Talks & Conversations

Ages 18+

At the JCCSF, we’re always on a quest for something intangible but ever-so valuable: ideas! Through Talks & Conversations, we bring together thought leaders, entertainers, authors, and innovators to spark meaningful dialogue and inspire curiosity. As a community, sharing thoughts and ideas is part of our core mission. Fresh dialogue fuels our sense of discovery. And it brings us even closer together.

To keep the ideas coming and the conversations going, we bring you thought leaders, entertainers, authors and innovators.

Whether in panel discussions, intimate chats or virtual workshops, these distinguished guests offer diverse perspectives and windows into other cultures and mindsets.

Over the years, we’ve welcomed many luminaries to our stage. Some are well known. Others are rising stars and ones to watch. All are making an impact and elevating our sense of purpose.

Schedule

July 2026
Arts & Ideas

Star Spangled Song & Dance of WWII

Date
Tuesday, July 7
Time
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Appreciate the powerful significance of the topical songs and movie musicals that sustained and uplifted spirits ...
Arts & Ideas

I Hear America Singing: American Opera in the Mid-20th Century

Date
Thursday, July 9
Time
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
American opera came into its own in the mid-1900s. Explore how American composers created a markedly new operatic style.
Arts & Ideas

Early Elvis: Meteoric Rise to Stardom

Date
Thursday, July 16
Time
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Thrill to footage of Elvis’s classics from the '50s that laid the groundwork for him being anointed the King of Rock ...
Arts & Ideas

Given Names

Date
Friday, July 17
Time
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Thirteen people tell their stories through their first names. Their answers blend personal histories with broader ...
Arts & Ideas

Where To?

Date
Sunday, July 19
Time
8:00 PM - 9:30 PM
A Palestinian Uber driver and a lost young Israeli cross paths during a series of taxi rides through Berlin, leading to ...
Arts & Ideas

Landscapes of Memory

Date
Monday, July 20
Time
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
While living and working in Germany, filmmaker Leah Galant reckons with family trauma and the the historical memory of ...
Arts & Ideas

The Soundman

Date
Tuesday, July 21
Time
8:30 PM - 10:30 PM
Set at a Brussels radio station on the eve of the 1940 German invasion, this tragicomic story of the intertwined ...
Arts & Ideas

Amazing Live Sea Monkeys

Date
Wednesday, July 22
Time
8:30 PM - 10:00 PM
A widow fights powerful corporations to reclaim her late husband’s famous Sea-Monkeys toy empire while protecting its ...
Arts & Ideas

What Was She Thinking

Date
Thursday, July 23
Time
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Four close friends – proudly child-free women – take on every question the world throws at them with honesty, humor, ...
Arts & Ideas

I Don't Know What I'm Doing Here

Date
Friday, July 24
Time
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Guided by her grandmother’s unmarked photographs, an American college student journeys through Romania, searching for ...

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