It began as a simple question posed in 2013: How can we get the far-flung founding members of The Order of the Good Death together in one place? This conversation blossomed into what would become Death Salon.
Spearheaded by founding Order member Megan Rosenbloom, Death Salon works, by its own mission statement:
In the spirit of the eighteenth-century salon – informal coffeehouse gatherings of intellectuals – Death Salon encourages conversations on mortality and mourning and their resonating effects on our culture and history. We hold conferences, public events, and encourage an online community to increase discussion on this taboo subject.
The first Death Salon was held over three days in October 2013 in Los Angeles. Read more about the Salon in Erika Hayasaki’s piece Death is Having a Moment in The Atlantic.
Since then The Order has hosted eight Death Salons at various cities around the world and partnered with renowned cultural institutions including the Getty Villa, Mutter Museum, Barts Pathology, and in 2016 we hosted the first Death Salon Film Festival. Death Salons helped to pave the way for the abundance of death positive conferences and events we see today.
In the words of one attendee “Death Salon is like the Coachella of death!,” bringing together a wide variety of artists, academics, inventors, and activists all working in their own way to create a better future death (and life) for all. These multi-day events were packed full of activities from immersive tours, to live performances, to funeral food catered parties, and thought provoking lectures. But perhaps most of all, Death Salons fostered a true sense of community among presenters and attendees alike.