February 2: Spend an Evening with NPR superstar Tavis Smiley

WFYI welcomes Tavis Smiley back to Indianapolis for an exclusive evening with the Indiana native, author, PRI and PBS host

When: Friday February 2, 5:30 pm Dinner & Reception with Tavis Smiley; 8:00 pm Lecture
Where: Madame Walker Theatre 617 Indiana Ave Indianapolis, 46202

Tavis Smiley was raised in north central Indiana and educated on the Bloomington campus of IU. Today he is at the center of a news and philanthropic empire. Smiley hosts the late night television talk show, Tavis Smiley on PBS, and his radio show The Tavis Smiley Show on public radio is distributed by PRI, Public Radio International. (Smiley is the first American ever to simultaneously host signature talk shows on both public television and public radio. )

In 2004, Texas Southern University honored Smiley with the opening of The Tavis Smiley School of Communications and The Tavis Smiley Center for Professional Media Studies, making him the youngest African American to ever have a professional school and center named after him on a college or university campus. Smiley cemented his commitment to TSU with a $1million gift to the Center. The mission of his nonprofit organization–Tavis Smiley Foundation–is to enlighten, encourage and empower Black youth. Tavis Smiley Presents, a subsidiary of The Smiley Group, Inc., brings ideas and people together through symposiums, seminars, forums and town hall meetings.

Smiley is author of many books, including the newly published What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America.

Click here to order tickets.

If this event sounds interesting, you should check out some of the other African American public intellectuals and policymakers coming to Indianapolis in the spring: Christopher Edley January 14, Henry Louis Gates and John Hope Franklin April 5, and Colin Powell March 12. Tavis Smiley's programs provide an alternative to the simplistic and divisive DC media culture dissected by Stefan Halper February 21.

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