Jul 31, 2023 - Things to Do

A new "ideas" festival is coming to Des Moines

Linh Ta

Speakers at gravitate coworking — The Lyceum Movement in Des Moines holds an event discussing "media." Photo: Courtesy of The Lyceum Movement

A new festival focused on big ideas and letting conversations flow takes place on Aug. 6 at the former Des Moines Social Club downtown.

Driving the news: Hosted by The Lyceum Movement, "Tallgrass" is a day-long event where speakers and audience members chat about a range of cultural topics, including the "philosophy of food" and the Iowa caucuses.

State of play: Speakers include WHO-13 political director Dave Price, Iowa State political scientist Susan Laehn and Nadia Ahissou of Nadia's French Bakery.

There will also be a live podcast recording of "The Wisdom of Crowds" with co-hosts Shadi Hamid of "The Atlantic" and The Aspen Institute's Samuel Kimbriel.

The big picture: The festival aims to bring people together for conversations and relationships as people feel more political polarization and isolation from each other, event organizer Nathan Beacom tells Axios.

Tickets: $35.

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A new "ideas" festival is coming to Des Moines

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