing down — local radio stations that provide essential news, alerts and educational programming in Alaska and across the country.' Public media outlets in Southern California's urban areas, which can turn to wealthy locals for donations, are less dependent on federal funding than stations in smaller markets. But they will still feel an immediate loss. Washington, D.C.-based NPR has two major affiliates serving the Los Angeles area: LAist, or KPCC-FM (89.3), and KCRW-FM (89.9). LAist, based in Pasadena, was set to receive $1.7 million, about 4% of its annual budget. Alejandra Santamaria, president and chief executive of LAist, said the money is equivalent to 13 journalist positions at the local news operation. KCRW in Santa Monica was expecting $264,000 from the Corp. for Public Broadcasting. PBS SoCal, which operates member stations KOCE and KCET in Orange and Los Angeles counties, respectively, is facing a loss of $4.3 million in federal funding, according to Andy Russell, president and chief executive of the stations. Connie Leyva, executive director of KVCR Public Media in San Bernardino, which operates PBS and NPR affiliates, said earlier this week that the Senate action will mean losing $540,000, about 6% of its operating budget. Thus, she has to consider cutting five positions on an already lean staff. Kahn, the USC professor who is also the publisher and editor of Crosstown L.A., a nonprofit newsroom focused on local reporting and data journalism, said the cuts could have unintended consequences for Trump's own voters. 'The irony, of course, is that these are areas that generally support Trump with high margins, and they're are also areas that have the greatest allegiance to their local public radio station,' he said.
San Francisco Chronicle
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
During S.F. visit, Ken Burns calls PBS cuts ‘a shame,' says Donald Trump faces a reckoning
Ken Burns had a busy day in San Francisco, but he wasn't taking in the sights. In the hours before taking the stage at the Palace of Fine Arts to present clips and discuss his upcoming PBS documentary, he was working the phones, calling U.S. senators and lobbyists in hopes of safeguarding the future of public media. By the time he addressed the sold-out crowd on Wednesday, July 16, he seemed resigned to the passing of a $9 billion rescissions package that would end all federal funding for public media. The bill passed on Thursday. It now goes to the House, which is expected to approve the measure, which would slash $1.1 billion from the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio, later Thursday or Friday. But in promoting 'The American Revolution,' a 12-hour limited series that traces the very beginnings of the United States, he had plenty to say about the current state of the country. He believes the American system is up against 'an existential threat,' and that President Donald Trump will eventually face a reckoning because 'the dog has caught the school bus, and the school bus, eventually, always wins.' Calling the cuts 'a shame,' Burns noted the package, which also slashes foreign aid, amounts to 'pennies' in comparison to the $6.75 trillion the U.S. government spent in 2024. 'The entire budget (public media) is less than one bomber,' Burns said. 'I know that public broadcasting has nothing to do with the defense of the country. They just help make the country worth defending.' The evening was hosted by KQED, which announced Tuesday, July 15, it was laying off 15% of its workforce as it contends with a projected $12 million budget deficit in 2025. During his lengthy introduction of Burns, KQED President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Isip said public media as well as the country is 'in a state of division and trauma.' 'Our social fabric feels like it's being torn apart,' Isip said. 'Independent, non-commercial public media is more essential than ever. … In many of our communities, especially our smaller ones, the local public television, public radio station is the only source of information. 'This is truly one of the most difficult and distressing times in the nearly 60-year history of public broadcasting and the 71-year history of KQED. But here is what I want you to know: No matter what happens with federal funding, public media, KQED, will reemerge. We will endure.' Burns introduced a 51-minute clip reel from 'The American Revolution,' which airs on PBS in November, before engaging in a 40-minute discussion with co-director Sarah Botstein, historian Christopher Brown and moderator Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of the Atlantic magazine. Bay Area actor Peter Coyote, who narrates the series, also was present, but did not participate in the discussion. Burns noted that he, Botstein and another co-director, David Schmidt, began work on 'The American Revolution' before Trump's first term. But by the time the documentary airs nearly a year into Trump's second term, viewers might notice some uncanny parallels and contrasts. America's failed invasion of Canada, which Americans had hoped to make the 14th colony, mirrors Trump's desire to make Canada the 51st state. And, of course, there is the contentious path to the creation of the U.S. Constitution and its staunch belief in the separation of powers and the momentous choice by George Washington, the first president, to step aside after two terms to discourage authoritarianism. '(The founders) were reverse engineering every possible bad scenario to try to design a system that will prevent that,' Burns said. 'In fact, Jefferson writes to Madison, when he's stuck in Paris while they're writing the Constitution, and he says, 'What if someone should lose an election and pretend false votes and reap the world? '' Citing a quote from 18th-century revolutionary Thomas Paine, paraphrased as 'in order to be free you must will it,' Burns ended by suggesting that as Trump advances his agenda and simple policies become complex actions, Americans might rediscover their freedom gene. 'There's this real moment where you see, all of a sudden, these arguments about British rights are coming down to natural rights,' Burns said of the Founding Fathers' debates in the documentary. 'The evolution of that is the very same thing that will get us out of this predicament.'
Axios
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Axios interview: Ken Burns previews American Revolution documentary
Ken Burns told Axios that his forthcoming six-part series — " The American Revolution" — has been in the works since December 2015 and required "years and years and years" of filming war reenactors across the 13 original colonies. The 12-hour film — directed by Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt — will premiere Nov. 16 on PBS and run for six consecutive nights at 8 p.m. ET. Why it matters:"It's about really big ideas, the biggest ideas in humankind, and it's also an incredibly violent struggle," the legendary filmmaker tells us. "I think that we've papered over the violence, maybe because we don't have any photographs or newsreels." "Somehow, we've sort of neglected to understand how incredibly bloody. It was a civil war ... it's just a big battle of Americans killing other Americans, and this is what has to be understood." His other documentary epics — including "The Civil War," "Baseball" and "The Vietnam War" — have heavily featured archival photographs and footage. This time, Burns "realized you had to get over an aversion" to reenactments, which he has used sparingly in other projects. The film crew shot reenactors in nearly 100 locations "in every time of day and every season, mostly at dawn or dusk ... in French uniforms and Native American uniforms, in Hessian uniforms, in British uniforms, in American militia and Continental Army uniforms." "And then we used paintings. I go and I say, 'Do we have Continentals firing at the British?' And we have a musket volley, very close up, very impressionistic, and we then have a returning British volley, and then that melds with the painting." Burns also said the film has more maps than in all of the other films he's made combined — "and I've been doing this for a little while." Zoom out:"We now know from the safety of our armchair that you know how it turned out, but you know at Lexington Green 250 years ago, the chances of patriot success are absolutely zero," Burns says. "We've made a film not only about how we got to Lexington Green. That's called episode one, but how in two through six, we actually reverse those odds." Between the lines: Burns says the timing of the film — which lands around celebrations for America's 250th anniversary — was a happy coincidence.
Atlantic
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
The Atlantic Festival, September 18–20 in New York City, Announces First Speakers and Tickets on Sale
Today The Atlantic is announcing the first slate of speakers who will take part in The Atlantic Festival, its flagship event. Tickets will go on sale starting Thursday. The festival is making its New York City debut from September 18–20, following 16 years in Washington, D.C., and will be anchored at the Perelman Performing Arts Center and other venues around the city. The festival's 2-Day Premium Passes will go on sale this Thursday, June 12, at 11 a.m. ET. Atlantic subscribers receive an exclusive 30 percent discount on festival passes. The Atlantic Festival is the preeminent live exploration of The Atlantic 's journalism, and this year expands to a new stage for big ideas in the cultural capital of the world. Events will bring together more than 100 speakers––influential business leaders and technologists, cultural and media figures, and U.S. and global political leaders—along with film screenings, book talks, and performances. Events will be led by editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg and many of The Atlantic 's writers and editors, including Adrienne LaFrance, Tim Alberta, Anne Applebaum, Elizabeth Bruenig, Sophie Gilbert, Jemele Hill, Shirley Li, Ashley Parker, and Clint Smith. Participants being announced today are IBM CEO Arvind Krishna; Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Ayad Akhtar; New York Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai; Lieutenant General (ret.) H. R. McMaster, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump; CRISPR-gene-editing Nobel laureate and founder of the Innovative Genomics Institute Jennifer Doudna; directors and producers Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein with historian Annette Gordon-Reed as part of a premiere screening of their PBS documentary series, The American Revolution; business mogul and entrepreneur Mark Cuban; activist and host of the podcast Reclaiming, Monica Lewinsky; Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana; host, filmmaker, and comedian W. Kamau Bell; and many additional speakers still to be announced. The 2025 Atlantic Festival is underwritten by Microsoft at the Title Level; CenterWell and Eli Lilly and Company at the Presenting Level; and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Destination DC, Diageo, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, Hauser & Wirth, KPMG, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation at the Supporting Level. The Atlantic Festival September 18–20, 2025 Perelman Performing Arts Center, and Virtually For Passes:
