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Holy City plays host to 25th anniversary of Renaissance Weekend
By Ryan Dougherty
Contributing Writer
How many New Year’s Eve get-togethers require an entire hotel? For Charleston resident Philip Lader and his wife, Linda, their New Year’s event, Renaissance Weekend, took the entire Charleston Place hotel.
This year’s event, held from Dec. 28 through Jan. 1, marked the 25th anniversary of the Renaissance Weekend, an event focused on the “exchange of ideas,” according to Philip Lader, the event’s founder.
“We have a great deal to learn from each other,” Lader said.
The event hosted more than 1,800 invitees, doubling the previous year’s number of accomplished leaders and thinkers from various fields expected to converge on the Holy City.
The continued relationship of downtown Charleston and the Renaissance Weekend is “evidence of a well-deserved reputation of Charleston being the most hospitable and welcoming city in the world,” according to Lader.
Foundations
Renaissance Weekend began with 60 families at the Lader’s 1981 New Year’s house party. The Laders intended the party to be an opportunity to not only meet new and fascinating mutual friends, but also to use the occasion to spend substantive time together.
The event has since grown into a nonprofit organization run by Lader. The rules for Renaissance Weekend ensure a non-partisan, non-commercial and off-the-record environment.
The event takes place in varied destinations every three months. This year’s upcoming Renaissance Weekends will take place in Santa Barbara, Calif., Park City, Utah, Old Quebec, Canada, and Kiawah Island.
Each Renaissance Weekend draws a diverse crowd, from Pulitzer Prize winning authors and deans of top business schools to Emmy Award winning actresses, heads of state and even former astronauts.
This year’s attendees included former President Bill Clinton, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, former Bush Administration Attorney, D-N.Y., General Dick Thornburgh, presidential adviser David Gergen, Apollo 13 commander James Lovell, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, comedian Stephen Colbert, former U.S. Poet-Laureate Rita Dove, U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., MIT president Susan Hockfield, health guru Dean Ornish and conservative leader Richard Viguerie.
Events are attended predominantly by past participants “in the spirit of extended family,” said Lader. A participant can only be invited.
Invitations are extended through a nomination process and board approval. The Renaissance selection committee ensures a balance of diversity among participants.
The weekend was packed with roughly 700 discussions tackling issues ranging from “World Peace” to “Corporate Governance after Enron.” Within the discussions, divergent perspectives meet, “transgressing the barriers of positions, gender, race and age,” Lader said.
The New Year’s event is the largest gathering, while the other events have a retreat-like atmosphere.
It is not unusual during the weekend to have an astronaut, an investment banker and a senator sharing their views in a private and civil format.
Local attendees
Martine and Emilie Dulles, co-owners of Charleston’s Dulles Designs, a high-end stationery boutique, have attended the event for several years. For the mother and daughter business duo, the weekend is an enriching experience.
Emilie Dulles described the Renaissance Weekend as “intellectual summer camp for adults.” She enjoys the “variety and breadth of individuals to share ideas and current events where everyone has their guard down.”
Martine Dulles recalls great conversations with a creator of a Broadway musical and an entrepreneur who pioneered credit card machines in New York City taxis.
Emilie Dulles started attending the event while a college student at Princeton and was impressed by the “non-intimidating” environment that the event promotes among participants.
“There is no room for ego at Renaissance,” Emilie Dulles said. “No one person is more important than anyone else.”
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