The biggest new detail, your gateway to all the others, is that information about the events, activities, and speakers that will light up SNF Nostos is now available at snfnostos.org. There’s much more to come—including, in a few weeks, the SNF Nostos app—and snfnostos.org will have all the latest as it comes hot off the press.
Before you explore the program for the week, here’s a taste of what’s new:
- We’ll hear in person from NBA champion, two-time MVP, and All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Olympic medalist Emmanouil “Manolo” Karalis, who ranks an all-time fourth in the world in pole vaulting’s rarified “6 meters club," about the values and support systems that drive them to push through obstacles, excel, and give back
- Journalist and New York Times bestselling author of Empire of AI Karen Hao will share her views on AI and how it’s reshaping society.
- We’ll hear practical words of wisdom from the 14th Dalai Lama in Wisdom of Happiness, a documentary billed as likely his last appearance in a film.
- Choir! Choir! Choir! will help us appreciate that, even if we can’t all sing like Pavarotti, something special can happen when our voices come together in “our house.”
- More sessions than you can shake a stick at will offer riveting discourse throughout the week on topics ranging from what public space will look like 30 years from now to where Europe fits into the US-China relationship, to journalism’s role in public health, to the future of human rights movements in the face of rising threats, to ideas from young people about how to make real change in society. This culminates on Friday in what we’re calling the “core” of the SNF Nostos Conference, a big day of plenary sessions. Registration is now open!
- Journalism nonprofit and close SNF collaborator iMEdD (incubator for Media Education and Development) will bring a journalistic lens to the proceedings, hosting a panel discussion on the future of journalism, producing editorial content tied to the week’s events, and creating a space where attendees can interface with journalists from the iMEdD team and its international network, as well as their work. We’re also very pleased that young journalists from Radio Workshop will once again play a role at SNF Nostos.
- Renowned magician Mark Mitton will lead an interactive session on “the wonder of life, magic, and AI.”
Throughout the week, we’ll build our own schedules by choosing from sessions at thematic “Houses” and a rich variety of other events, in a program curated together with iMEdD. Then on Friday, we’ll all come together for moving and enlightening shared experiences before saying goodbye at a farewell party on Saturday night. SNF Nostos 2026 is a celebration of SNF’s 30th anniversary, and the week will be punctuated with special surprises to mark the occasion.
SNF Nostos’s homebase—as it has been in years past—is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) in Athens. But this year, the events also extend to other corners of Greece; learn how below.
Sunday, June 21 and beyond: Opening day and here to stay
A performance by David Byrne in collaboration with Release Athens will kick off SNF Nostos 2026 with music and dance, with an opener starting at 6:30 pm. The openings of Artefacts of the Future, an exhibition by ETH Zurich whose imagined relics from the future will spark discussion on ethics and technology, and an immersive installation on SNF’s 30 years of grantmaking will set the stage for topics and themes that will be discussed throughout the week. A performance of A Streetcar Named Desire at 7 pm leads a series of special productions by the Greek National Opera ballet throughout the week, including To Have Been So Close So Many Times, an original work by GNO Artistic Director Giorgos Koumendakis and Future Cargo, featuring sci-fi dance in a futuristic 40-foot semi-truck. The Kafeneio tou Gianni, a digital detox café, opens and invites us all to leave the phone, take the frappé and find authentic connection unmediated by screens throughout the week. A plein air exhibition of works by fellows and grantees of Greek nonprofit ARTWORKS around the SNFCC’s Stavros Niarchos Park also opens on Sunday.
Monday, June 22 – Wednesday, June 24: Visit the SNF public hospitals
You’re invited to visit the new public hospitals under construction across Greece as part of SNF’s Global Health Initiative (GHI). See what it will mean to have a specialized pediatric hospital in the northern part of Greece at the SNF University Pediatric Hospital of Thessaloniki, what hospital design prioritizing sustainability looks like at the SNF General Hospital of Komotini, and why the optimal hospital site is worth taking extra pains for at the SNF General Hospital of Sparta. More details on timing and how to take part are coming soon.
Monday, June 22 – Thursday, June 25: The Houses
Above all, SNF Nostos 2026 celebrates three decades of work by our amazing grantee-partners, and from Monday through Thursday, we’re passing the mic to them to spark conversation related to their fascinating work. These sessions, which we’ll choose from to build our own schedules, will be hosted at four “Houses” around the SNFCC reflecting SNF’s grantmaking pillars:
- The House of Civics & Education
- The House of Health & Sports
- The House of Arts & Culture
- The House of the Future
The theme of social welfare, another of our pillars, permeates them all. Each house will take its turn in the spotlight on one of those four days with a more extensive slate of events, generally running from 10 am to late afternoon.
On Monday, the House of Civics & Education takes the floor. We’ll talk about what libraries, education, and journalism will look like 30 years in the future with organizations like the National Library of Greece; what’s coming for human rights movements with a group including actor, filmmaker, and Amnesty UK Ambassador Maisie Richardson-Sellers; ethics and institutions in democratic resilience; the power of narrative; a tragic turning point in the Greek Revolution; and more. We’ll also hear from one of the world’s foremost spiritual leaders in the documentary Wisdom of Happiness.
On Tuesday, the House of Health & Sports takes its turn at bat. We’ll hear the latest updates from SNF’s Global Health Initiative (GHI); perspectives on mental health from Greece, South Africa, Brazil, and Mozambique and from young people; ideas for addressing global disparities in pediatric cancer outcomes and improving rehabilitation for all cancer survivors; thoughts on journalism’s role in public health; an assertion of the value of mentorship in medicine; a comedic keynote; musings on what jazz reveals about neuroscience; and a theory of how we can move toward ending gender-based violence.
On Wednesday, it’s the House of Arts & Culture’s turn to shine. We’ll talk about the future of public space and of museums, the social responsibilities borne by arts organizations, Africa’s cultural clout, the intersection of art and medicine, young people’s ideas on systemic change and mental health, and more.
On Thursday, the House of the Future has its day. We’ll talk AI for all, get a snapshot of our changing world in readily comprehensible charts, reimagine the scientific process, learn if physics is for us (spoiler alert: it is), ask whether going back to the land is the way forward, scrutinize how our digital existence can enable human trafficking, hear firsthand how vital girls’ education is for the future, foray into bioethics, and go “beyond the biohack.” Then, at 6 pm on Thursday, you’ll be summoned to jury duty in The Trials of Atlas, a participatory play by Tällberg Foundation chairman Alan Stoga.
Monday, June 22 – Saturday, June 27: Football for all (soccer for some)
We’ll live the soaring heights and crushing defeats of the World Cup in parallel through the SNF Nostos Cup, a soccer tournament taking place at the Municipal Field of Kallithea, created by Renzo Piano Building Workshop through an SNF grant before the SNFCC sprang into existence nearby. More on how to join the tournament, which will run in the early evening, soon!
Tuesday, June 23: SNF Nostos Run
On June 23, Olympic Day, we’ll revel in the endorphins as we run for a good cause, starting at sunset in Central Athens and heading towards the SNFCC, at the SNF Nostos Run, organized by our close partner Regeneration & Progress. Information on how to register is coming soon.
Wednesday, June 24 – Thursday, June 25: Trivia nights
Test your trivia mettle at the SNF Nostos versions of a popular Athenian quiz night.
Thursday, June 25: Primetime primates
Gorillaz might be a virtual band, but this live performance at Release Athens X SNF Nostos is guaranteed to be a real good time. The opener goes on at 6:30 pm.
Friday June 26: The Core of the Conference
SNF Nostos 2026 is designed as a microcosm of SNF’s 30 years of grantmaking, and within that microcosm, Friday’s program will be a macrocosm. (Is it just a “cosm,” then? Opinions from cosmologists, cosmographers, and cosmetologists welcome.) Starting at 8:30 am on the dot, giants in their fields will bring big ideas about topics like AI, health, geopolitics, and family to a day led by SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos and inspired by the SNF Nostos Youth Advisory Committee, a day which will also feature an SNF Dialogues discussion in a novel “fishbowl” format curated and moderated by Anna Kynthia Bousdoukou and organized in collaboration with Simon Fraser University at 5 pm.
The Houses of Arts & Culture, Civics & Education, Health & Sports, the Future will have hosted us in choosing our own adventures throughout the week, but on Friday we’ll all come together in Stavros Niarchos Hall—your house, ever since SNF gave the SNFCC to the public in 2017.
On Friday we’ll learn about gutsy, innovative efforts to trigger paradigm shifts in physical and mental health supported through SNF’s Global Health Initiative (GHI) just after 8:30 am; see how sports are all fun and games until someone gets included (at which point they become much more than that); hear in person at 10 from two of Greece’s—and the world’s—greatest athletes, NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo and record-setting pole vaulter Emmanouil “Manolo” Karalis, about how what happens in the game affects what happens outside it—and vice versa; ponder at 11 where Europe fits in the US-China puzzle in a session curated by Chatham House; have our senses bamboozled but our brains enlightened by a session on magic, AI, and more with Mark Mitton at noon; hear from journalist and bestselling author Karen Hao where she sees the imperial dimensions of AI at 1; and hear about the surprising fragility of mighty Everest at 2:30.
What’s the Wi-Fi password? Where’s the nearest restroom? How do you spell “Massachusetts”? No question is off-limits in an Ask Me Anything with Andreas at quarter to 3, after which we’ll announce the outcome of a special grantmaking initiative undertaken by the SNF Nostos Youth Advisory Committee. As we celebrate our last 30 years, they will play an important role in shaping what the next 30 look like.
The big day winds down with a concert by some of the most talented prima donnas and primo uomos we know—all of us—when Choir! Choir! Choir! deputizes the audience into their chorus at 6:45 in “our house.”
Saturday, June 27: Closing party
After the soccer tournament final and two Greek National Opera performances, all in the evening, SNF Nostos comes to a close with a DJ party lasting until the early morning hours that would surely shake the rafters if it weren’t being held outside under a beautiful Greek summer sky.
Sunday, June 28: But wait, there’s more!
One last GNO performance at 8 pm rounds out the week as you take your last chance to visit the interactive map of SNF’s grants and the Artefacts of the Future exhibit.
There’s plenty more yet to be confirmed, but we hope this gets you started in envisioning what your week at SNF Nostos might look like. Don’t pressure yourself to squeeze everything in—pick and choose which events make sense for you to attend. Sessions will start promptly at the appointed time to help keep everything on track.
We very much hope to see you in Athens in June and at snfnostos.org in the meantime!