WELCOME... TO A BRAND NEW SEASON!

We invite you to be a part of the Coudert Institute's fabulous new 2021 Season brimming with best-selling authors, celebrated chefs, distinguished political journalists, world renowned musicians, international affairs experts and a host of other luminaries! For over two decades, the Coudert Institute has strived, in a non-political manner, to represent a mosaic of the world's diversity through both action and intent, and we look forward to reconvening in our upcoming season, especially after this extended period of self-isolation!  Using the utmost caution in planning our 2021 season, we are committed to soothing some of the fatigue brought on by these uncertain times. We have a fabulous season on tap, and we invite you to be a part of it! The Coudert Institute is unique in that we remain a fairly compact community. This allows us to resume our boutique-style in person gatherings. In addition to wearing masks and practicing social distancing, we will cap our attendance and host our events in over-sized settings, allowing us to safely distance from one another yet still enjoy some aspects of human connection. We also look forward to continuing to offer our musical programming outdoors, in the gardens, as much as possible. And, for those of you who may prefer to join us from afar, we hope to have much of our content available for remote consumption. Please learn more about our brand new season HERE.

In addition to our fabulous SPEAKER SERIES and CONCERTS IN THE GARDEN, new in 2021 are our salon-style EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS to which current (2021 Season) members will be given priority access. RIGHT NOW is the time to join the Coudert Institute, or renew your membership for this wonderful season we have planned!

With health and safety as a priority, this season we will offer a limited number of Coudert Institute Memberships. In the coming weeks you will be receiving, by mail, member renewal and registration materials. Don't delay! To insure that you are a part of these extraordinary experiences we will present in 2021 you can also join or renew your membership TODAY, online, by clicking HERE.

The Coudert Institute welcomes and embraces diversity in membership, as it is only through the lens of our unique and varied experiences that we may hope to glimpse the wisdom we need in order to make meaningful change in the world. Here's to a brand new season. We can't wait to see you!

LOOKING AHEAD...

KIRSTEN FONTENROSE serves as the Director for the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, Atlantic Council. She joined the Atlantic Council in 2019 after spending twenty years working national security in the Middle East and Africa from positions within the US Department of State, Department of Defense, the White House, private industry, and the non-profit sector. Most recently she served as senior director for Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council. 

The Coudert Institute is delighted to welcome Kirsten as a presenter with our 2020-2021 Speaker Series at which time she will

offer her unique insights and share her wisdom in regards to the direction US foreign policy toward the Middle East will take in the new administration.

How will we manage Iran?  How will we deal with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia?  How will we follow on Israel-UAE normalization?  How will we compete with Russia and China in the Middle East? What is the future of our presence in Iraq?  What will we do about Lebanon? About Libya?  These inquiries are among the countless decisions which lie ahead for a new administration. Save the date for FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18 when we will (at a safe social distance) gather at The Sailfish Club of Florida to explore these timely questions with Ms. Fontenrose.

"I think the tangible thing was certainly the suspension of annexation... it’s a firm commitment by the Israeli government which gives you space for a two-state solution."

The above is excerpted from a recent conversation with the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in the UAE, H.E. Anwar Gargash (pictured above). The dialogue was moderated by Kirsten. In this particular conversation she and Minister Gargash review the Abraham Accords recently signed by the UAE and Israel, making the UAE the first Arab country in the Gulf to recognize Israel. We are delighted to make this content available to you through this link.

The Atlantic Council’s work on Middle East security honors the legacy of Brent Scowcroft and his tireless efforts to build a new security architecture for the region. Their work in this area addresses the full range of security threats and challenges including the danger of interstate warfare, the role of terrorist groups and other nonstate actors, and the underlying security threats facing countries in the region. Learn more about Ms Fontenrose and the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, Atlantic Council by clicking HERE. See you next season!

Who Are We Here With?

The term "rally" translates to, "to muster for a common purpose" or, "to come together again to renew an effort". At the moment, we are each being asked, in one form or another, to practice it. While we savor the last few weeks of summertime, we wanted to reach out to you from Palm Beach to detail the Coudert Institute's version of digging deep in order to honor our mission of staying engaged through meaningful conversation and connection.

As many of you may have read in a recent front page article in the Palm Beach Daily News, entitled, Sweeping Job Losses Hit Cultural Sector, the lingering pandemic is forcing many of Palm Beach County's treasured cultural groups to dramatically reduce their staff. Job losses are sweeping our county’s cultural sector especially now as the federal Paycheck Protection Program forgivable loan program has expired. Despite these challenging times, we have managed to preserve our staff and remain on task building an enriching season filled with powerful programming. As we do so, we can assure you that we are taking every health and safety precaution moving forward in developing our 2021 season.  

Daily, medical professionals and medical journals trumpet the deep imprint that this extended period of self-isolation is continuing to make in terms of our personal well being. Using the utmost caution in planning our 2021 season, we are committed to soothing some of this fatigue. The Coudert Institute is unique in that we remain a fairly compact community. This truth should largely allow us to resume our boutique-style in person gatherings. In addition to wearing masks and practicing social distancing, for our next season we will cap our attendance and host our events in over-sized settings, allowing us to safely distance from one another yet still enjoy some aspects of human connection. We also look forward to continuing to offer our musical programming outdoors, in the gardens, as much as possible. And, for those of you who may prefer to join us from afar, we hope to have much of our content available for remote consumption.

Among the host of visionaries we will (safely) welcome next season is New York Times best-selling author and ecologist Dr. Carl Safina. Dr. Safina has spent a lifetime exploring how humans are changing the living world, and what those changes mean for wild places and for human and other beings. Widely praised, as illustrated in the (below) New York Times quote, His work connects broad scientific understanding with a moral call to action. Dr. Safina's writing has won the MacArthur “genius” prize; Pew and Guggenheim Fellowships; book awards from Lannan, Orion, and the National Academies; and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Rabb medals. In addition, he hosted the 10-part PBS series, Saving the Ocean With Carl Safina. He holds the Endowed Chair for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University and is founder of the not-for-profit Safina Center.

Dr. Safina is a terrific writer, majestic and puckish in equal measure, with a contagious enthusiasm. . . . He draws out haunting resonances between animal lives and our own. . . Captivating.

Dr. Safina's most recent book is Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace. Becoming Wild offers a glimpse into cultures among non-human animals through looks at the lives of individuals in different present-day animal societies. By showing how others teach and learn, its pages offer a fresh understanding of what is constantly going on beyond humanity and helps inform the answer to that most urgent of questions: Who are we here with?

Who are we here with? It's a wonderful (and timely) probe that we look forward to unpacking together again, with you, in our 2021 season!