Tom Hanks, Yo-Yo Ma, Robin Williams, Stacey Abrams, Nancy Pelosi, Patti Smith, Trevor Noah, Werner Herzog, Cheryl Strayed — these are just some of the luminaries who’ve been interviewed onstage as part of the iconic San Francisco cultural series City Arts & Lectures. Now in its 44th year, the nonprofit is known for its diverse programming, radical hospitality and wide reach through public radio and podcasts. And while the organization occasionally hosts panels, solo shows and smaller groups, the one-on-one interview format — two armchairs and a vase of tulips before a large live audience — has remained largely unchanged since the late Sydney Goldstein invented and popularized the idea in 1980.

“We’re a city of innovation, and I think it’s not a coincidence that this is where Sydney pioneered a new concept both intellectual and entertaining,” notes her daughter, Kate Goldstein-Breyer, who took over as co-executive director of the lecture series with Holly Mulder-Wollan in 2017. “Today City Arts & Lectures remains unparalleled in its standards, the elegant experience, and a diversity of voices.”