Parallel Happenings

A perhaps surprising addition to this year’s SNF Nostos is Kafeneio tou Gianni (“Giannis’s Coffeehouse”), a digital detox space that welcomes every person and no phones. The Kafeneio will be open throughout the week in a specially designed area of the Stavros Niarchos Park, encouraging us to step away from our screens and connect meaningfully with other people. Kafeneio tou Gianni will host late-night discussions with former US Congressman John Sarbanes, featuring historian Mark Mazower and bioethicist Effy Vagena on the relationship between humans and AI on June 24, and also a post-trial discussion following The Trials of Atlas with the interactive play’s creator, Alan Stoga, on June 25. The Kafeneio will also host art activities, such as a workshop on creating Abayomi dolls, a tradition rooted in African and Afro-Brazilian history, as well as traditional Greek dance lessons, evenings of Greek folk music, and many other treats.

Art is at the core of SNF Nostos 2026, just as it is a core pillar of SNF’s grantmaking activity. A key part of the SNF Nostos programming is a partnership with the Greek National Opera (GNO) to present three major dance and musical theater productions in different venues at the SNFCC throughout the week: To Have Been So Close So Many Times, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Future Cargo. Other performances and screenings will include: the documentary Wisdom of Happiness, introduced by SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos; An Enemy of the People, a dramatic reading of the Ibsen play featuring Willem Dafoe and Jason Isaacs followed by an audience discussion guided by Theater of War Productions Artistic Director Bryan Doerries; The Trials of Atlas, an interactive play by Tällberg Foundation Chairman Alan Stoga. If you need a break from all that heavy thinking, there’s Not Dead Yet!, an evening with the one and only John Cleese; the Common musical ground performance by El Sistema Greece; or the participatory concert from Choir! Choir! Choir!. Just before the week is over, catch ITHACA – Long journey home, a performance by the Cerebral Palsy Greece's Tuesday Players, narrated by actor Konstantinos Markoulakis.

Health—another of our core pillars—is a theme that is extensively addressed both at the SNF Nostos Conference, through a plethora of discussions, and in the broader parallel program of SNF Nostos 2026. Schedule an appointment for a free women’s health check-up with the Mobile Medical Units at the SNFCC, and visit the Sports Excellence Hub, which will serve as a node for health, performance, and therapeutic exercise. Both activities are organized and implemented in collaboration with the nonprofit Regeneration & Progress.

How many countries are there in the world according to the UN? And what could this question possibly have to do with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), and with you? If you want to sharpen and/or flex your geography knowledge, and as an extra bonus learn about SNF’s work around the world since its founding in 1996, join in this special edition of the Geography Quiz, an Athens trivia institution. The quiz will be hosted by the well-known “chief geographer” Smaragda and the beloved POLI COOL crew, promising a night full of music, jokes, and of course plenty of geography.