CONNECTION. CREATIVITY. COMMUNITY.
For years, Santa Fe Magazine has talked to the artists, mystics, scientists, outlaws, and visionaries who make Santa Fe the Creative Capital of the US. The Santa Fe Magazine Festival is bringing those stories alive by gathering the most interesting minds to talk about what really matters right now.
On June 12–14, on the historic campus of St. John’s College, this inaugural festival brings together our community of dreamers, doers, and disruptors for intimate conversations, charged debates, immersive art, live performances, and unexpected encounters.
As the world teeters on the brink of tectonic change, the weekend is built around connection. Being in the rooms together; diving into the ideas shaping our culture right now; listening closely, asking deeper questions, and having powerful conversations that will expand our imaginations and curiosity.
Community and Conversation that Connect us. Art and Ideas that Provoke us. Music and Food that Fill us. A Setting that Awes us.
SCHEDULE
Virgil Ortiz and Eric Garcia have activated the Vladem Contemporary as a site of temporal collision — clay, painting, fashion, and light folding 1680 and 2180 into an immersive experience open to all festivalgoers.
Matchmaker Julie Ferman on why we withhold love, what fear costs us and how to walk into a room full of strangers and leave with people who matter.
Director Kristin Goodman with actors Cassidy Freeman and Alexandra Renzo on society’s social media economy.
Henry Shukman and Owen Lipstein on what this landscape unlocks in us that nowhere else can.
Schedule subject to change. More sessions coming soon.
Hampton Sides and Dan Flores on the lore, the landscape and why New Mexico keeps calling people back.
Marc Barasch helped build North America’s largest UFO archive. In this session, he lifts the lid.
Mario Garcia, Education Director of the Santa Fe Raptor Center, introduces several magnificent birds — each with a story of injury and survival — and the remarkable work behind their recovery.
Neurologist Ellen Petry Leanse on the neuroscience behind creative thought — and the insights into your own mental process that will stay with you long after the session ends.
Anna Sofaer and Cecile Lipsworth on the solar calendar carved into stone — and what four ancient cultures shared.
Alexis Corbin leads a conversation with James Robinson around the American premiere of Lili Elbe — the Santa Fe Opera’s most anticipated production.
Raul Pacheco isn’t just performing — he’s teaching you how to write a song. Then, catch him live on stage that evening.
The five original founders tell the story the press releases never told, moderated by Maggie Fine.
Tania Katan will show you how to transform monotony into novelty and be more energized in your work and in the world.
Ellen Petry Leanse leads Bill Broyles, Marisa C De Baca, Larry Leeman, and Gay Dillingham on the science and the experience.
Peter Zandan, Jason Mercer and Vince Kadlubek on the question that actually matters: not whether AI will take your job, but what it means to be human right now.
Jesse Roach, Juliana Ciano and Sara Dant — a climate conversation that runs on evidence.
Nocona Burgess, Will Riding In, and Scott Hale on the Indigenous art market and what it looks like now that Native art has earned its seat at the table.
Marc Maron: the man who turned a garage, a microphone and a bottomless well of neurotic self-examination into the gold standard of the interview form.
Schedule subject to change. More sessions coming soon.
MEA presents a morning of stillness in one of Santa Fe’s most sacred and historic spaces.
Angela Ellsworth, founder of the Museum of Walking, leads a walk through the arroyos behind St. John’s campus. Not meditation, not exercise — something harder to name.
Andrew Weil and Chip Conley on aging well, midlife reinvention and why the second half of life is a beginning, not a decline.
Anna Sofaer and Richard Friedman in an intimate deep dive into the Sun Dagger — the astronomical system at Chaco Canyon that precisely marks the solstices and equinoxes.
Godfrey Reggio, filmmaker behind Koyaanisqatsi, joins Jacques Paisner to reckon with cinema’s troubled present. What he has to say may unsettle you.
Dan Flores and Sara Dant make the case for rewilding, ecosystem restoration and a future that still has wolves and bison in it.
Chip Conley and Jeff Hamaoui on why the second half of life isn’t a retreat. This session isn’t about aging gracefully, it’s about aging ambitiously.
Making of Dark Winds
Jessica Matten, Deanna Allison, and Tina Elmo discuss the making of one of New Mexico’s iconic series.
Representative Andrea Romero joins investigative reporters Sally Denton and Clara Bates to examine Zorro Ranch, silence, complicity and the long struggle for accountability in New Mexico.
Schedule subject to change. More sessions coming soon.
THE VIP EXPERIENCE
Front-row seats all weekend, a private lounge, and five exclusive experiences that don’t exist anywhere else. This is the festival up close.
THURSDAY
VIP COCKTAILS
St. John’s Great Hall Soiree
PRESENTED BY CENTURY BANK
The weekend begins here. Drinks in the Great Hall with speakers, editors, and the people behind the festival.
FRIDAY
VIRGIL ORTIZ
Immersive Art Grand Opening
SPONSORED BY THE VLADEM CONTEMPORARY
A private viewing and talk with renowned artist Virgil Ortiz before the exhibition opens to the public, followed by a reception.
SATURDAY
MARK MILLER
Chile Tasting
SPONSORED BY COYOTE CAFE
Chef Mark Miller, founder of Coyote Cafe, talks food, culture, and red versus green chile on an iconic rooftop in the Plaza.
SUNDAY
SUKHMANI
Chai Brunch and Meditation
Brunch from Mata G Kitchen, followed by a guided meditation with Sat Gurumukh in a curated setting.
SUNDAY
DR. ANDREW WEIL
Zen and the Art of Matcha
A private screening of Dr. Andrew Weil and filmmaker Scott Garen’s new documentary on Japanese culture, spiritual tradition, and the craft of matcha, followed by conversation.
TICKETS
3 DAY FESTIVAL PASS
$499
3 DAY VIP PASS
$999
Single-day passes will be released May 1.
THE VENUE
PHOTO ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
Set in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, St. John’s College gives the festival a setting that feels both intimate and expansive. This historic Santa Fe campus was shaped by the influence of architect John Gaw Meem and folk artist Alexander Girard. Known for its Great Books curriculum and small, discussion-based classes, St. John’s is a place shaped by enduring questions — about knowledge, human nature, character and the life of the soul — making it an especially fitting setting for a weekend of conversation, ideas and an immersive cultural atmosphere that unfolds across the grounds.
SPONSORS
Presenting Sponsor
Presenting Partner
Piñon Sponsors
Cottonwood Sponsors
Juniper Sponsors
Partners
