Authenticity 2026: Are We Becoming more Ourselves, or Performing Ourselves?

Why we picked it

***Please arrive at 6:45pm to order your drinks/food so that we can start the event at 7pm with minimum interruption. Thank you.*** Authenticity… A very vague term; which seems to be hard to define but seems to be cool and important as well. We use it to describe people, art, leaders, relationships, brands, and even lifestyles. To be “authentic” sounds admirable. But what exactly does it mean? Is it possible to live authentically in a world where our identities, roles, locations, relationships, and public personas are constantly changing? Is it possible to be authentic when everyone seems to be watching, judging, recording, and performing? A person born today predicted to change careers, cities, countries, communities, relationships, and online identities many times throughout its life. Unlike many people in earlier societies, we are less likely to be born into one stable role and remain there. This may give us greater freedom to shape our lives. But it may also make it harder to k