In the beginning (1984), the vision of the New York Open Center was to create something new: a single forum for ideas and experiences at the forefront of a shift in society’s awareness that many aspects of life are not separate but profoundly connected. At first, this holistic consciousness looked primarily to the search for inner, spiritual values. For new generations of seekers, this inquiry remains the baseline and starting point that we return to again and again.

Along the way…we soon began looking outward to the relationship between our values and how we act in the world. Programs and teachers focused on understanding health and mind-body healing, depth psychology, mystical and esoteric traditions, compassionate dying, socially responsible investing, humanity’s impact on the earth and renewable energy, untapped sources for creativity in the arts and what we can learn from world cultures.

Society and the Open Center teachers evolved. So we formed the Open Center Institute for Professional and Academic Development to begin applying these insights directly in the mainstream. More on this later.

Today…the Open Center is all of the above. Presenting over 500 programs of exceptional depth and integrity to audiences totaling more than 10,000 annually, we currently concentrate in five major areas: Contemplative and Spiritual Traditions; Health and Wellness; Psychology; Society and Ecology; and Creativity and the Arts.

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