Big ideas come to Lenox for inaugural field festival

What do joy, gardening, artificial intelligence, the American experiment and the creative process have in common? Quite a lot, as it turns out, at least when some of the world’s most compelling thinkers get together to talk about them.

From Friday, Oct. 23, through Sunday, Oct. 25, Lenox, Massachusetts, will host the inaugural field festival, a three-day gathering of writers, artists, scholars and cultural figures at Shakespeare & Company. Billed as a festival of ideas, entertainment, learning and discovery, field brings together an impressive roster of voices to explore everything from the deeply personal to the profoundly political.

The premise is both simple and increasingly radical: Bring people together, encourage curiosity and make room for thoughtful disagreement. The festival’s guiding principles are to respect other voices, hear opposing perspectives and remain engaged in conversation, even when the subject matter becomes uncomfortable.

Opening the festival Friday evening is celebrated artist and author Maira Kalman, whose whimsical illustrations and paintings have appeared on numerous New Yorker covers. Kalman will discuss her new collection, “Joy,” which explores the small, often overlooked moments of beauty that persist even during difficult times.

Saturday’s programming moves across disciplines and generations. Pioneering psychologist Carol Gilligan, whose groundbreaking 1982 book “In a Different Voice” transformed conversations about gender and moral development, will join psychologist Niobe Way to discuss care, connection and the emotional lives of young people.

Historian Annette Gordon-Reed will sit down with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Brent Staples to examine the contradictions between America’s founding ideals and its history of slavery and racial inequality, a particularly resonant subject as the nation marks its 250th anniversary.

In another conversation, acclaimed writers Jamaica Kincaid and Saidiya Hartman will explore gardening as a practice that connects memory, history, beauty and belonging. Moderated by scholar Farah Jasmine Griffin, the discussion promises to reveal how something as seemingly ordinary as tending a garden can become an act of cultural and personal discovery.

The creative process will take center stage when novelist Colm Tóibín joins former New York magazine editor Adam Moss for a live conversation inspired by Moss’ book “The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing.” Together, they’ll examine how artists turn an initial idea into a finished work, including the uncertainty, revision and occasional loss of faith along the way.

The weekend also ventures into medicine and technology, with bioethicists and health care leaders discussing the intersection of artificial intelligence, scientific innovation and equitable care. Other sessions explore grief, spirituality and the ways people make meaning of loss.

On Sunday, British painter and printmaker Tom Hammick will offer an illustrated look at his creative practice, incorporating music, poetry and images of his work to explore art’s capacity to express love, loss and the experience of being alive.

The full festival schedule also includes Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark discussing their new book about Roy Cohn; political analyst Jonathan Alter examining the midterm elections; and trauma researcher Bessel van der Kolk discussing psychedelic-assisted treatment with psychiatrist Ronald D. Siegel.

Field takes place Oct. 23–25 at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox. Weekend passes and individual event tickets are available at fieldlenox.org.