Festival of Ideas

2025 Schedule

Schedule coming soon.

 

About the Festival of Ideas

What began in 2005 with a generous donation by UT Arlington alumnus Mustaque Ahmed (’81) has grown into an endowment funding dynamic programing that showcases unique aspects of the arts, humanities and social sciences. By appealing to a multi-disciplinary audience, Festival of Ideas brings together the twelve departments and four centers that make up the College of Liberal Arts at UTA.

Festival of Ideas culminates with a keynote speaker who demonstrates the transformative power of creative expression. Selected for their inspiring messaging, commitment to diversity of perspective, and broad appeal, past keynote speakers have been authors, playwrights, artists, and activists.

At its very core, the entire Season of Festival of Ideas unites the University and draws in the larger community around issues that touch every member of society. Festival of Ideas harnesses the power of the arts, humanities and social sciences to explore big ideas and to seek common ground across the human experience.

Past Speakers

David Treuer headshot

David Treuer

New York Times Bestselling author and Guggenheim Fellow David Treuer is Ojibwe from the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. Treuer is the author of seven books and the winner of two Minnesota Book Awards, the California Book Award for Nonfiction, and was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Carnegie Medal. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, LA Times, and The Washington Post, among others. He divides his time between Leech Lake Reservation and Los Angeles, where he is a Professor of English at The University of Southern California. 

Jarrett Krosoczka wearing a suit and smiling

Jarrett Krosoczka

Jarrett J. Krosoczka is the New York Times bestselling author/illustrator behind more than forty books for young readers, including his wildly popular Lunch Lady graphic novels, select volumes of the Star WarsTM: Jedi Academy series, and Hey, Kiddo, which was a National Book Award Finalist. Krosoczka creates books with humor, heart, and deep respect for his young readers— qualities that have made his titles perennial favorites on the bookshelves of homes, libraries, and bookstores over the past twenty years.

Octavio Solis wearing glasses and holding his hands together, looking at the camera with a smile

Octavio Solis

Author of over 20 plays, Octavio Solis is considered by many to be one of the most prominent Latino playwrights in America. With works that both draw on and transcend the Mexican-American experience, he is a writer and director whose style defies formula, examining the darkness, magic and humor of humanity with brutal honesty and characteristic intensity. Lydia is a riveting play about the Flores family in 1970’s El Paso, Texas. Lydia, an undocumented maid, comes to the Flores family to assist them with their disabled daughter. What follows is a personal look into a shared family trauma, with the themes of understanding/misunderstanding, love, sexuality, identity and the importance of voice, especially for those who cannot speak.

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