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This morning, we’re excited to share the amazing full program for the 2022 Texas Tribune Festival, our 12th annual but best-ever ideas weekend. Over three jam-packed days — Sept. 22-24 — we’ll gather thousands of friends and neighbors and fellow Texans in downtown Austin for more than 100 conversations about the future of our cities, our state, our country and our world, not to mention, in a moment of peril, our democracy.
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Here’s what we have planned: A couple dozen one-on-one interviews with the biggest names in politics and policy and scores of panel discussions on the issues in play — things that affect every one of us in our daily lives, from education and health care to energy and the environment. State and local leaders and members of Congress detailing how they’re serving the public interest. Candidates from both parties making their pitches six weeks from Election Day. Headline-making journalists letting you peek inside their notebooks. Big-name authors talking about their bestselling books. Your favorite podcasts recorded with you in the room. For wonks and newbies alike, it’s going to be great.
We’ll have more than 350 speakers this year, some of whom we’ve been trying to get to this event forever. We previously announced about a third of those, including former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Govs. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas; U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy; Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel; U.S. Reps. Chip Roy, Michael McCaul, Tony Gonzales, Mayra Flores, Joaquin Castro, Veronica Escobar, Sylvia Garcia and Marc Veasey of Texas, plus Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Adam Schiff of California; Mayors Mattie Parker of Fort Worth, Sylvester Turner of Houston and Ginger Nelson of Amarillo; Pulitzer Prize winners Annette Gordon-Reed, Ashley Parker, Maggie Haberman and Walter Isaacson; Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Alexis McGill Johnson; Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan; Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath; and Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar.
This morning we’re so pleased to add, among nearly 200 others, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California; U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas; U.S. Reps. Dan Crenshaw, Colin Allred and Lloyd Doggett of Texas; Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to combat and monitor antisemitism; Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, former Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis; Mayor Eric Adams of New York; journalists Alex Wagner, Katie Benner, Soledad O’Brien, Ali Vitali, Brian Stelter, Lawrence Wright, David Maraniss and Jonathan Capehart; NBA Hall of Famer Chris Bosh; singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett; and “Saturday Night Live” cast member Alex Moffat.
#TribFest22 begins, as it does every year, with our pre-game Franklin Barbecue dinner on Wednesday, Sept. 21 (sorry, it sold out long ago). We have light programming on Thursday, the 22nd, to lure you downtown during the day to pick up your festival badge — and we’ll be posting a few prerecorded sessions online to whet your appetite for what’s to come. Our opening session is Thursday night at the Paramount Theater. Friday, the 23rd, we have a full program spread across nine venues. Friday night we have our big fundraising dinner, TribFeast; two film screenings; and political trivia night emceed by bestselling author and Bulwark writer-at-large Tim Miller. There’s a full program again on Saturday, the 24th, in those same nine venues plus five tents on Congress Avenue — the free suite of sessions that we call Open Congress — and then our closing session that night at the Paramount.
We’ll be announcing the opening and closing keynotes in a few weeks (you’ll be as excited as we are when you see who we’ve lined up) along with special experiences for students, Tribune members and executive pass holders. Get your tickets today by going here. There’s never been a more important time to engage — to listen to and talk with people you agree and disagree with about the things that matter and to get yourself better informed heading into Election Day.
Join us! You will be better for it. Texas will be, too.
Disclosure: Planned Parenthood has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
When you join us at The Texas Tribune Festival Sept. 22-24 in downtown Austin, you’ll hear from changemakers who are driving innovation, lawmakers who are taking charge with new policies, industry leaders who are pushing Texas forward and so many others. See the growing speaker list and buy tickets.