INDIANAPOLIS — WRTV is partnering with the Steward Speakers as it returns for its 36th year.
Steward Speakers is all about bringing prominent thought leaders to Indianapolis as a way to educate and engage the community in dialogue.
The Steward Speakers series brings Dondre Whitfield, Dr. William Barber, and Melissa Harris-Perry to the city this year. Each host will talk at different venues across the city.
Whitfield is perhaps best known for his roles on The Cosby Show and ABC's All My Children. His talk, "Male vs. Man," will be given at Ivy Tech Community College on Thursday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m.
Dr. Barber's speech will be about social justice at the Warren Central High School Performing Arts Center. Barber is a pastor, author, social activist, and co-chair of the "Poor People's Campaign." His talk starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 17.
Celebrate Women's History Month by attending Harris-Perry's talk at the IUPUI Campus Center on Thursday, Mar. 24. Harris-Perry is a writer, professor, and political commentator. Her talk starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are listed at $50.
All talks can be virtually attended, and VIP meet-and-greets with each speaker can be booked as well. Visit stewardspeakers.org.
Steward Speakers will have COVID-19 safety precautions for all attendees such as required mask-wearing, temperature checks, and social distancing guidelines by all attendees,
Q&A with Steward Speaker founder, Matthew Steward
The following, in part, has been edited for clarity and length.
How has the Steward Speakers series evolved over the last 36 years?
We only had one speaker in 1989. So it has now evolved into, about five to six speakers, and we mirror the academic school year. So, we usually start up in October or November and we usually finish out in April or May of the following year.
And we started out, I would say, with speakers that may not have been as readily known. Now, we've had nationally known speakers like the late Colin Powell, or Steve Harvey, or Diahann Carroll. So a lot of nationally known speakers would be easily recognizable by anyone, you know, walking down the street on Monument Circle.
What do you look for in the speakers you bring to Indy?
One of the ways we select those speakers is we generally have an evaluation at each one of our lecture series events. And so, we asked our audience to write down any speakers that they would like to hear from, and we collected those at the end of the season. If there are speakers that we are not aware of, we research those speakers and determine.
We try to see if the speakers are relevant to what's going on today. So we try to select national speakers that are in tune with whatever's happening at the time. And so that's why this year, we came up with the panel discussion with Dr. William Barber of the Poor People's Campaign, Melissa Harris-Perry, and actor Dondre Whitfield because we think all of them are relevant to what we're experiencing today as we go through these economic times and the pandemic.
Is there anyone you haven't been able to book yet that you hope to in the future?
Absolutely. So we really would like to bring either Michelle or Barack Obama. Particularly Barack Obama, because Michelle has been here once before at an event at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. So we would really like to bring former President Barack Obama, or Oprah Winfrey.
We're reaching out, even as we speak, to try to see what their availability is for the following season to see if that's something that we would be able to swing. So yeah, those are two or three that we would certainly like to bring. They always have relevant points no matter what the current topics are within society issues.
You can learn more about the history of the Steward Speakers and Matthew Steward at stewardspeakers.org.
