The Atlantic Announces NBCUniversal News Group as Exclusive Media Partner of The Atlantic Festival

The Atlantic is announcing a collaboration with NBCUniversal News Group to be the exclusive media partner of The Atlantic Festival, its annual live event gathering the most influential voices on the ideas shaping a changing nation. The Atlantic Festival is happening virtually from September 22–24 and September 27–30, and for the second year all events are free to attend. Audience registration is here.

As the exclusive media partner, several of NBCUniversal News Group’s journalists will join The Atlantic’s editors and writers in moderating interviews during the second week of the festival, and NBCUniversal News Group will cover portions of The Atlantic Festival on its platforms. Dozens of The Atlantic’s journalists, led by editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, will participate in festival interviews and events exploring the range of The Atlantic’s reporting.

Among the interviews being announced today: EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan, interviewed by TODAY co-host Al Roker; Senator Marco Rubio, interviewed by NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell; Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynthia “Cynt” Marshall, interviewed by TODAY co-anchor Hoda Kotb; and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, in conversation with TODAY news anchor and MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin. NBC News correspondent Harry Smith will also lead a conversation about the Showtime series American Rust with actor and executive producer Jeff Daniels, actor Maura Tierney, and showrunner and executive producer Dan Futterman.

All speakers and events announced to date are at The Atlantic Festival site, and include:

• Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the CDC
• Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE)
• Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, senior adviser to the White House COVID-19 Response Team
• Actor, producer, and activist Rosario Dawson, who’s starring in the forthcoming series Dopesick
• Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines
• American fashion designer Christian Siriano
• Lauren Groff, author of Matrix
• The cast and filmmakers of the forthcoming movie Mass, including actors Ann Dowd and Jason Isaacs and director Fran Kranz
• Filmmaker Ken Burns with Rasheda Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, on Burns’s new PBS documentary series about the boxer.

The theme for this year’s festival is “Visions of What America Can Be,” with events across the seven days mirroring the reporting that has defined The Atlantic over the past year––on the pandemic, global democracy, the state of the country, culture, and our individual mental health and well-being. Atlantic subscribers will receive access to special events across the festival, including “The Big Story: The Fallout in Afghanistan,” a conversation featuring staff writers Anne Applebaum and George Packer, senior editor Yoni Appelbaum, and Deep State Radio host David Rothkopf.

The 2021 Atlantic Festival is supported by Facebook as the Founding Level Underwriter; Boston Consulting Group, EY, Genentech, Southern Company, and Walton Family Foundation as Presenting Level Underwriters; Allstate and U.S. Bank as Supporting Level Underwriters; and Barclays, Janssen Neuroscience, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, PayPal, Salesforce.org, and Truth Initiative as Contributing Level Underwriters.