Our Story

About Us

Our mission is to help the public understand the world of psychedelics.

We create conferences and films that examine the role of psychedelics in science, medicine, policy, business, culture, and spirituality.

Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics is the longest-running annual psychedelic learning event in the world.

Our 16th annual conference in New York City is being held on May 8-11, 2024 at the New York Academy of Medicine.

In 2022, we started Horizons Northwest in Portland, Oregon, the largest psychedelic learning event in the Pacific Northwest region, in collaboration with the Sheri Eckert Foundation.

The dates for our 3rd annual Horizons Northwest conference in autumn 2024 will be announced shortly.

The Horizons Center PBC, Inc., a public benefit corporation, is based in New York City.

In the beginning…

An early Horizons at Judson Memorial Church. Photo by Shane Perez.

Horizons was founded in 2007 by Kevin Balktick as a single day event at Judson Memorial Church, featuring a handful of leading researchers and activists from the then-nascent psychedelic renaissance.

Wonder years

Washington Post Magazine editor Tom Shroder and former marine Nicholas Blackston at The New School.

Horizons grew steadily each year to fill a full weekend format.

During this time, Horizons also expanded its focus to include more coverage of indigenous cultures, anthropology, public policy, cultural criticism, and the arts.

Once primarily an East Coast affair, Horizons began to draw attendees from across the country, and international visitors from as far afield as Iceland and Australia.

During this time, news coverage about psychedelics began to shift. Studies from MAPS, NYU, Johns Hopkins and elsewhere changed the public perception of psychedelics, and the once-obscure ayahuasca began to grace the society pages.

Having outgrown Judson Memorial Church, and after a few transition years at The New School’s new Tisch Auditorium, Horizons found its next home at the Great Hall at The Cooper Union, one of Manhattan’s most prestigious auditoriums, in 2015.

Spreading our wings

Members of NYU psilocybin research team on stage at Horizons 2015 at The Cooper Union

Once situated at The Cooper Union, Horizons continued to grow, celebrating its tenth edition in October 2016.

The Saturday forum continued to showcase leading medical and neuroscience researchers from across the world, and on Sunday the more complex cultural and societal topics were addressed.

The Friday night receptions, often held at places of worship in Manhattan, featured live musicians and performing artists, and somehow managed to avoid DJs.

An unofficial program of fundraisers, film screenings, and parties began to flourish alongside the official conference.

Journalists from major domestic and international outlets began to attend the conference regularly, and each and every major media publication was running stories on the healing potential of psychedelics throughout the year.

The rising tide

By 2019, Horizons had established itself as an internationally-recognized destination for the growing psychedelic community, and continued to fill The Great Hall each October.

Michael Pollan’s book made it to the top of the bestseller list and stayed there for months, cementing the status of psychedelics as a topic of polite conversation across North America.

With psychedelic medicine now firmly in the mainstream, Horizons continued to deepen the conversation around psychedelics by featuring complex and sometime contentious conversations around the role of business, social justice, indigenous cultures, and access.

In order to better serve the growing community of medical and therapeutic practitioners who were interested in psychedelics, programming was expanded to include in-depth classes from expert researchers and experienced therapists, hosted by The Down Town Association, one of the oldest private clubs in the United States.

Covid-19 and getting digital

Anthony P. Bossis, Ph.D. of NYU on the scene of “Death, Dying, and Psychedelics”in upstate New York

Due to Covid-19, Horizons was not able to hold a live conference in 2019, and opted not pursue a virtual format during an already screen-saturated year.

However, Horizons continued to find ways to expand, beginning to work year-round instead of seasonally, producing four short documentaries, holding virtual classes for professionals, and instituting a membership program.

All four films have been released and are available for viewing:

• Covid-19, Black Lives, & Psychedelics
• Nature, Summer, & Psychedelics
• The Johns Hopkins Story
• Death, Dying, & Psychedelics

Moving uptown

In 2021, after navigating the challenges of Covid, Horizons returned to its live form in New York City.

An expanded four-day program included the first-ever Psychedelic Business Forum, and a growing slate of classes held at the New York Academy of Medicine, a historic public health institution located on Fifth Avenue facing Central Park.

The 16th annual Horizons conference in New York City will be held on May 8-11, 2024 at the New York Academy of Medicine.

The Northwest Passage

In 2022, inspired by the passage of Oregon Ballot Measure 109, now known as the Psilocybin Services Act, Horizons held its first conference outside of New York City at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon in September 2022.

Produced in collaboration with the Sheri Eckert Foundation, led by Measure 109 Chief Petitioner Tom Eckert, Horizons Northwest provided a forum for the community coalescing around the new statewide regulatory system.

Horizons Northwest instantly became the largest psychedelic learning event in the Pacific Northwest region, and delivered a strong sequel conference in December 2023.

The dates for the 3rd annual Horizons Northwest conference in Portland, Oregon this autumn will be announced shortly.