We find ourselves living in a time between times—when inherited frameworks are collapsing, trust in one another and in our institutions is eroding, and power, untethered from humility, too often turns predatory.

Into this unsettled moment, Comment invites all those quietly building a more human future—rooted in the dignity of each person, the beauty of our interdependence, and the courage to build what love requires—to gather for the inaugural Understory festival, a three-day civic and spiritual gathering to rehumanize our common life.

The Understory is not a conference but a people—a founding moment for a rising world of writers, artists, weavers, and civic builders to gather around a shared question: How might we rehumanize our common life and renew trust—between persons, and within the institutions that exist and those yet to be born?

At the heart of the festival are the six convictions of Comment magazine, streams of a Christian humanist tradition at once ancient and re-awakening today:

These six convictions form the living root system from which every element of the festival will grow—lectures, art, music, and meals alike.

Whether you lead an institution, parent, teach, build, write, farm, host, or create art, the Understory is a space to be seen, strengthened, and joined—to remember what’s real, recover an imagination for hope made flesh, and leaven and heal a cracked-up public square … together. Every element—from lectures to meals to music—will unfold like a living issue of Comment. Like the hidden layer of a forest that shelters life and strengthens what grows above, the Understory seeks to protect and renew the fragile roots of our common life.

Set within the Cathedral’s grandeur and hush, the Understory invites a slower kind of presence: attentive, reverent, and awake. We chose the Washington National Cathedral because it’s one of the rare public spaces in America capacious enough to hold the tensions we need to face - between Christianity and democracy, the magisterial and the confessional, the meta-narratives of decline and the embodied stories of hope - while inviting a new moral music to emerge.

The Understory festival will take place May 28–30, 2026. Registration opens at 4:00 pm on Thursday, May 28, and the final session will conclude around 1:00 pm on Saturday, May 30. Guests are encouraged to participate in the full festival experience.

If you plan to join us, we encourage early registration. A range of ticket types is available to fit your schedule and level of participation.

If you can’t attend the full festival, we hope you’ll join the public evening gathering in the Cathedral Nave on Friday, May 29, 2026, featuring music, storytelling, and a keynote conversation on Christian humanism in our time.

Tickets for the public evening gathering will be released in early 2026. We hope this shared night of beauty, story, and song will open the Cathedral’s doors to all who long to see a glimpse of a better future.

Registration will close when we reach capacity or by April 17, 2026, whichever comes first. Only 600 tickets available.

The Understory is not so much a conference as a people—a founding moment for an emerging world of writers, artists, weavers, and civic builders to gather around a shared question: How might we rehumanize our common life and renew trust—between persons, and within the institutions that exist and those yet to be born?