Kick off the Festival with world-class barbecue from LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue, cold beer and a compelling conversation about the state of politics and the role of media following the 2016 elections.
Tribune co-founder and CEO Evan Smith will moderate a discussion with Steve Schmidt, a longtime Republican political strategist and top adviser to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John McCain; and Donna Brazile, a veteran Democratic political strategist, former interim chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee and former campaign director for Al Gore’s presidential run.
This event requires an additional ticket, which can be purchased here.
Presented by NRG Energy. Media support is provided by CultureMap.
Kick off the 2017 Festival with a free, open-to-the-public community forum on race and justice in America. This event will be hosted by the Tribune's Evan Smith and will feature MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and civil rights activist and organizer DeRay Mckesson.
The event is free to attend, but an RSVP is requested. RSVP for this event here.
Presented by The Texas Tribune and KLRU-TV, Austin PBS. Supported by the Austin Community College District.
Join us for breakfast, coffee and a portrait gallery from The Heart Gallery of Central Texas in the Community Hub before the day's first panels.
The Heart Gallery of Central Texas is a portrait exhibit and community education initiative featuring children in Central Texas who are waiting for adoption.
A larger Heart Gallery exhibition will be on display close by in the in the Union Ballroom on Saturday, Sept. 23 from 8am-4pm.
Presented by The Central Texas Heart Gallery, a program of Partnerships for Children
What was it like to cast your first ballot in a political race? We will be working with students at Texas Tribune Festival to document the experiences of Texas voters as part of our ongoing coverage of the electoral process.
Learn more about the Festival student experience here.
Presented by Pearson, the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation
The Speaker of the House on the regular and special sessions, Republicans at war and the future of Texas
Supported by AT&T
No state wants one more than the number one producer of crude oil in the U.S.
Join the Austin American-Statesman’s chief political writer Jonathan Tilove and U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, as they talk about Texas and national politics, including O’Rourke’s attempt to become the first Democrat elected as a U.S. senator from Texas since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.
Presented by the Austin American-Statesman
Join us for refreshments & conversation with the panelists of Trump and the Presidency in the Community Hub immediately following their panel.
Presented by Pearson
Get a healthy start with Doctors Hospital at Renaissance Health System. Enjoy breakfast at the Community Hub in the Union Ballroom immediately following "The Future of Medicaid" panel.
Presented by Doctors Hospital at Renaissance
Editors at two of Texas' top news sources — Community Impact Newspaper’s Joe Lanane and The Texas Tribune’s Ross Ramsey — on the role local and regional media plays in driving civic engagement.
Presented by Community Impact Newspaper
The former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former National Security Advisor on the increasingly complicated state of the world
Join us for refreshments & conversation with the panelists of The Politics of Bathrooms in the Community Hub immediately following their panel.
Presented by Equality Texas
Marfa Public Radio hosts a conversation about old school and new school ideas of West Texas — from romantic notions about one of the most rural parts of our state to the realities of life on the Texas-Mexico border, ranching culture and economic disparity.
Presented by Marfa Public Radio
Is America’s tradition of compassion for vulnerable populations a relic of the past, done in by concerns about public safety?
Refresh and recharge with light refreshments.
Presented by the Texas Association of Realtors
Join us for refreshments & conversation with the panelists of A Different Kind of Service in the Jessen Lounge immediately following their panel.
Presented by OldCastle Materials
Join Slate’s Jacob Weisberg for a conversation with Walter Shaub, former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, on how ethics used to work in the White House, why this administration is different and what the discussion surrounding ethics sounds like in the Trump era.
Presented by Slate
Join us for refreshments & conversation with Dr. Andrew Sansom in the Community Hub.
Presented by the Meadows Center for Water & the Environment
Houston’s police chief on the before, during and after the state’s biggest-ever natural disaster
By enabling educational attainment and opportunity, they strengthen communities and lift up students and families
Univision Austin News Anchor Hugo Chávez Montes will interview Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco Cabeza de Vaca about how his state is responding to the influx of recently deported immigrants and relations between his state and Texas officials — and between Mexico and President Trump.
Hugo Chávez Montes entrevistará a Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, gobernador de Tamaulipas, sobre cómo el estado está respondiendo a la llegada de inmigrantes recientemente deportados, y tambien hablarán de las relaciones entre los oficiales de Tamaulipas y Texas, y entre México y el presidente Trump.
Presented by Univison
Join us for refreshments & conversation with the panelists of Big-City Economics in the Jessen Lounge immediately following their panel.
Presented by the Texas Municipal League
Join us for refreshments & conversation with TxDOT Executive Director James Bass in the AT&T Lounge immediately following his panel.
Presented by The Texas A&M University System
Join us for refreshments & conversation with the panelists of What HBCUs Mean to Texas in the FAC Lounge immediately following their panel.
Presented by Huston-Tillotson University
The new top cop in Dallas on fighting crime, keeping the peace, and secrets of urban policing
Supported by Operation Blue Shield
The Texas Education Commissioner on what it will take to make our schools and school districts the best in the nation
Supported by Pearson
Drought conditions are mostly behind us, so the Legislature has moved on to more pressing matters — but our long-term natural resources problem remains
Supported by Accenture
