Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine

Movements for justice have increasingly looked for ways to cultivate healing, accountability and transformation, for people and communities, as well as to hold harmful carceral systems to account. Beyond the Bars 2023 is bringing together people, organizations and movements working on indigenous peacemaking, and restorative, transformative, healing and reparative justice to develop solidarity, share analysis, exchange strategies and practices, and together build power to create the world we need. There is more interest in these approaches than ever before yet relatively limited opportunities to learn, connect and grow about them. BTB 2023 will be an opportunity to learn about how people and communities are taking up these approaches in their own communities, about the tensions and possibilities of working in relationship to systems, and to build connections between and among those already doing this work.

The conference will focus on these guiding questions in the hopes of strengthening our collective work:

• How do we understand the similarities and differences between indigenous peacemaking, restorative, transformative, healing and reparative justice?
• How are people and organizations taking up these approaches in their own communities? What is working? what is not?
• How do we ensure that these approaches to justice between people and communities are connected to movements for broader social transformation?
• What are the tensions, limitations and possibilities in working in relationship to systems?
• How can we think about the question of scale? Should we be scaling up these approaches? Or is there another way to think about this?
• How do these approaches help us to address conflict and harm within movements?

COVID Precautions and Accessibility Information

COVID Precautions 

Masks will be required at the conference except when eating and everyone will be asked to test before attending and show proof of a negative test.

Accessibility Information

• Friday night and Saturday and Sunday plenaries will be livestreamed for anyone who prefers to attend virtually
• Friday night and Saturday and Sunday plenaries will include an ASL Interpreter for in-person attendance
• Please be in touch if you have any access needs and we will do our best to secure the necessary accommodations.

This March, catch ADIFF New York’s in-person screenings commemorating Women’s History Month. The films presented are all stories centring women from all walks of life.

Now in its fourth decade, the Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival has been the melting pot of top-notch a cappella talent from around the nation (and some from overseas!).

This annual national competition draws from hundreds of vocal groups with regional competitions in eight cities. The winning group from each festival is flown to perform in front of celebrity judges and a sold out house of enthusiastic a cappella fans at the National Finals. The competition embraces all styles of music performed a cappella, from the traditional forms of doo-wop & barbershop, gospel & jazz to the exciting and innovative new directions of contemporary vocal music. You will be amazed at the versatility of the human voice on display in this most exhilarating evening of vocal harmony singing.

This March, catch ADIFF New York’s in-person screenings commemorating Women’s History Month. The films presented are all stories centring women from all walks of life.

Following Choral Evensong on select Sundays in the fall and spring, the Cathedral hosts distinguished organists from around the world in performance. These 5 pm recitals are free to the public and 45 minutes in length.

Entry to this performance is included with admission to the Cathedral. Read more on COVID-19 guidelines for all those joining us for in-person programs and events.