The Atlantic Festival Brings Politics, Culture, and Technology Into One Debate

Some events are organized around an industry. The Atlantic Festival is organized around the questions that cut across all of them.

The Atlantic Festival 2026 returns to New York from September 17 through 19 for three days of conversations, screenings, performances, book talks, live podcast recordings, and interactive experiences.

Where Different Systems Collide

The program sits at the intersection of politics, culture, business, technology, and media. That breadth is useful because the most consequential decisions rarely stay inside one category.

AI becomes a labor question. Industrial policy becomes a capital question. Media becomes a trust question. Leadership becomes a question about institutions.

The Festival creates a public forum for those connections rather than treating each issue as a separate track.

The 2026 Room

Announced participants include Pete Buttigieg, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Karl Rove, Rahm Emanuel, Amna Nawaz, Anne Applebaum, Jeffrey Goldberg, Jemele Hill, and other Atlantic journalists and public figures.

The main venue is the Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center, with additional Atlantic-led experiences at cultural venues across Manhattan.

Event Details

The Atlantic Festival runs September 17 through 19 at PAC NYC and other New York venues. The 2026 event is in person and will not be livestreamed, although selected sessions may later be available on demand. General-admission and single-day passes are available, with separately ticketed experiences across the city. View the agenda and purchase passes on the official Festival site.