Rhiannon Giddens at The Richmond Forum by The Richmond Forum

Rhiannon Giddens May 21, 2022

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The Power of Storytelling Every person has a story. Those stories are what connect us. We thank Rhiannon Giddens for painting a more accurate depiction of America’s musical origins by sharing the stories of those who helped shape it. We’re honored to support The Richmond Forum, who continues to empower storytellers and storytelling in our beloved city and beyond.

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Digging for Musical Roots May 21, 2022

Opening program & National Anthem

Desirée Roots

Opening remarks Heather Mullins Crislip Executive Director The Richmond Forum Welcome and introduction Presentation

William R. B. Hershey Chief Financial Officer Davenport & Company LLC Rhiannon Giddens

Fifteen-minute intermission for collection of audience questions Audience questions

Rhiannon Giddens with Valerie Cassel Oliver

2022-2023

Ms. Crislip Season Announcement

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The acclaimed musician Rhiannon Giddens uses her art to excavate the past and reveal bold truths about our present. A MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, Giddens co-founded the acclaimed and Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops. Since then, she has been nominated for eight additional Grammys as a soloist and collaborator. She most recently won the Grammy for 2022’s Best Folk Album, They’re Calling Me Home, a collaboration with her partner and fellow multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi. Recorded in Ireland during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, the 12-track album speaks of the longing for the comfort of home as well as the metaphorical “call home” of death, which has been a grim reality for so many during the pandemic. Giddens has made it her lifelong mission to lift up people whose contributions to American music history have gone unrecognized, and to work toward a more accurate understanding of the country’s musical origins. Raised in Greensboro, North Carolina by one of the first legally married interracial couples of that area, Giddens participated in youth choir and embraced her Native American heritage by joining song and dance groups that expressed the culture she resonates with from deep within her roots. As she grew in her musical exploration, Giddens studied opera at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She soon found

herself drawing from her mixed upbringing and gaining interest in the history of the instruments she was picking up. This is when her curiosity about the roots of music began. Pitchfork has said, “few artists are so fearless and so ravenous in their exploration,” and Smithsonian magazine calls her “an electrifying artist who brings alive the memories of forgotten predecessors, white and black.” Among her many unique career highlights, Giddens has performed for the Obamas at the White House, acted in the television series Nashville, and received an inaugural Legacy of Americana Award from Nashville’s National Museum of African American History and Americana Music Association. She is notably featured in Ken Burns’s Country Music series on PBS (2019), where she speaks about the African American origins of country music. She was also a member of the band Our Native Daughters with three other black female banjo players, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell, and Amythyst Kiah, and co-produced their debut album Songs of Our Native Daughters (2019), which tells stories of historic black womanhood, survival, and resilience. Named Artistic Director of Silkroad in 2020, she oversees and conceives educational arts programs. Giddens also composed the music for the Nashville Ballet’s Lucy Negro Redux and the libretto and music for an original opera, Omar, based on the autobiography of the enslaved man Omar Ibn Said for the Spoleto USA Festival (premiered in 2022). This evening, Rhiannon Giddens joins The Richmond Forum accompanied by her banjo, ready to examine the cultural impacts of music and the ways in which genres, instruments, and artists, have evolved throughout a rich and complex world history.

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Valerie Cassel Oliver is the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. She is widely recognized for her ground breaking work and scholarship on contemporary art, particularly African American art. Over her more than two decades as a curator, she has produced seminal exhibitions such as Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art Since 1970 (2005); Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art (2012) and most recently, The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture and the Sonic Impulse (2021). Additionally, she has mounted numerous artist surveys and retrospectives including projects for Benjamin A. Patterson, Jennie C. Jones, Angel Otero and Howardena Pindell. That exhibition entitled, Howardena Pindell: What Remains to be Seen (2018) was co-organized with Naomi Beckwith and noted as one of the most influential exhibitions of the decade. Cassel Oliver is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including the David C. Driskell Award (2011); the James Porter Book Award (2019) and most recently, the Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence from Bard College; the CAC Diversity Award and the Alain Locke International Art Award, Detroit Institute for the Arts. Cassel Oliver holds a B.S. from the University of Texas at Austin; an M.A. from Howard University and an Executive MBA from Columbia University.

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With her “triple-threat” talent of acting, singing and dancing, Desirée Roots has been one of this region’s favorite performers for over 30 years. She made her stage debut at age 13 as Dorothy in The Haymarket Theatre’s production of The Wiz and has since appeared in over 30 stage productions, including Mame (Vera Charles), The Color Purple (Sophia), Man of La Mancha (Aldonza), and Once On This Island (TiMoune). In 2015, she won Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Caroline in the operetta Caroline or Change. In 2017, she wrote a tribute to Virginia’s Ella Fitzgerald in honor of the 100th anniversary of the legend’s birth. The production, Ella at 100, featured Desirée in the starring role with a 3-member cast and a 14-piece orchestra. The production proved so popular that it evolved into Forever Ella and is still being performed throughout Virginia. Desirée is revered for her powerful yet controlled, lush voice with its 3½ octave range. Her ability to sing nearly every genre including jazz, gospel, opera and popular music has made her one of the region’s most sought-after vocalists. In 2004, Desiree was awarded the Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts for Best Vocalist in the Commonwealth of Virginia—a title she continues to wear proudly along with her newest title of Co-Artistic Director at Virginia Repertory Theatre. This evening, Desirée is accompanied by Dr. Weldon Hill (keyboard), Mike Hawkins (bass), Billy Williams, Jr. (drums), and James “Saxsmo” Gates, Jr. (saxophone).

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a mu lt i -fac e t ed c a r eer

Rhiannon Giddens’ Multi-Faceted Career Carolina Chocolate Drops An old-time string band from North Carolina, Giddens met her soon-tobe band mates at the Black Banjo Then and Now Gathering in Boone, North Carolina. Taught by influential fiddler Joe Thompson, the last in a long line of traditional string band players in his family, members of the Drops played fiddle, banjo and bones, and sang. They won a Grammy for their 2010 album Genuine Negro Jig and released seven records. Their work contributed to a new understanding of American musical history inclusive of African impact. In 2016, they were inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.

Our Native Daughters

Songs Of Our Native Daughters’ lays out crucial, updated framework for Americana. - NPR

What happens when four black female banjo players get together? They shine a light on hope for today and issues of the past. Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell made the 2019 album, Songs of Our Native Daughters, which was heavily praised for the inspiration drawn from slave narratives and powerful black feminine writing.

With Francesco Turrisi Before they joined creative forces, Giddens and Turrisi had both explored the depths of their respective traditions, American and Mediterranean.Together, they have unlocked an ambitious global sound that explores how Arabic and African influences mesh with traditional European and American music. The title of their first album, there is no Other, is somewhat a play at how unique their sound is, but it also directly points to the practice of the marginalizing and “othering,” which includes discrimination and prejudice. Giddens and Turrisi’s second album, They’re Calling Me Home, was conceived and recorded in Dublin, Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic. Awarded the Grammy for 2022’s Best Folk Album, They’re Calling Me Home has themes of love, loss, and a longing for home. The selected songs are those that Turrisi and Giddens turned to for comfort in a time of change and uncertainty, arranged in ways that the Associated Press said “masterfully mixes the music of Ireland, Italy, Appalachia, and heaven.” Though a previously unplanned album, Giddens finds meaning in making music for the time at hand. “When you can’t go home, all of a sudden it takes on a different meaning than when you can just hop on a plane any time.” Through the exploration of instruments, song stylings, and callbacks to the songs of older times, Giddens and Turrisi take listeners on a world journey that evokes the complexities of finding home in many different places.

Solo Career

Composer Highly skilled in diverse composition, Giddens has composed a variety of work in recent years. She co-composed Omar, an opera based off of the only known surviving American slave narrative written in Arabic from Omar Ibn Said (right, top), which premiered in 2021 at the Spoleto Festival. Giddens also created all original music for the ballet Lucy Negro Redux. Based off of a series of poems, this story explores the mysterious love life of William Shakespeare and his illustrious muses, the “Dark Lady” and the “Fair Youth.” The show premiered at the Nashville Ballet in 2019. Perhaps an unlikely part of her musical canon, Giddens composed the original soundtrack to the western adventure video game Red Dead Redemption 2 (right, bottom). It won for Best Music at the 2018 Game and IGN Awards.

Podcaster

Acting Giddens’ inclination for diverse depictions of her art gained a widespread audience when she became a series regular on ABC/CMT’s Nashville. She played Hanna Lee “Hallie” Jordan, a young social worker with “the voice of an angel.” You may have also seen her on NBC’s Parenthood or Showtime’s Nurse Jackie. She also has a role in one of The Forum’s favorite movies, The Great Debaters.

Artistic Director Silkroad is a global music organization founded by Yo-Yo Ma in 1998. Under Gidden’s artistic directorship, musicians gather to create music (their ensemble pictured above) for social impact initiatives, including all ages educational programs.

Giddens is the host of the Aria Code podcast, where she works in partnership with The Metropolitan Opera to pull back the curtain on some of the most famous arias in opera history, with insight from voices directly involved with productions to distinguished opera fans alike.

Featured Commentator As an Americana darling, Giddens has spoken on many diverse topics and been a featured voice in: Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary series, Joan Baez: Rebel Icon documentary, the Following Harriett podcast, Austin City Limits TV series, 2012’s We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash, Radio Lab’s Dolly Parton’s America podcast, NPR’s Fresh Air, The New Yorker Radio Hour, and many more programs.

a mu lt i -fac e t ed c a r eer

Giddens’ solo albums feature timeless interpretations of classic songs as well as exciting new originals. Tomorrow is My Turn, her solo debut, features show-stopping highlights of her concerts. Freedom Highway is made up of scorching renditions of civil rights-era classics alongside stunning originals that reflect on slavery, resiliency, and history. As a solo artist, Rhiannon has earned four Grammy nominations, nominations for Artist of the Year at the Americana Awards, and been honored with the Americana Awards’ inaugural Legacy of Americana Award for her work uplifting forgotten black voices in American music. She has also won the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass.

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Folk: It’s For The People It’s where it all began: folks gathering in musical expression using whatever instruments they had available and making the sounds of the people. American folk music is a vast musical genre that includes traditional music from an array of populations and ethnic groups. Particularly in the eastern United States, many folk songs have international origins from England, Scotland, and Ireland. As enslaved Africans and their descendants brought their own musical sensibilities to the United States, the music of Appalachia reappropriated European lyrics with African instrumentation, blending traditions and creating new musical styles that would come to impact the rest of music history. Traditional folk music includes many sub genres, such as traditional Appalachian music, bluegrass, railroad songs, protest songs, cowboy songs, sea shanties, jug music, and more. Read below to learn about the building blocks that made folk music into what it is, then and now.

The Work Songs of Slaves

White Folk’s British and Gaelic Roots

Enslaved Africans composed songs that propelled them through painful labor in Southern fields, using distinctive call-and-response chants and rhythms. As emancipation spread, melodies from the fields formed the basis of gospel spirituals. These traditions would come to inspire more modern blues music.

Folk songs from England, Scotland, and Ireland typically involved storytelling ballads, which lended to the Appalachian way of making folk. Ballads helped to communicate and cultivate an understanding of different facets of life such as politics, relationships, families, and work.

Traveling Work Songs Unique French Sound French settlers brought a certain spice and je ne sais quoi to the genre when they helped to craft Cajun music and zydeco of Louisiana.

First Mainstream, Then Erasure In the 1920’s and 30’s, folk was popularized into country music. Much of it was being created by black artists, but there was a misconception that country was a white genre due to those who came to fame. Country was labelled white, but blues, gospel, and jazz were labelled “race” music.

More folk music sprung out of work songs. From songs sung on railroads and in mines to the sea shanties of working boatmen, people made music. In the West, cowboy songs sprang from the mouths of men who worked the range. Many were of Anglo-American ancestry, but others had Spanish and Mexican origins.

Bluegrass Roots Bluegrass came to synthesize all of these traditions to create a mixed, high energy style of music that defines the genre into today. Sources: Masterclass, Unsplash.com

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[Minstrelsy] had such a gargantuan effect on American culture, world culture. This was the first time that tunes were written down. I’ve been going at it from a musicology point-of-view, rather than looking at its blackface and running screaming from the room. Rhiannon Giddens

Richmond’s Minstrel Historian In the 1890s, a man by the name of Polk Miller began to pluck his banjo and speak at charity events. He had spent his life fighting for the Confederacy in the civil war, building his pharmacy business in Richmond, and moving out to the developing Bon Air neighborhood.

father’s plantation listening to and learning from black banjo pickers. By creating characters that told stories of the African American experience in their dialect without using blackface, Miller was pushed into the national spotlight when Mark Twain heard of his storytelling talents and brought him on stage with an endorsement as a truly educational entertainer at Madison Square Garden in 1894.

Polk Miller recorded one of the first biracial band music tracks in Richmond in 1909. Sources: Music of the Old South: Polk Miller & the Old South Quartette from Ken Flaherty, Photos courtesy of the Valentine Historical Museum

Miller’s life changed when his musicianship and impressions were positively received by Richmond audiences. He took to the road at the age of 47 to expose African American music and folklore to a wide American audience through minstrelsy. The minstrel show was a high-spirited form of stage entertainment distinguished by parodies of African Americans, often including the use of dehumanizing comedy and the use of blackface makeup. Polk Miller’s performances were more nuanced in the medium, with the expressed subject of his stage program being “The Old Virginia Plantation Negro.” Miller positioned himself as an expert on black culture drawing from the nostalgia of his youth spent on his

Polk Miller’s Old South Quartette, of which only two members have been identified.

Miller and his Old South Quartette, a rotating group of African American men from Richmond, toured extensively and exposed true African American talent and exaggerated facets of the culture to early American audiences. Though we now look back at this portion of history with an appropriate distaste, it is important to note that at the time, Miller’s work with his band was seen as the criterion of culture. The recordings of Polk Miller and the Old South Quartette include old time banjo playing and a strong, rhythmic quartet that is authentically unpolished. This style of music and essence of cultural collaboration would go on to influence culture for years to come.

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Speech & Debate Spotlight This Year’s Spotlight on Speech Changing Lives Linda Moccio-Webb has spent the majority of her career working in special education. Four years ago, when the Richmond Forum first broadcasted its speech and debate initiative by offering grants to Chesterfield County Public Schools, Linda heard her principal announce that there was money available to start a speech and debate team at Manchester High School. “Not being a former debater but thinking it would be interesting, I and one other teacher offered to start a team. We flipped a coin to see who would coach debate and who would coach speech.” Ever since, Linda has been hooked!

Debate has changed my life over the past four years.

Linda Moccio-Webb, These students strive to do their best and put in hours Special Education Teacher & Debate Coach outside of their own school work to debate the topics Elijah Williams, Senior Manchester High School

of the world. Having worked with students who are not usually university bound for the past 25 years, it has been eye opening and awe inspiring to work with students who strive in academics and hunger for good grades and extracurricular activities.

Elijah Williams joined the debate team at Manchester High School one year after the founding of the team. Currently the senior class president, Elijah has also founded a nonprofit organization, served as an intern with Senator Jennifer McClellan and a research intern with Professor Wrighten at VCU, and is his church’s food drive director. Elijah will be headed to the west coast this fall to attend Stanford University with a full scholarship! Elijah credits debate with motivating him to do better academically and to think differently, allowing him to approach situations from different perspectives. Elijah summarizes the impact debate has had on him by saying, “Debate has allowed me to advocate more for what I believe in, and given me a voice and a sense of confidence and affirmation when advocating for what I believe in. And debate has given me a head start on my career aspirations as a criminal lawyer.” Both Linda and Elijah, along with hundreds of regional students, wouldn’t have had this profound experience with debate without the support from our subscribers and sponsors. Your support of The Richmond Forum Speech & Debate Initiative is changing lives for the better by giving them the skills they need to be successful in college, work, and life. Thank you!

Chrysanna Sotos • 2nd • Impromptu Speaking

Anthony Flora • 2nd • Humorous Interpretation Lilah Mamunes • 1st • Poetry Alyssia Nicholson • 2nd • Impromptu Rowan Sharma & Joey Tucker • 1st • Humorous Duo Interpretation Lily Waehner • 1st • Extemporaneous Speaking Hannah Gross • 1st • Lincoln-Douglas Debate Caroline Fredette • 3rd • Lincoln-Douglas Debate Emmalee Layton & Anna Wood • 4th • Policy Debate Ellie Bowman & Danielle Min • 2nd • Public Forum Debate

Clover Hill High School Maggie Matzen • 2nd • Lincoln-Douglas Debate Nadara Hudson & Vinata Kondragunta • 1st • Public Forum Debate

Deep Run High School Farhan Nahin • 2nd • Prose Katie Zhang • 1st • Humorous Interpretation

Douglas Freeman High School Siyona Singh • 2nd • Original Oratory

Glen Allen High School Sydney Phillips • 3rd • Prose Cadence Snopak • 1st • Poetry

J.R. Tucker High School Natasha D’Cunha • 3rd • Impromtu Sanika Kammara & Anusha Chaluvadi • 4th • Public Forum Debate

Hermitage High School Meg Deasy • 2nd • Storytelling Charlie Stephens • 3rd • Poetry Jake Wasserberg • 1st • Impromptu

Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School Alice Bowman • 1st • Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Congratulations to those qualifying for the NSDA National Tournament! Let’s cheer on our local students traveling to Louisville, Kentucky June 12-18 to nationally compete! James River High School Mary Pepper & Adelina Babbit • Duo Interpretation Joey Tucker & Rowan Sharma • Duo Interpretation Anthony Flora • Humorous Interpretation Lily Waehner • US Extemporaneous Speaking

Deep Run High School Sophia George • Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Thank you to everyone who participated in our 2021-2022 Speech & Debate Initiative Sponsored Tournaments! November Richmond Forum Fall Kickoff Clash of the Titans Debate Tournament Richmond Forum November Scrimmage

December RFSDI Charlie Brown Christmas Scrimmage RFSDI December Cat Herding Scrimmage

January RFSDI Big George Scrimmage RFSDI Inauguration Day Scrimmage

February Clover Hill Groundhog Day Classic RFSDI IBM 1996 Scrimmage RFSDI Pisces Scrimmage

March RFSDI March Madness Debate

speech & debate spotlight

Congratulations to everyone who placed in this year’s VHSL State Competition! Atlee High School James River High School

speech & debate initi ati v e

Speech & Debate Initiative We thank the 2021-22 Speech & Debate Volunteer Judges for their time and talent this year. Without judges, students can’t compete. Judges are critical to the success of speech and debate programs. Sarah Conroy Bill Chapman* Kayleigh Crandell* Heather Crislip* Micah Dalton Edward (Teddy) Dillon Mason Davenport* Jad Elahmad Regina Elbert* Mary Ellis Brett Feinstein Sam Florer Gail Harris Tamarah Holmes Kaleb Horne

Sarah Warren Howlett Coletta Johnson-Bey Stephen Kinderman Andrew Landrum Lauren Lloyd Ian Lowery Varun Mangdhi Margaret Matavich Miles McCrimmon Jim Meisner Henry Nisiobincki Gracie Peck Zach Perry Alexander Phillips Marime Pinnell

Melissa Pritchard Chad Roberts Alesia Sharman Clay Shupak Skye Smith Rebekah Stewart Jessica Taylor Brianna Tsitsera Joe Walton Sandra Wheeler* Nakia Whittaker-Woody Siri Wiggins* Shenan Worrell Alexandros Zervos

*indicates Richmond Forum Staff & Board Members

A special thank you to our strategy and research partners who see the RFSDI goal of having competitive speech and debate teams in our region by 2025 as noble and achievable. They take time from their busy schedules to share their experience and talent, making our Initiative that much stronger. Phyl Demetriou Founder and Executive Director, Richmond Debate Institute

Paul Mabery Assistant Professor of Communications and Communication Center Coordinator, James Madison University

Chris Medina Executive Director, National HBCU Speech & Debate Association

Anand Rao Professor of Communications and Department Chair, Communications and Digital Studies, University of Mary Washington

hanks to the generous support of Dr. & Mrs. Baxter W. Perkinson, Jr., students and faculty

from Trinity Episcopal School have the opportunity to attend The Richmond Forum in a special program designed to connect the classroom, the community and current events. Trinity and The Forum are grateful to the Perkinsons for their continued support.

Coeducational • College Preparatory Grades 8-12 • Average Class Size: 14 Richmond’s First International Baccalaureate World School

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26 school teams were active in the Richmond Region 502 local public school students participated in speech & debate activities 62 students qualified for VHSL State Competition 24 students placed in the VHSL State Competition

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r ichmond forum spe a k er s

Richmond Forum Speakers 1987 January February March April 1988 January February Kalb March April 1989 January February March April

Ted Koppel Hodding Carter and Larry Speakes with Paul Duke General Brent Scowcroft with Diane Sawyer Charles Kuralt Oprah Winfrey Jeane Kirkpatrick and Vladimir Pozner with Marvin George Will Art Buchwald Sam Donaldson Henry Kissinger with John Chancellor William Buckley and Charles Rangel Dr. Carl Sagan

1990 January Paul Duke, Howard Fineman and Charles McDowell February Frank Carlucci, George McGovern, William Proxmire and William Rusher with Bettina Gregory March Mike Wallace April Alistair Cooke 1990–1991 October Chancellor Helmut Schmidt January Admiral William Crowe, General Alexander Haig and Robert McFarlane with Edwin Newman February H. Ross Perot March Art Buchwald and Andy Rooney April Captain James Lovell and Dr. Frank Drake with James Burke 1991–1992 October Barbara Walters January PM Margaret Thatcher February General H. Norman Schwarzkopf with Larry King March Dr. Marc Micozzi and Dr. Victor McKusick with Patricia Cornwell April Mark Russell 1992–1993 October Terry Anderson January Hiroki Kato and T. Boone Pickens February Dr. Joyce Brothers March Dr. Bill Cosby April President Mikhail Gorbachev with Cokie Roberts 1993–1994 November Senator Warren Rudman, Lamar Alexander and Dr. Marvin Cetron with Chris Wallace January Frank Capiello and Michael Holland with Louis Rukeyser February President George H. W. Bush March Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross April Bob Newhart 1994–1995 November General Colin Powell January Walter Cronkite February Dave Barry March Tom Clancy April Jack Kemp and George Mitchell

1995–1996 November PM Brian Mulroney and Ambassador Carla Hills January Neil Armstrong, Eugene Cernan and Dick Rutan with David Hartman February Calvin Trillin March Charles Kuralt April David Gergen, Pierre Salinger, Sheila Tate and Bob Woodward with Ed Bradley 1996–1997 November Carl Reiner with Dick Cavett January Paul Volcker with Ray Brady February Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough March Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber with Sir David Frost April Marcia Clark, Philip K. Howard, Dr. Rodney Smolla and Kym Worthy with Prof. Arthur Miller 1997–1998 November Bill Moyers January Wynton Marsalis February PM Shimon Peres March Mary Tyler Moore April Peter Lynch 1998–1999 November PM John Major January Robert Bennett and Dr. William Bennett with Tim Russert February Harry S. Dent, Jr. and Lou Dobbs March Lily Tomlin April Dr. Robert Ballard and Jean-Michel Cousteau 1999–2000 November Julie Andrews January Todd Brewster and Peter Jennings February John Krubski and Michael Connors with Ray Brady March Archbishop Desmond Tutu April James Carville and Newt Gingrich with Tim Russert 2000–2001 November Senator John Glenn January Tom Brokaw February PM Benjamin Netanyahu March Frank McCourt April Dr. William Kelso 2001–2002 November Hal Holbrook January Rabbi Marc Gellman and Msgr. Thomas Hartman February Dick Clark March Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough April Madeleine Albright and James Baker with Gwen Ifill 2002–2003 November Ken Burns January Rudolph Giuliani February PM Benazir Bhutto and Queen Noor with Gwen Ifill March Louis Freeh April Senator Fred Thompson 2003–2004 November Cal Ripken, Jr. January Robert Shiller and Jeremy Siegel February Candice Bergen March President Mary Robinson April Thomas L. Friedman

2005–2006 November Robert Redford with Pat Mitchell January Sherry Lansing February General Colin Powell (Ret.) March Tom Wolfe April Rick Wagoner 2006–2007 November Burt Rutan January Malcolm Gladwell and Alvin Toffler February B.B. King March Jim Lehrer April Dr. Jared Diamond 2007–2008 November President Vicente Fox January Carly Fiorina February Michael Douglas March Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. April David Brooks 2008–2009 November PM Tony Blair January Reza Aslan and Jon Meacham February Smokey Robinson with Daphne Maxwell Reid March Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long April Marion Nestle and Michael Pollan 2009–2010 November Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson January Greg Mortenson March Steve Forbes April Condoleezza Rice May David Plouffe 2010–2011 November President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf January Laura Bush February Anderson Cooper March Dr. George Church April David Blaine 2011–2012 November Dr. Robert Ballard January Robert Gates February Quincy Jones with Tim Reid March Charles Krauthammer and Robert Reich with John Donvan April Sir Ken Robinson and Rafe Esquith 2012–2013 November Platon January Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner and Doris Kearns Goodwin with Tim Reid February President Bill Clinton March Captain Mark Kelly and Gabrielle Giffords April Dr. Jane Goodall 2013–2014 November Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Maajid Nawaz with John Donvan January Dan Buettner February President George W. Bush March PM Gordon Brown April Steve Martin and Martin Short

2014–2015 November Diana Nyad January Garry Trudeau March Ben Bernanke with Paul Solman April Dr. Daniel Levitin and Rosanne Cash May General Keith Alexander and Robert Mueller with John Donvan 2015–2016 November Michael Sandel January Alan Alda February James Balog March PM Julia Gillard April Russell Wilson and Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 2016–2017 November Nate Parker January Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham with Steve Inskeep February Krista Tippett March PM Ehud Barak and Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei with Robin Wright April Ron Howard with Linda Holmes 2017–2018 November President Barack Obama January Glenn Close February Peter Diamandis March Ambassador Samantha Power April Joe Scarborough and Newt Gingrich with Mara Liasson 2018–2019 November Captain Scott Kelly January Tina Fey with Linda Holmes February Dr. Sanjay Gupta March Ian Bremmer April Dr. Temple Grandin with John Donvan 2019–2020 November Bob Costas January Dave Isay, Catherine Burns and Brandon Stanton with John Donvan February Peggy Noonan 2020–2021 November José Andrés January Theresa May February Esther Perel March Bryan Stevenson April Vijay Gupta 2022– The Big Return! January Bob Iger with Kara Swisher February Gloria Steinem with Zainab Salbi March Erik Weihenmayer April Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates May Rhiannon Giddens

Like this list? It’s about to grow. Stay after tonight’s Audience Q&A for the 2022-2023 Season Announcement!

r ichmond forum spe a k er s

2004–2005 November General Tommy Franks January Michael Beschloss and Walter Isaacson February Tim Russert March Dr. Fareed Zakaria April Frank Gehry

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There are more ways than ever to have a seat at The Forum. In The Theater

Join us for five thought-provoking nights in 2022 and 2023 at the historic Altria Theater. The Forum has been one of Richmond’s favorite nights out for 36 years. We are proud to provide once-in-a-lifetime, in-person talks to our community and invite you to join us in the balconies, grand tier, and orchestra of the mid-Atlantic’s largest performing arts venue as we welcome five experts in their fields to share their stories with our city.

Simulcast Room

At each Forum program, we have seats available in the Simulcast Room located within The Altria Theater. Many subscribers take advantage of the Simulcast Room to have somewhere to sit with groups of friends, colleagues, and neighbors during the program. With a Simulcast Room subscription, it’s easy to coordinate meet ups at The Forum and have unique experiences when speakers choose to come and visit. You’ll also have access to the online ticket marketplace for each program and have the option to upgrade into theater seats if you choose.

In Your Home

All season long, we’ve heard from subscribers who love the option to view The Forum live online and for 45 days after the program. Our viewers are streaming a variety of devices, including Roku and Amazon Fire TVs. It’s easy to set up, sit down, and enjoy a comfortable viewing of the program. Plus, if you’re interested in joining us in-person, the ticket marketplace opens up the Monday before each Forum. You’ll have time each month to decide where you want to be when you engage with new ideas. Don’t lose your seat. Renewal deadline is June 18th. Renew your subscription tonight for the 2022 - 2023 season!

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Intelligence Squa r ed U.S.

Intelligence Squared U.S. at The Richmond Forum April 30, 2022

Just a few days after Earth Day 2022, our partnership with Fascinating to watch Intelligence Squared U.S. came to fruition as Bjorn Lomborg, Matthew Kahn, Michele Wucker, and Kaveh Madani took to our an actual debate, stage to discuss one of the most requested topics among Forum as opposed to those subscribers: climate change. Together, the debaters civilly argued presidential events that the question “Can humans adapt to climate change?” and found are billed as debates. common ground on the shared world we hope to achieve, all while respectfully disagreeing on the best road to get there. – Forum Subscriber The special Oxford-style evening began with an audience vote Survey Comment and then the introduction of opening arguments. The “Yes” team arguing for adaptation, Matthew Kahn and Bjorn Lomborg, reflected on how entrepreneurial ingenuity fuels the economy and how that expands economic power. Michele Wucker and Kaveh Madani from the “No” team discussed how their experiences in business and research mirror the denial of action in the climate crisis. Despite their answer that humans cannot adapt, these experts and those who side with them believe Mr. Donvan was that businesses and individuals can be exceptional as a moderator. mindful of innovative strategies that If he’s asking the questions, can be pursued to steer away from I know it’s going to be a climate crisis rather than merely accept it for what it is. good night at the Forum! Throughout the discussion, the – Forum Subscriber Survey Comment “Yes” team in favor of adaptation argued that humans should rise to the occasion of healing the Earth by funding other humanitarian areas of interest that will improve people’s lives in the present.The opponents, however, felt that the risks are too high and certain investments are too difficult to predict. Data models were cited by both sides, but it was Madani who noted just how many assumptions these models can be based on.The discussion evolved into the certainty of models made, and as experts do, these sources were questioned on their reliability. Moderator John Donvan kept the debaters I was stimulated by the speakers on track as the question and answer segment began. to consider climate change in Richmonders in the audience and watching online different ways and our response to had their questions asked directly to the debaters, facilitating a truly engaging community discussion. If it. We had great discussions after you’re interested in seeing which Richmonders got the program well into the night. their questions answered and which side swayed the – Forum Subscriber most opinions, be sure to watch the special program Survey Comment available online through June 15th.

Left: Matthew Kahn presented his points on a mainly economic basis, drawing from his studies at USC. Bottom Left: Bjorn Lomborg, author of False Alarm, warned against climate alarmism and proposed more focus on areas of other humanitarian interest to benefit in the long term. Bottom Middle: The “No” Team, consisting of Michele Wucker and Kaveh Madani, had a good laugh Bottom Right: Michele Wucker reflected on the “gray rhino” theory in regards to climate change, and how the impacts are obvious and unavoidable yet actions are stalled.

Left: As the program went on, we saw the hallmark of a good debate—audience opinions swaying through the evening. We won’t give any spoilers as to how they swayed, but you can view the debate for yourself on our online video channel until June 15th. Interested in discussing the results? Tag them online. #rvaforum

intelligence squa r ed u.s.

Top: A spirited but civil debate occurred on a stage designed specifically for this program.

Visit www.RichmondForum.org to renew your subscription for next year. Deadline to renew is June 18th.

RESULTS OVER RANKINGS. Some schools use selection to protect their rankings. Instead of hiding behind metrics, we meet students where they are, bringing to light their unique strengths while boosting academic performance across the university. Find out how our perspectives propel us.

Photo courtesy of Morgan Bullock. VCU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.

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