Eva Holtby Lecture
Eva Holtby Lecture on Contemporary Culture
The ICC's annual program highlight is the celebrated Eva Holtby Lecture on Contemporary Culture, which brings powerful voices to the Museum to discuss provocative and engaging contemporary ideas.
Made possible through the generosity of former ROM Board member Philip Holtby, the Lecture is named in honour of his late wife, Eva Holtby. Additional funding was kindly provided by Eva Holtby's parents, Rudolph and Paula Schury.
The Eva Holtby Lecture has grown to become a highly-anticipated yearly event, focusing on relevant cultural issues of international scope, and attracting the world's most fascinating speakers.
2011 Eva Holtby Lecture on Contemporary Culture
Carlos Fuentes on Contemporary Mexico
November 14, 7pm
Samuel Hall 
Currelly Gallery, Royal Ontario Museum
Carlos Fuentes, Mexico’s most celebrated novelist and critic, has defined the cultural, emotional and hereditary identity of an entire continent. He is recognized worldwide as one of the greatest literary and political figures of the Spanish-speaking world. Fuentes’ novels include The New York Times bestseller, The Old Gringo, the recent novel Destiny and Desire, and the classics Terra Nostra and The Death of Artemio Cruz.
Past Lectures
2010 Eva Holtby Lecture: Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The Image of the African in Western Art
November 8, 2010 at 7 pm
Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery, Royal Ontario Museum
Acclaimed literary critic, author and public intellectual, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. presents “The Image of African in Western Art”. Dr. Gates is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University and now the host of the PBS television mini-series African American Lives.
> Listen to lecture
Lewis Lapham: Celebrity in Contemporary Culture
October 27, 2009
Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre
Celebrated American writer and publishing magnate Lewis Lapham presented ‘Celebrity in Contemporary Culture.’ This lecture was part of the programming series, The Question of Celebrity, associated with Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913 – 2008.
> Listen to lecture
Glenn Lowry: Oil and Sugar: Contemporary Art and Islamic Culture
November 20, 2008
Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre
Glenn Lowry, Director of Museum of Modern Art, examines relevant and topical cultural issues of international scope, followed by a panel discussion. Additional funding for this event is provided by Eva Holtby's parents, Rudolph and Paula Schury.
Kwame Anthony Appiah: The Politics of Culture, the Politics of Identity
October 12, 2007
Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre
Kwame Anthony Appiah, celebrated author of Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, will address some of the central ethical questions of our times.
Adam Gopnik: The Museum Today
October 13, 2006
Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre
Adam Gopnik spoke about "The Museum Today" and commented on recent trends in museums, audiences, and examined how museums explore contemporary subjects. This talk was commissioned especially for this occasion.
