An Evening of Music, Testimony, and Conversation with Comment Magazine during the Understory Festival
At the culmination of the inaugural Understory festival, Washington National Cathedral and Comment magazine will co-host a public evening of music, testimony, and conversation on Friday, May 29, 2026. Doors open at 6:45 pm; the program begins at 7:30 pm.
The Understory festival, a three-day civic and spiritual gathering hosted by Comment magazine at the Cathedral, May 28–30, asks how we might rehumanize our common life and renew trust between people and within institutions at this particular moment in history. The festival is a private-ticketed event.
Tickets are now on sale for the Friday evening event, Understory Uprising.
Understory Uprising is designed as a single, continuous experience featuring a group of artists and thought leaders, including:
- Over the Rhine, singer-songwriters
- Paul Cornish, Blue Note records jazz pianist
- Mack McCarter, founder and coordinator of Community Renewal International
- Chris Domig, founder and artistic director of Sea Dog Theater
- Maggy Barankitse, the “Angel of Burundi”
- Jonny Rodgers, a composer and multi-instrumentalist performing and recording as Cindertalk
- Elizabeth Oldfield, host of The Sacred podcast
- Miroslav Volf, founder and director, Yale Center for Faith & Culture
- Christian Wiman, poet and Yale professor
- JohnnySwim, a folk duo
Washington National Cathedral was chosen as the home of the Understory festival because it is one of the rare public spaces in America capacious enough to hold the tensions that define this moment—between faith and democracy, despair and hope—while inviting something new to emerge.
About Comment
Comment is a publication of Cardus, a think tank devoted to renewing North American social architecture, rooted in two thousand years of Christian social thought. Under the editorial leadership of Anne Snyder, Comment serves leaders and culture makers with rooted, fresh ideas for the faithful practice of public life. The Understory festival is the living extension of that mission: three days of dialogue, art, and shared imagination in one of America’s most iconic spaces. To read Comment magazine: comment.org
About the Understory Festival
The Understory festival is a three-day gathering hosted by Comment magazine at Washington National Cathedral. This civic and spiritual meeting of writers, artists, pastors, and builders looks to rehumanize our common life at a time of cultural fragility.
About Washington National Cathedral
Grounded in the reconciling love of Jesus Christ, Washington National Cathedral is a house of prayer for all people, conceived by our founders to serve as a great church for national purposes.
About The Cathedral’s A Better Way Program
This event is part of Washington National Cathedral’s ongoing A Better Way initiative—a series of programs designed to help Americans live together, learn from each other, and chart a path forward in these polarized times.
Contacts:
Gil Connolly, Washington National Cathedral, [email protected], (202) 845-4478
Kristina Tabor Saccone, Understory festival and Comment Magazine, [email protected], (303) 861-4724