Join us for a special evening with john a. powell

Presented by the Bush Foundation and MPR News

The Bush Foundation and MPR News are excited to welcome john a. powell, the inspiring author of “The Power of Bridging: How to Build a World Where We All Belong” to the historic Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 2, 2025.

We hope you can join us for this special evening of conversation and community building—and that it inspires you to find ways to build bridges across differences in your everyday lives. The event is free with registration.

MPR News’ Catharine Richert, who leads the “Talking Sense” reporting project that aims to help people have hard conversations about politics, better, will host the conversation with john.

Bring yourself, friends, neighbors, co-workers or anyone else you think is seeking solutions that help us all make more room for more perspectives and reduce our political and social fragmentation.

Many of you have already joined us through the Bush book club and claimed your free copy of john’s book. If you haven’t yet, we’re still offering books at no charge, thanks to john’s publisher and our local partner, Black Garnet Books.

None of this would be possible without john’s book to inspire us to action, and all of the amazing partners in our community who are supporting this event and care about building a region that works better for everyone!

Event details

What: john a. powell and MPR News’ Catharine Richert in conversation about the “Power of Bridging”

When: 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Where: Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul, MN 55101

Register: The event is free with registration (required) and open to anyone interested in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations that share that geography.

And stick around after the talk, as john will be signing books for anyone interested. We will have books available at the event.

For those of you unable to attend, we will be recording and videotaping the conversation, thanks to our event partner, MPR News. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to receive a link after the event!

About the book

john a. powell is an internationally respected expert in the areas of civil rights, racial identity, fair housing, poverty and democracy. His book, “The Power of Bridging: How to Build a World Where We All Belong,” is a research-backed guide for building bridges across differences in any area of our lives.

The book shares an actionable path through “bridging” that can help us communicate, coexist and imagine a new story for a shared future where we all belong. In it, john shares his own personal reflections and practices that can help others in their own relationships find common ground.

“Bridging is a salve for our fractured world,” powell says. “We can overcome the illusion of separateness by honoring our differences, transcending the notion that difference divides us, and instead co-create a world where everyone belongs.”

Our community partners

Our gratitude for all of the partners who enthusiastically said yes to helping us make this event happen!

MPR News

Black Garnet Books

Fitzgerald Theater

More to come!