Yearning to learn something new? Although many libraries, schools, and community centers are still closed, there are boundless opportunities to explore interesting topics with experts.
In April, Road Scholar, a non-profit organization that offers educational travel programs for adults, created a collection of free, virtual lectures about subjects from travel to history to cooking to politics. There are nearly 40 lectures included in the series, and both live-stream lectures and recordings are available. This fascinating series dives into Picasso’s masterpieces, the political climate in Morocco, the formation of Victoria Falls, housing segregation and gentrification in Detroit, and offers a Native American cooking demonstration, in addition to several other subjects.
Check out Part 1 of “An Introduction to the Great Lakes” on Wednesday, July 15, or “Running & Hiding from the Nazis: My Miraculous Escape from the Holocaust”, on Monday, July 13.
Many lectures are between 40 minutes and one hour long and are led by historians, professors, archaeologists, state historians, and many more.
Policy wonks can try a virtual lecture series offered by The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute filled with conversations with American political greats.
This series includes discussions with Karl Rove, a former White House Deputy Chief of Staff (2004 to 2007), Newt Gingrich, a former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as John Tuttle, the New York Stock Exchange Chief Commercial Officer and Vice Chairman, John Tuttle.
The series is free and is live-streamed on the Reagan Foundation's YouTube channel.
Are you interested in the history of art criticism or how a gallery operates? Find out with the Sotheby's Institute of Art summer lecture series. Sotheby's, which has locations in London and New York City, is running a four-part live-streamed lecture series led by industry experts and museum staff.
Watch "Power and Propaganda: Art During the French Revolution" on Monday, July 13, "An Insider's Guide to Art Writing with Apollo Magazine" on Wednesday, July 22, and "Opening Up the Gallery: David Zwirner,” on Monday, July 27. These events are between an hour and an hour and a half long.
Economics, civil disobedience, and succeeding in college are all covered through the University of California, Santa Barbara’s (UCSB) 10-part summer lecture series. The virtual lectures run from July through Aug. 10 and are led by the university’s professors. Listeners can learn about how music was used in mourning in communist East Germany or about behavioral economics.
Viewers can also check out past UCSB lectures on the UCSB Admissions YouTube channel, which discusses topics like decoding time and space and the black plague.