Our Illuminated Lectures enhance the traditional lecture experience by incorporating elements of performance into the mix. For each event, we engage a scholar who is an expert on the topic at hand and weave in readings of the work or works being discussed. Further elevated by live music and, occasionally, other sound design elements, the result is an engaging experience which allows for a deeper understanding of the scholarly material.
We’ve presented Illuminated Lectures in partnership with variety of organizations focused on arts, culture, or higher learning such as the Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival (JFEST), the Skirball Cultural Center, Portland State University’s Shakespeare’s First Folio: 1623–2023 festival, The Philosophical Research Society, First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, Diversifying the Classics at UCLA, UC Irvine’s New Swan Shakespeare Center, and the Center for Ideas and Society at the University of California, Riverside.
UPCOMING ILLUMINATED LECTURES
We're excited to offer two Illuminated Lectures this spring at The Philosophical Research Society that feature stories from the Spanish Jewish diaspora.
On April 30, 2026 at 7 PM, we're partnering with Professor Barbara Fuchs to explore a very well-known piece of Spanish Classical Literature, La Celestina, and its potential intersections with marginalized peoples of the time, especially conversos or crypto-Jews.
On May 28, 2026 at 7 PM, we're partnering with scholar Rachel Kaufman to examine the story of Esperanza Rodríguez, daughter to a crypto-Jewish father and an enslaved West African mother, who was brought forcibly by a conversa woman from Seville to New Spain in the early 1600s.
More information on both events to come!
