Publisher's Welcome

For the fifth year now, we will host a special event to raise funds for our newsgathering efforts. This year the featured guest will be MS NOW television host Jacob Soboroff, who will be in conversation with David Maraniss, a Pulitzer Prize winner who has deep ties to Madison and the Cap Times. Soboroff has written books about the Trump administration’s immigration policies as well as fires that ravaged his hometown of Los Angeles. Both topics will be part of what should be a fascinating discussion.

Tickets for that event are sold out, but there are still tickets available to see all other virtual and in-person sessions at Idea Fest.

New to the festival this year is a two-day Photojournalism Summit, spearheaded by our photo director, Ruthie Hauge. The second of those days is largely aimed at photojournalists themselves, but the opening night will feature a gallery of photographs followed by public talks from three prominent Black photographers: Angela Peterson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Black Women Photographers founder Polly Irungu and Sharon Farmer, the first woman and first Black person to serve as the White House’s chief photographer.

We are enormously grateful to Epic as this year’s title sponsor of Idea Fest, as well as our other major sponsors: the Madison Public Schools Foundation, UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center and Summit Credit Union. Co-sponsors this year include: Madison Gas & Electric, Ascendium Education Group, TruStage, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University Research Park, The Century House, Cargo Coffee, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the School of Journalism and Communication at UW-Madison, the Madison Community Foundation, Leopold’s Books Bar Caffè, Forward Theater and Madison College.

Special thanks to Joe and Mary Ellyn Sensenbrenner, Kevin and Sheila Conroy and Nancy Gage.

Partners include the Center for Black Excellence and Culture, Civic Media, Hinckley Productions, Wisconsin Public Radio, the Wisconsin State Journal and madison.com. We appreciate them all.

For the Cap Times, thoughtful conversations on the issues of the day are right in our wheelhouse, complementing our longtime mission built on aggressive and enterprising journalism, progressive opinion and a deep record of community philanthropy.

After all, it was our founder, William T. Evjue, who wrote: “Let the people have the truth and the freedom to discuss it and all will go well.” Mr. Evjue wasn’t afraid to experiment with new platforms decades ago. Back then, he helped launch a radio station, which was the next big thing, and we believe he would appreciate this endeavor.

Cap Times Idea Fest is an amazing opportunity to hear directly from some of Wisconsin’s and the nation’s thought leaders. So, welcome to this detailed guide to the event.

Paul Fanlund

President and Publisher

Cap Times