ATHENS – The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) shared an update about the SNF Nostos celebration scheduled for June 23-27, 2021. The text of their message follows:

SNF Nostos is about returning to what makes us happy— to familiar places, the things we like to do, and people whose company we enjoy.

After the long journey of this year, people around the world are united by the shared hope of being able to return to these joys, to the company and the activities we love. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) hopes that this year’s SNF Nostos celebration will offer a bright point on the horizon, an event that turns nostalgia into anticipation as we move forward toward the relaxing, joyful summers we’ve known in the past.

We can’t be certain what the future holds, and there is a long and hard road ahead, but we can let ourselves be guided by optimism. And that optimism means planning to present a real SNF Nostos experience this coming summer, as we’ve done every year since 2015: a genre-defying, multidisciplinary celebration filling the marvelous spaces of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) with creative chaos and energizing fun. We intend to share the full SNF Nostos experience in person, but are ready to make necessary adaptations if this is not advisable.

From June 23-27, 2021, we’re planning five dazzling days of concerts, performances, art installations by Greek and international artists, programs for kids and families, and the signature events of SNF Nostos: the SNF Nostos Conference on Humanity and Artificial Intelligence, the SNF Nostos Run, and SNF DIALOGUES discussions.

Among the many transformations it has brought about, the pandemic has proven to be a catalyst that has accelerated technological change and underscored the importance of the relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence. Nostos events, especially the SNF Nostos Conference, will aim to help us get a handle on what is happening around us now, what choices lie ahead, and how humanity and artificial intelligence interact with each other, informing our understanding of work, education, justice, history, and even wisdom.

2020’s reboot of the status quo offered us a chance to reflect and to reinvent SNF’s summer events—while preserving the values and ideas that are core to their identity—informed by the experience of hosting an online RetroFuture edition. Now, we would like to reintroduce these events, previously the Summer Nostos Festival, as the new SNF Nostos, a concentrated, reenergized opportunity to get together, have fun, engage in dialogue, and share culture.

We hope that the coming months chart a positive course, and we look forward to being able to meet all of you in person again.

Nostos: NOUN (from ancient Greek) A homecoming, especially after a long, difficult journey, such as the return of Odysseus and other Greeks after the Trojan War.