Peter J. Huber SILL President

A Message from the President

Welcome to SILL’s 37th year of providing quality adult education. In 2007 almost 22,000 attended SILL lectures, a gain of over 5% from 2006. Thanks are due to our loyal audience; the dedicated SILL Board; our selfless volunteers; and the generous contributors to the Friends of SILL. We should also recognize the over 400 subscribers who participated in our focus groups and on-line survey that provided us with good insights into SILL. Thanks to all.

The newly inaugurated pre-registration for the Wednesday/Thursday International Series in Sarasota went smoothly, and you responded so well. While the Thursday International series tickets “sold out” during pre-registration, daily ticket seating will still be available, and series tickets for the Wednesday International series in Sarasota can still be purchased. To explain a very complicated world, the International Series again offers provocative topics and speakers with insights not readily available in mainstream media.

The Tuesday Contemporary Issues series will include many topics that will be addressed by the presidential candidates in the run up to the fall 2008 election. Note in particular the special presentation on Tuesday, January 15, a dialog on Israel and Palestine featuring returning speaker, Dr Mark Rosenblum and Dr Omar Dajani, a Palestinian-American and now a US academician and former legal advisor to the Palestinian Negotiating Team.

The Music series promises to be more interesting than ever, as we feature “The Busy B’s: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Beyond”. Hear well-known musicians, writers and speakers bring to life the lives and works of A-list composers whose last name began with”B”. There’s a bunch of them! Presenters include Sherrill Milnes, internationally renowned Metropolitan Opera baritone; Eugenia Zukerman, CBS “Sunday Morning” arts correspondent and internationally renowned flutist; and Joseph Robinson, former principal oboist, New York Philharmonic.

Explore our website www.sillsarasota.org. It was revamped and upgraded last year, and is now full of even more information about our speakers and their backgrounds. We plan to keep it updated and fresh, so visit frequently.

We raised our fees for 2008 to meet increases in our operating expenses as well as the rising costs of obtaining speakers who will meet your high expectations.

As always, we encourage you ideas and suggestions for future topics and speakers, and we also ask you to tell your friends and neighbors about SILL and our unique brand of adult education that delivers an insider’s view of today’s world.

Enjoy the season.
Peter J. Huber, President