Discover The Connecticut Forum
Serving Connecticut and beyond with live, unscripted conversations among renowned experts and celebrities, and community outreach programs including the award-winning Connecticut YOUTH Forum.
Our mission is to encourage the free and active exchange of ideas in forums that inform, challenge, entertain, inspire and build bridges among all people and organizations in our community.
Founded in 1992, The Connecticut Forum is a one-of-a-kind 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving Connecticut and beyond with live, unscripted panel discussions among renowned experts and celebrities, and community outreach programs including the award-winning Connecticut YOUTH Forum. Forums are presented four times per year to audiences of 2,800 at The Bushnell theater in Hartford.
More than 400 brilliant guests have had their say about hundreds of provocative issues at Forum evenings, discussing everything from politics to food, technology to race, global affairs to music, and more. Past panelists include: Michelle Obama; Malcolm Gladwell; Justice Stephen Breyer; David Chang; Temple Grandin; Toni Morrison; Seth Meyers; Patti Smith; Neil deGrasse Tyson; Anita Hill; Fareed Zakaria; Doris Kearns Goodwin; Thomas Friedman; Sallie Krawcheck; Karl Rove; John Legend; Martina Navratilova; David McCullough and many more.
At The Connecticut Forum, you will find open, honest, civil dialogue - the free and active exchange of ideas that allows us to question our assumptions, consider new points of view, entertain our souls and connect with each other, stimulated by discovery and enriched by our differences...no winners or losers, no "them" versus "us."
A civil community. A civil society. The Forum Family.
All are welcome - join us.
Connecticut Forums are presented four times per year to diverse audiences of 2,800
at the historic Bushnell theater in Hartford, Connecticut.
Behind the Scenes
Malcolm Gladwell, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Michelle Bernard, and other panelists describe their experiences at The Connecticut Forum in these exclusive, behind-the-scenes interviews.
“It's a collision of ideas."
- Neil DeGrasse Tyson
"It's the first time I've ever experienced anything like this, and I wish there was a Connecticut Forum in all 50 states."
- Michelle Bernard
Inside the Connecticut Forum
Engaging articles and posts from The Connecticut Forum about forums, panelists, the Connecticut YOUTH Forum, the community and the world in which we live.
- The CT Forum Gets Happy at The Happiness, Meaning, and Fulfillment Forum 4.15.21 4/29/2021
- Exciting Leadership Transition at The Connecticut Forum 2/19/2021
- Making History with the Historians Forum 1.14.21 1/29/2021
- The Connecticut Forum Featured in the new Pete Souza documentary 11/24/2020
- How are you doing? 3/29/2020