We have been so busy working on the Plato’s Academy Centre project, that we haven’t issued an update for a little while. Apologies for that and we hope this post will help keep everyone informed of our progress. On a personal note, and by way of an explanation, I’d like to introduce my son, Hector Robertson, who was born in November. Hector walked on the ground for the very first time recently at Plato’s Academy Park, in the footsteps of Plato and Socrates (video).
Our biggest update regarding the project is that we’re working on a proposal to open a coffee shop / bookshop, near Plato’s Academy Park, which we hope to use as a space for small workshops. I recently met with George Tsolakis, the architect responsible for the plans to renovate Akadimia Platonos park and build the new museum there. We had a great conversation and Mr Tsolakis was very supportive of our project.
We’re still pursuing our longer-term plan of creating a conference centre in the area and hope that the coffee shop idea will provide an important stepping stone. Acquiring property for a coffee shop will, we believe, be much quicker and will provide us with a permanent base in the suburb from which to pursue our more ambitious long-term goals.
YPO Event
We recently helped advise the Aurelius Foundation on planning a four-day conference, which was held in Athens and nearby Elefsina in April. I spoke at the event, which was attended by about 80 YPO members from all around the world. following on from the success of the September 2022 event in Athens. We were fortunate to have talks and presentations from many great speakers, including Brian Muraresku, author of The Immortality Key, who accompanied us on a tour of the ruins of ancient Eleusis, the home of the Eleusinian mystery religion. Brian spoke about the evidence for his hypothesis that ergot, a psychotropic substance, was contained in the kykeon or concoction drunk by initiates of the mystery religions, including Marcus Aurelius, and many famous philosophers.
The event took place over three days at the Academy of Athens, ruins of Ancient Eleusis, and in the Stoa of Attalos in the Ancient Agora. It was attended by VIPs including the mayor of Elefsina; Adonis Georgiadis, the Greek Minister for Health; and George Papandreou, a former Prime Minister of Greece. The feedback from attendees was extremely positive. We look forward to collaborating on similar events in the future, which bring businessmen to Greece and help showcase the philosophy and history of the country. We’d like to think Justin Stead and Michalis Michael for organizing the event, and inviting us to be involved.
Virtual Events
We are delighted to be able to report that almost seven thousand people have attended our virtual events so far. We also now have nearly eight thousand email subscribers on Substack. Our most recent event on Philosophy and Children included some leading experts in that field. We’ll be announcing our next virtual event very soon — look out for details. These events help us to build our network of speakers, grow our online presence, and work toward running more in-person events in Athens.
Our Team
James O’Neill, my friend, who, drawing on his experience as a chartered surveyor, drafted up our original proposal, sadly passed away last year. He is missed.
Giannis Kanlis, our Company Secretary, will be stepping down, as he is relocating from Athens to Paris, to assume a new position at work. We would like to thank Gianni for his help during the initial phase of the project.
Tanner Campbell joined our team as virtual events manager, and will continue to support us in relation to our online events.
Tom Hill has joined our non-exec board to advise us in relation to property and sustainable development.
Anya Leonard, of Classical Wisdom Weekly, who has helped us with many events in the past, will be joining our board of directors, with responsibility for events management.
Dr. Catherine McCall joined our board of advisors, to offer us the benefit of her expert advice on philosophy for children (P4C) and the Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CoPI) method.
Please feel free to get in touch if you’re interested in volunteering or helping the Plato’s Academy Centre project in other ways.
Regards,
Donald Robertson
President, The Plato’s Academy Centre
Love the pics of you and your son from Plato’s Academy! Congrats—wishing you both much happiness! 😊