Last month found us kicking off a brand new Coudert Institute season. A great big THANK YOU to our fabulous panel of presenters which included Margaret Carlson, Steve Clemons, Eleanor Clift and Alvin Felzenberg. So wonderful to welcome back the many of you who participated - both in person and remotely. With health and safety as our barometer, we are delighted to move forward with our 2021 season which features limited capacity (30 person) events at over-sized select venues that share our commitment to caution during this time. The compact nature of the Institute enables us to continue to bring thought provoking programming to the community, and we hope that you will join us for our next event on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18 when we will (at a safe social distance) gather with KIRSTEN FONTENROSE at The Sailfish Club of Florida to explore the United States and Middle East relations under a 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 timely inquiries are among the countless decisions which lie ahead for a new administration. In her luncheon presentation Ms. Fontenrose will offer her unique insights and share her wisdom while exploring their scope.
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. We join the world in closely monitoring the promise of multiple vaccines on our horizon. As we do so we continue to make everyone's health and safety our ultimate priority. This caution has led us to postpone our scheduled December and February musical programs until a time when performers, once again, feel comfortable with air travel. We believe that music is best experienced live and in person, and we will resume our Concerts in the Garden series in that fashion at a future date.
Please be assured that ALL of our 2021 Lecture Series experiences and our other educational programming will be available for seamless remote participation. Should your preference be such that you wish to partake in the extraordinary conversations our season will offer, we welcome your continued connection and engagement!
Top and bottom event images courtesy of Coastal Click Photography