Join this fascinating Happy Hour with guest speaker Debra Rhodes Smith who has written a memoir of anecdotes during her 34-year career as a certified arts appraiser and Fine Art Advisor. Many experiences are shared while amassing the art collections for some of the largest corporations and luxury hotels worldwide. In her book, “Tales of Art Beyond the Frame,” Smith describes one of her most interesting assignments involving the acquisition of a Monet for a client and through some quirky circumstances at a Sotheby’s auction, she was able to obtain a million-dollar Monet for well under the valued price. All of Smith’s tales are true, witty, poignant, intelligent, informative, sophisticated, and a fresh perspective of the often-mysterious world of art.

Sponsored by the ESU Kansas City Branch.

Filmmaker and conservationist, Patricia Sims, talks about her journey to create the annual global awareness campaign, World Elephant Day, which she founded in 2012. Through her photography of Asian and African elephants, Patricia portrays her conservation work with elephants, her documentaries about elephants, and her recent trip to Kenya to see how the impact of World Elephant Day has helped numerous conservation organizations protect these animals for more than a decade by creating a global movement to save elephants. 

The ESU is hosting another Showtime Shindig which is part of the ESU Theatre Club.  We will be seeing Andrew Lloyd's Sunset Boulevard starring Grammy-nominated singer and Laurence Olivier-Award winning actress Nicole Scherzinger. We will be attending the show on Saturday, February 22nd at 2PM and having a light brunch before the show at the ESU's […]

Join us on Tuesday, February 25, for the ESU New York City Branch Shakespeare Finals at The Players, an historic theater landmark in the heart of Gramercy Park! From 3:30 to 6:00 PM, 10 talented high school finalists from across NYC will take the stage in this iconic venue, competing for a chance to represent NYC at the ESU National Shakespeare Competition Finals at Lincoln Center on April 28.
Come cheer on these amazing young performers as they bring Shakespeare’s words to life in this incredible setting!

Sponsored by the ESU Richmond Branch. British historian, Sir Spencer Walpole, described King George IV (1762-1830) as "a bad son, a bad husband, a bad father, a bad subject, a bad monarch, and a bad friend." The Duke of Wellington was more charitable of the king, " was indeed the most extraordinary compound of talent, wit, buffoonery, obstinacy, and good feeling--in short, a medley of the most opposite qualities--with a great preponderance of good--that I ever saw in any character in my life." King George IV was known for his manners and charm but also for his drunkenness, spendthrift ways, and scandalous love life.

The English-Speaking Union Founder’s Award Gala
Honoring Dr. E. Quinn Peeper
ESU National Chairman
His Britannic Majesty’s Honorary Consul to Louisiana

Saturday, March 15, 2025
Winter Park Racquet Club
Winter Park, Florida

Kris Millgate is an Emmy-Award winning multimedia journalist, bold storyteller, and certified Idaho Master Naturalist. She is a producer, writer, editor, and author of three books on her adventures. Kris will describe her amazing outdoor experiences from wildfires and water wars to tracking grizzlies and tagging trout. With a quarter-century of multimedia storytelling experience, she traverses the country in search of dynamic outdoor stories. She will talk about her transition from a TV news anchor to an outdoor naturalist and environmentalist through beautiful pictures and short film clips.

Mark Twain (1835-1919) was an American humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who gained international fame for his travel narratives and for his adventure stories of boyhood, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He is considered one of America’s best and most beloved writers. Susan K. Harris is a Mark Twain scholar as well as a scholar of American women’s writings. She has published four books on the author. Susan’s talk will focus on Twain’s innovative language, his double-edged humor, his political courage, and his struggle to find certainty in an uncertain world. She will explore the debate over teaching Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—how its offensive language works, and why it matters.