Wallace House Presents our 2026-2027 lineup of live events with Eric Schmitt of The New York Times, Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian and Rebecca Blumenstein of NBC News and more. Please mark your calendars for the events below and join us.
Upcoming 2026 Events
The 39th Annual Hovey Lecture with Chris Baxter of SpotlightPA
“Keeping the Promise: A Free Press in the Age of Distrust”
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 | 5:00 p.m.
Reception following the lecture
Wallace House Gardens
620 Oxford Road, Ann Arbor
RSVP here. RSVPs are not required, but are helpful for our planning
Two hundred fifty years ago, a group of delegates in Philadelphia signed a document that risked everything on a single conviction: that ordinary people, given truthful information about those in power, could govern themselves. But that promise is harder to keep every year. Join Christopher Baxter, 2016 Knight-Wallace Fellow and founder of the Pennsylvania nonprofit newsroom Spotlight PA, for a discussion on how local news lost its way, why the future of our free society and the future of a free press are inextricably linked and what journalists and the public can do to ensure the press can fulfill its constitutional role in service to “We the People.”
This is an in-person event and will not be live-streamed. However, a recording of the lecture will be available on our website following the event.
More information about this event.
Co-Sponsor:
Michigan Public
Journalists Rebecca Blumenstein and Diana Kapp, with Mursal Rahim, in conversation with Anna Quindlen
“The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape from Afghanistan & Coming of Age in America”
Thursday, October 1, 2026 | 4:30-6 p.m.
Rackham Amphitheatre
915 Washington Street, Fourth Floor
Free and Open to the public
RSVP here. RSVPs are not required, but are helpful for planning and updates.
When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, Rebecca Blumenstein, then a top editor at The New York Times, was deeply involved in the company’s effort to evacuate more than 200 Afghan colleagues and family members, eventually resettling 124 people in the United States. Among them were four young Afghan women who had been on the path to careers as doctors and lawyers.
Join co-authors Rebecca Blumenstein and Diana Kapp in conversation with Mursal Rahim, one of the women profiled in The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape from Afghanistan and Coming of Age in America, and journalist and novelist Anna Quindlen. Together they will discuss the extraordinary evacuation and the journey of Mursal, Marwa, Maryam and Samira as they build new lives in America.
More information about this event.
Co-Sponsors
Donia Human Rights Center
Eric Schmitt, national security reporter for The New York Times and Gabe Rottman, vice president of policy at the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press.
“DOJ and Threats to the Press”
Wednesday, October 7, 2026 | 4:30 – 6 p.m.
Annenberg Auditorium
735 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Free and open to the public.
After The New York Times reported on Secret Service concerns about President Trump’s use of the Qatari-donated 747, the administration subpoenaed Times journalists involved in the reporting. The Justice Department later withdrew the subpoenas.
Join Eric Schmitt of The New York Times and Gabe Rottman of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for a conversation about government pressure on journalists, the legal boundaries of government power and the public’s right to be informed. Moderated by Lynette Clemetson.
Detroit Story Fest 2026
“Villains”
Joshua Sharpe, 2022 Knight-Wallace Fellow, will be a presenter
Thursday, October 8, 2026 | 7 p.m.
Detroit Opera House
1526 Broadway St
Detroit, MI 48226
Ticketed Event.
Detroit Story Fest returns October 8 for one night only at Detroit Opera. This year’s theme is Villains, featuring stories about what we fear, what we misunderstand, and what we become. Villains are the ultimate contradiction, and this season explores them in all their humor and humanity; fear and foolishness; vice and virtue. The stories featured will be both personal and rooted in place, with some telling Detroit’s story and others scratching at the complexity of those who call it home. The most interesting villains are not stagnant. They move. They become. They will and are willed into being. Join us for a night of unfolding and reveal.
More information about this event.
Presenting Sponsors:
Detroit Opera
Americans United
An Evening with Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III
“America at 250: History, Memory and Truth”
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2026 | 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Rescheduled from the original March, 2026 date
Rackham Auditorium
915 Washington St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Free and open to the public.
RSVP here. RSVPs are not required, but are helpful for planning and updates.
Museums are the classrooms of our country. They play a crucial role in helping us understand the nation’s complex past. Join us for a dynamic conversation with Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and Lynette Clemetson, Director of Wallace House Center for Journalists, as they reflect on the significance of the 250th anniversary of the United States. At a moment in which discussions about our shared past and collective future feel especially urgent, this event offers an opportunity to learn from a leader who has devoted his career to informing and inspiring Americans to strive for the public good.
Co-Sponsors
Institute for Humanities
Democracy and Civic Empowerment
The University of Michigan Museum of Art
Life-Changing Education
Museum Studies Program
The University of Michigan Library