Unlikely Collaborators Hosts Journalist and Author Eliot Stein
What Are We Losing That We Don't Even Know We Had? How Tradition Shapes What We See and What We Miss
Exploring the Fragile Knowledge Carried Through Generations
LOS ANGELES, March 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Across the world, small communities continue to preserve remarkable forms of knowledge passed down through generations: from rare crafts and intricate rituals to traditions that require years of apprenticeship to master. These practices are not simply relics of the past. They are living systems of memory, discipline, and care.
On Thursday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m. PT, Unlikely Collaborators will host BBC journalist and author Eliot Stein for a Spark Salon titled:
What Do We Lose When Traditions Disappear?
Through immersive reporting and global travel, Stein has sought out the last custodians of extraordinary cultural practices, individuals who dedicate their lives to preserving traditions that may soon vanish. In this Spark Salon, he will share stories from his encounters with these remarkable keepers of knowledge and explore what it takes to carry specialized skills across generations.
As modern life accelerates and knowledge becomes increasingly digital and disposable, Stein invites audiences to consider deeper questions:
- What does it mean to inherit a skill?
- What responsibility comes with preserving it?
- And how do traditions shape the communities that sustain them?
The conversation will explore the value of embodied knowledge, apprenticeship, and cultural continuity and what may be lost when these living traditions disappear.
The evening will take place in person at Unlikely Collaborators' Santa Monica headquarters and will also be livestreamed online. In-person attendees will receive a complimentary copy of Stein's book Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive.
Event Schedule
6:00 p.m. — Doors open and reception
7:00 p.m. — Program begins promptly (late entry not permitted)
8:00 p.m. — Book signing and reception
Cost: Free (registration required)
About Eliot Stein
Eliot Stein is a senior journalist and editor at the BBC. He has traveled the globe profiling remarkable people maintaining extraordinary cultural rites against all odds. From the last Incan bridge master who dangles precariously over a rushing river in Peru to weave a suspension bridge out of grass to an extended family of alchemists in India who have guarded a centuries-old formula for a mysterious metal mirror believed to reveal your truest self, Eliot's work examines what it means when the unique rites that have shaped us and the places we come from fade away.
Eliot frequently speaks about the homogenization of culture, ancient knowledge, and the wisdom we can all learn from these once-upon-a-time rites. He has given talks at universities, on TV and radio segments, and to corporations, and he frequently appears on podcasts, including Travel with Rick Steves, The Atlas Obscura Podcast, The Frommer's Travel Show, and more. He has also spoken at libraries, packed convention floor auditoriums in New York and London, bookstores, bars, and even senior citizen communities.
In addition to the BBC, Eliot's work has appeared on CNN and in The New York Times, WIRED, The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Guardian, Condé Nast Traveler, The Independent, and elsewhere.
About Spark Salons
Spark Salons are a signature program of Unlikely Collaborators, the nonprofit founded by Elizabeth R. Koch. These gatherings bring together grantees, researchers, artists, and collaborators for conversations that challenge perspectives and deepen connections. Past Spark Salon speakers have included illusionist Harris III, psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD, nutrition therapist Kim Shapira, MS, RD, mythologist John Bucher, Harvard Business School professor and author Michael Norton, PhD, visionary violinist Vijay Gupta, chef and entrepreneur Ellen Bennett, artist Candy Chang, digital workplace expert and author Alexandra Samuel, PhD, grief experts Brennan Wood and Dr. Donna L. Schuurman, neuroscientist and best-selling author Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, neuroscientist and NYU Dean Wendy Suzuki, PhD, futures designer Nick Foster, RDI, sleep psychologist Jade Wu, PhD, astrophysicist and astrobiologist Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger, and broadcaster and author Krista Tippett.
Watch the Spark Salons Trailer
About Unlikely Collaborators
Unlikely Collaborators is a nonprofit dedicated to helping people see themselves and the world more clearly. Founded by Elizabeth R. Koch, the organization is built on the Perception Box™ framework, the understanding that our experiences, beliefs, fears, and physiology shape the lens through which we interpret reality. By becoming aware of that lens, we create more space for reflection, flexibility, and meaningful change.
SOURCE Unlikely Collaborators
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