Colloquy Downeast celebrates milestone anniversary
Colloquy Downeast steering committee member Brooke Dojny helps Tom Morris install a banner on Tenney Hill, proudly displaying a new logo and announcing a quarter century of colloquies. Photo courtesy of Marion Morris.
April 7, 2026
By staff
BROOKLIN — Colloquy Downeast is celebrating its 25th anniversary this spring, continuing its long-standing mission of fostering dialogue and cultivating curiosity across the Blue Hill peninsula.
According to a press release, a group of Brooklin neighbors first collaborated to bring the series to life in 2001. The concept was simple, yet profound: to create “an adult learning community” by organizing a series of short courses on a wide variety of topics. Each course is led by a facilitator expert in the subject, or an enthusiastic non-expert who researches, designs a syllabus, and selects readings.
The model envisioned by the founders was not based on “a traditional teacher/student relationship” but rather “a partnership of interested peers coming together for guided conversation in an informal setting,” the release said.
Brooklin’s Ron Lesko, a retired political science and philosophy professor, was a driving force behind the initial efforts. Alongside Katrina Parson, Dottie Farrar, and wife, Linda, Lesko quickly recruited a steering committee of twelve local citizens. The group credits Rich Boulet, Blue Hill Library's director, with validating the organization and providing critical early support.
The two-decades long series has explored hundreds of topics, including Greek tragedy, climate change, Jane Austen, the Cold War, Thomas Jefferson, the evolution of feminism, memoir writing, mushrooms, sports, food in film, the Supreme Court, and others, the release said.
Lisa Lesko said in the release that the founders “firmly believed that collaborative conversation and the sharing of knowledge around a table enhance[s] the learning process [and results] in an experience more powerful than” than a more typical classroom model can deliver.
For more information and to see upcoming courses, visit Colloquy Downeast’s website.
