The Alpine Fellowship

For the past two years, the HAHN-Alpine Fellowship Symposiums have served as a unique platform for intellectual exchange and artistic exploration. Each year, renowned scholars and artists convene to address a central theme through interdisciplinary presentations that bridge the gap between various disciplines and spark meaningful dialogue. In July 2024, the theme was "Language", and HAHN brought 5 speakers to the symposium in Tuscany, Italy, where they had the opportunity to experience three days packed with inspiring talks, conversations, art, music, and theater on the topic. 

The program featured: 

• a talk on The Future of Free Speech by Allison Stanger and National Sun Yat-Sen University scholar Jacky Tai,
• a panel on Language and Race with renowned author and professor John McWhorter, Roger Berkowitz, and Ayishat Akanbi,
• a discussion on Choosing a Mother Tongue with Jana Mader, Tatiana Shchyttsova, and Andrew Huddleston,
• and a workshop on Citizens Assemblies with Roger Berkowitz. 

The 2024 HAHN-Alpine Fellowship Symposium on Language was the first to include recipients of the new Refugee Scholar Prize, a new program catalyzed by connections made through HAHN between the Alpine Fellowship and OSUN’s Bard Berlin.

In 2023 we explored some of the following questions:

• Is our striving for a particular conception of health or flourishing at the heart of our sickness? 
• And what if sickness or disease is a tremendous yet neglected and misunderstood portal to deeper health? 
• What would a conception of flourishing look like that integrated suffering right at the very heart of its approach to life? 
• Can a techno-scientific worldview aiming at a life free from suffering and filled with convenience really integrate such a conception? 
• What does it mean to be healthy, and what would constitute a healthy society?
• What role does our environment play in this? Can we conceive of our health as separate from our environment? 

In 2022 we gathered in Ellenborough Park, UK to explore the timely and fascinating topic of Freedom. We were joined by a selection of exceptional speakers for around the world, including Esther Perel, Yuval Noah Harari, Jamie Bartlett, Ayishat Akanbi, John Burnside, and many more. Watch all the recorded talks here.

From Composer and 2022 Participant Richard Zarou:
"What I most appreciated about my experience of the Alpine Fellowship was the kindness I encountered throughout the weekend. I was met with amazing talks on “Freedom” and after each presentation there was a sense of community that was shared in personal moments. There is no other place where I could have encountered such a beautiful diversity of ideas and thoughts coupled with friendship and kindness. The Alpine Fellowship is unlike anything I’ve every experienced and I am blessed to have been a part of it."