<em>The Atlantic </em>Announces First Speakers and Programming for the 18th Annual Atlantic Festival, September 17–19 in New York
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- The Atlantic announced the first wave of speakers and programming for its 18th annual Atlantic Festival, set for September 17–19 and anchored for a second year at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in downtown Manhattan, with satellite venues including the Tenement Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, and Metrograph.
- The opening-night program "A Soundtrack of a Nation" is a collaboration with Juilliard, featuring composer and pianist Nicholas Britell, choreographer Michelle Dorrance, bass-baritone Davóne Tines, and Juilliard president Damian Woetzel.
- Confirmed speakers include former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (in conversation with editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg), Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Atlantic contributing writer Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation.
- A 25th anniversary September 11 discussion will pair former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and former Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove with Atlantic executive editor Adrienne LaFrance, while a mayors panel features San Diego's Todd Gloria, Fort Worth's Mattie Parker, and Cincinnati's Aftab Pureval in conversation about the future of American cities.
- The festival will screen forthcoming PBS documentary series Crime and Punishment, directed by Lynn Novick and executive produced by Ken Burns and Sam Pollard, followed by a discussion with Novick and poet Reginald Dwayne Betts, alongside Playing POTUS, a documentary on presidential parody directed by Josh Greenbaum.
- Premiere Passes are already sold out; single-day passes, 2-day general admission passes, and Out and About tickets are on sale, with Atlantic subscribers receiving a 30 percent discount on festival passes and select programming.
- The 2026 festival is underwritten by Genentech at the presenting level, with Boston Scientific, Contentful, Edward Jones, and TIAA as supporting sponsors, and Allstate, Calm Health, Hauser & Wirth, and Seabourn Cruise Line as contributors.
Why it matters: With Premiere Passes sold out before the full speaker slate is announced, The Atlantic has moved its top tier early — a posture that reflects the brand pull the magazine has built across live programming. The roster blends Juilliard performances and a Ken Burns documentary with bipartisan political names, positioning the festival as a prestige convocation spanning culture, tech, and politics.
