Conversation Starters
A monthly chronicle on the gatherings reshaping cities through dialogue.
Is it just us or has the pace of modern life, online and off, become a study in overstimulation? Since inception, No Small Talk was designed to add value and not become another demand on attention. This means our cadence is slower, more deliberate and intentionally infrequent.
As we close Season 3, we’ve been mapping the principles and wisdom of Rick Rubin’s, The Creative Act, building a curriculum to cultivate resilience in uncertain times. Through attentional observation, wrestling with resistance, and crafting a taste canon, our hope is that this cohort leaves not simply more informed, but more attuned to curiosity over fear.
It’s no surprise that we, too, were changed by the process. We entered as facilitators but remained students, living out the words of Maya Angelou: “When you get, give. When you learn, teach.” Which brings us to this moment.
In our most recent session, we spoke with Mona Ismail, founder of Arca, about the tensions between growth and integrity. When asked how she sustains her values while scaling her business, she returned to a simple but enduring lesson: stay rooted in who you are, and let your superpower emerge from there.
It left us reflecting on our own strengths, our commitment to community, conversation, and the spaces where they meet. That spirit inspired Conversation Starters, our monthly round-up of gatherings reshaping cities through dialogue at the intersection of education and entertainment. Too often, we’ve seen thoughtful conversation unfold in empty rooms. Our aim is to spotlight the spaces where dialogue doesn’t just inform, but emboldens, empowers and inspires.
That said, we’re taking the same advice we offered our cohort: go, set, ready. Toni Morrison once said, write the book you want to read and we’re extending that ethos to the spaces we build, including this curated list of gatherings centered on the conversations we ourselves want to be part of.
Maybe we’ll see you there?
In community,
Jennifer and Miriam
(DETROIT) The Gun Violence Memorial Project Panel Discussion
May 3, 2025 at 1PM
Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
The exhibition is a collaborative initiative illuminating the gun violence epidemic in America and honoring lives lost to gun violence. Panelists will explore the project’s role in collective memory, healing, and activism, discuss firearm injury prevention strategies, and reflect on how art can amplify community voices, foster healing, and inspire action against gun violence. Featured panelists include Hank Willis Thomas, Jha D Amazi, Alia Harvey-Quinn, and Jova Lynne. Here
(LOS ANGELES) José Andrés in Conversation with Baratunde Thurston, discussing his book,Change the Recipe: Because You Can’t Build a Better World Without Breaking Some Eggs
May 4, 2025 at 4:30PM
Aratani Theater at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center
José Andrés is a chef, an entrepreneur, an author, an Emmy award-winning television host, and a tireless humanitarian leader across the globe. A Michelin-starred chef with more than forty restaurants, José is also the founder of World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit dedicated to feeding the hungry in the wake of natural and man-made disasters. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Zaytinya, The World Central Kitchen Cookbook, We Fed an Island, and Vegetables Unleashed. He was honored as Outstanding Chef and Humanitarian of the Year by the James Beard Foundation, was twice named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.
Baratunde Thurston is a storyteller exploring interdependence across our relationships with each other, nature, and technology. He is an Emmy-nominated host, a writer, public speaker, and proud Earthling. His newest project is Life With Machines, a YouTube podcast exploring the human side of the A.I. revolution. Baratunde is also host and executive producer of the PBS series America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston, creator and host of the How To Citizen podcast, and a founding partner and writer at Puck. His comedic memoir, How To Be Black, is a New York Times best-seller. Event details here
(LOS ANGELES) Art21 | Ursula Magazine: Book Launch & Talk with Miranda July
May 6, 2025 at 6:30PM
Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles
In celebration of Art21’s newest book, Artists & the Unknown: Art21 Interviews with Artists, Art21 and Ursula Magazine invite you to a special event celebrating contemporary art and the written word. Celebrated artist, filmmaker, and writer Miranda July will join Jurrell Lewis, Art21's associate curator, for a conversation about how artists use randomness, mystery, and unknowability to try to answer some of life’s biggest questions. Here
(NEW YORK) Our Times Together: A Conversation Among Friends Celebrating ‘David Hammons’
May 7, 2025 at 6PM
Hauser & Wirth 18th St
On the occasion of the release of the new post-exhibition catalogue ‘David Hammons’ from Hauser & Wirth Publishers, please join us for a conversation among friends with curator Linda Goode Bryant, artists Glenn Ligon and Jules Allen, musician Vernon Reid, friend of the artist AC Hudgins and former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Tom Finkelpearl. Here
(LOS ANGELES) Silent Writing Session: From Silence to Spark, A Creative Evening with Steven Pressfield hosted by Roda Ahmed
May 10, 2025 at 6:30PM
LAAMP - Los Angeles Academy of Artists and Music Production
Set within the quiet, inspiring atmosphere of LAAMP in Santa Monica, this unique event invites you to explore how resistance shows up in your life and work, hear Steven Pressfield speak candidly about the fires (both literal and metaphorical) he's moved through, and disconnect from distraction and connect to your creative self. Here
(SAN FRANCISCO) Author Discussion: Vicki Tan, ‘Ask This Book A Question’
May 15, 2025 at 7:00PM
Black Bird Book Bookstore
SF-based digital product designer and author Vicki Tan discusses her book Ask This Book a Question, an illustrated guide to better decision making, blending the science of cognitive bias with the magic of storytelling. Here
(LOS ANGELES) In Conversation: David Hammons’ ‘Concerto in Black and Blue’ moderated by Darby English, with Jasper Marsalis, Harryette R. Mullen and Joe Ray
May 17, 2025 at 11AM
Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles
In light of how we may experience David Hammons’ historic 2002 installation ‘Concerto in Black and Blue’—reprised for the first time at Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles—this conversation invites current reflections and asks: What do we make of the work’s darkness now? The program will be moderated by Darby English, whose book ‘How to See a Work of Art in Total Darkness’ opens precisely with this observation: ‘One cannot, of course, except in the most extraordinary circumstances, such as when darkness itself forms the condition of the work's visibility.’ Here
(NEW YORK) Brooklyn Reads: Marsha with Tourmaline and Phoebe Robinson
May 22, 2025 at 7PM
Brooklyn Museum
Celebrate the legacy of Black transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson with author and artist Tourmaline at an evening featuring a performance, reading, and conversation. In her debut book, Tourmaline—whose work anchored our 2019 exhibition Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall—offers the first definitive biography of Johnson as both an activist and artist. Here
(LOS ANGELES) Rediscovering a Modernist Visionary: Clara Porset’s Design Legacy
May 28, 2025 at 7PM
Hammer Museum
In an illuminating conversation celebrating the new book LIVING DESIGN: The Writings of Clara Porset, Hammer Museum Director Zoë Ryan will be joined by distinguished art historian Brenda Danilowitz, editor of Anni Albers: Selected Writings on Design, and architectural historian Jane Hall, author of Breaking Ground: Architecture by Women, to explore Porset's groundbreaking contributions to mid-century modernism. This panel will examine how Porset, a Cuban-born designer who made Mexico her home, challenged prevailing design orthodoxies by championing both handcraft and industrial production. The discussion will highlight her previously untranslated writings and contextualize her place in global modernism, while also addressing the broader theme of women's design writing as a form of intellectual resistance and self-positioning in traditionally male-dominated fields. Here
Please note all event copy, images and titles for are borrowed from their respective websites and are not our own.
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