About the 2026 Festival
What does it mean to be free? Who gets to claim freedom—and at what cost? Freedom is more than an ideal or slogan—it’s an encounter with competing systems, values, laws and visions of the world. At a time when debates over freedom reveal deep cultural and political divides, we turn our attention to its porous, evolving nature. We’ll examine freedom’s many dimensions: political liberation and civic rights, freedom of expression and imagination, bodily autonomy, spiritual and inner freedom, and the tensions between freedom and responsibility. How have artists, thinkers, and cultural leaders shaped our understanding of it—challenging, expanding, and sometimes upending unexamined assumptions? And what might freedom mean for the future of democratic societies? This year’s Cleveland Humanities Festival invites the public to reflect, imagine, and engage with these pressing questions through a series of public events in the spring of 2026.
Liberating Knowledge: A Young Scholar's Symposium
April 17, 2026
11am-1:30pm - Lunch providedMastery School of Hawken, Shiverick Hall, 10916 Magnolia Drive, Cleveland, OH 44106Students in the Spring 2026 Art, Society, + Culture class at the Mastery School of Hawken will present panels of exciting research across the humanities.mushRoom Mixer: ROOTS & REMAINS: Legacy in the Land
April 17, 2026
3:00 pmCleveland Public Library, Rice Branch, 11535 Shaker Blvd, Cleveland 44104ROOTS & REMAINS: Legacy in the Land is a mycelium-built recording booth and exhibit for sharing environmental justice stories, hosted in collaboration with Ideastream Public Media.
mushROOM Mixers is a creative workshop series celebrating the partnerships between people, plants, and fungi in restoring our communities and environment. Each session includes Reishi mocktails & teas and guided art or cultivation activities.
Sipping SovereignTEA: Tea Leaves of Liberation:
Artist Talk w/ Sky Hopinka
April 23, 2026
6 pm Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH
Hope Renewed: How eTMS Ohio transforms Mental Wellness
April 28, 2026
7 pm Cuyahoga County Public Library, Middleburg Heights Branch, 16699 Bagley Road, Middleburg Heights, OH 44130
Discover how a free, state-funded wellness program is transforming mental health care for first responders, Veterans, and their families.
Be the Fire: Rewriting Stress With Science and Soul with author Libbey Pelaia-Krumhansl
April 30, 2026
7:00 pm Cuyahoga County Public Library, Independence Branch, 6361 Selig Drive, Independence, OH 44131
Break free from stress with a dynamic approach that blends science and creativity.
Rose Wohlgemuth Weisman Women's Voices Lecture - Truly Seeing: Art, Freedom and Reckoning with the Past
May 1, 2026
6 pm Linsalata Alumni Center, 11310 Juniper Road, Cleveland, OH 44106
Free Comic Book Day
May 2, 2026
10:30 am Cuyahoga County Public Library, Brooklyn Branch, 7619 Memphis Avenue, Brooklyn, OH 44144
Join us help celebrate the annual day celebrating comic books! Free Comic books will be available starting at 10:30 AM while supplies last.
Adult Rocky River Readers Book Group: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
May 7, 2026
11:30 am Rocky River Public Library, Community Room,1600 Hampton Road, Rocky River, OH 44116
Joan Goodwin is among the few women accepted into NASA’s space shuttle program in the 1980s. As she and her fellow trainees prepare for their first flights, Joan embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Read this unforgettable bestseller and come share in the discussion.
This event is sponsored by Rocky River Public Library and is free and open to the public.
Understanding the School to Prison Pipeline
May 14, 2026
7 pm CCPL Bedford Branch, 70 Columbus Road, Bedford, Ohio 44146
Learn the root causes behind this economic phenomenon that disproportionally affects marginalized communities.
Suffragettes - USA!
May 16, 2026
11 am Cuyahoga County Public Library, Gates Mills Branch, 1491 Chagrin River Road, Gates Mills, OH 44040
Celebrate Women's History Month and explore the friendship of two iconic women’s rights leaders.
Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were close friends for 50 years. They collaborated fighting for women’s rights and advocated for the rights of others. Join us to hear about their challenges, setbacks and legacies. Discover how their pioneering significantly contributed to the passing of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote.