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Courses.

Every course runs as a seminar: ten people around one work, no lectures, no right answers.

Places are limited, and full scholarships are decided once applications close.

Drop-in, ongoing

Community seminars

One short text, one conversation, a small group online. Each date stands alone. Come to one or to all of them.

How the community seminars work
  • Applications open

    Many Ways to Be Human: Winter

    Five online seminars over the New Year break, reading life-changing texts with students from around the world.

    26 Dec to 3 Jan · Apply by 19 Dec

    Sliding scale · $120 standard

    Full scholarships available

    Apply
  • Applications open

    Life Changing Texts

    Free reading groups for high schoolers in Boulder, Los Angeles and Atlanta. One short text a week, discussed together.

    23 Nov to 30 Jan · Apply by 6 Jan

    Free

    Apply
  • Completed · 2026

    Many Ways to Be Human: Summer 2026

    An international short course exploring different ways of being human through short stories from Nobel Prize winning authors around the world.

    Readings from 8 countries

    Online · With UWC · Reads 13 works

  • NY

    Completed · 2026

    Life-Changing Short Stories

    One short story a week (Chekhov, O’Connor, and others) read closely and discussed openly at Community Classrooms at Pier 57, with The Catherine Project.

    Readings from 2 countries

    In person · Community Classrooms at Pier 57, New York City · With The Catherine Project · Reads 3 works

  • Completed · 2024

    Eastern European Literature

    An intensive look at the works that shaped Eastern European thought and identity, read by students whose countries were at war with each other.

    Readings from 3 countries

    Online · Reads 3 works

  • espanola

    Completed

    Games, Community, and Conversation

    A course for middle school students where each session began with a game, and the game opened into a conversation about friendship, fairness and responsibility.

    In person · Española YMCA Teen Center, New Mexico · With Institute for Classical Dialogue

  • YW

    Completed

    Music and Meaning

    A course built around music and practical life questions, using songs as a way into conversations about identity, loyalty and everyday conflict.

    Readings from 1 country

    In person · YouthWorks Teen Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico · With Institute for Classical Dialogue · Reads 1 work

  • Completed

    Readings in Russian Short Stories

    Through short stories, students explored how writers dealt with beauty and human destiny, and found a shared language for the conflicts of their region.

    Readings from 1 country

    Online · Reads 4 works

  • Completed

    Critical Reading of the Soviet Project

    A close reading of excerpts from early Soviet and anti-Soviet thinkers, looking at how the Soviet experiment took shape and where its ideals broke down.

    Online

  • For schools and teen centers

    We bring the seminar leader, curriculum and materials to schools, teen centers, youth programs and juvenile justice settings, online or in person.

    Partner with us
  • Meet the teachers

    Who leads the courses and what they studied.

    See the teachers
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