THE 2025 FESTIVAL IS A WRAP!
The 2025 Cascade PBS Ideas Festival brought together brilliant minds from near and far. It was a celebration of curiosity, connection, and the power of bold ideas. Thank you to the community that came together to pack the house, the speakers who enlightened us, our partners, sponsors, volunteers and hardworking staff. We will see you again in 2026.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival is a full-day event in the heart of downtown Seattle, featuring live podcast recordings, studio television tapings, and more. Journalists, newsmakers, and thought leaders from around the world take on hot topics making news and the biggest issues of our time.
PODCASTS & TELEVISION
Podcasts from around the country come to Seattle to record live sessions that are recorded for broadcast and streaming on Cascade PBS; including publications like The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Vox, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and more.
LISTEN & WATCH
Watch conversations on Cascade PBS Ideas Festival ON DEMAND. Listen to full length podcast editions of all festival conversations HERE.
SPEAKERS
The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival has hosted hundreds of speakers such as Jane Goodall, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Malcolm Gladwell, Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, Macklemore, Judy Woodruff, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Senator Jeff Flake, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Senator Jon Tester, Jake Tapper, Ross Douthat, Al Franken, Attorney General Eric Holder, Michael Barbaro, Carl Bernstein, Ezra Klein, Amanda Knox, Matt Damon, Dahlia Lithwick, Heather Cox Richardson, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Governor Christine Todd Whitman.
MORE TO DO
In addition to the live podcasts and television taping, Elliott Bay Book Company hosts a pop up bookstore with all the speaker books available. Attendees can meet the speakers in a Q&A Corner after each session, or share thoughts and make community with fellow attendees at After Show Meetups. There are also food trucks, interactive installations, a happy hour and live DJ.
CONNECT WITH US
Interested in learning more? Reach us at events@cascadepbs.org
