Join us Wednesday, January 11 at noon as this month’s Bellman Brown Bag speaker, Bruce Junek, joins us in the Matthews theater. Bruce will be presenting the slide show A Writer’s Life of Adventure- Fact &Fiction during this free event.

This program highlights how Bruce’s travels and bicycle journeys with his wife, Tass Thacker, through 54 countries led to a career as a writer, explorer, photographer, speaker, filmmaker, and above all else, storyteller. Bruce has written two travel narratives, The Road of Dreams and Andes to the Amazon, a rock climbing guidebook, produced the documentary film, Bruce and Tass Bicycle China, and also recently published a 4-book fantasy series, A Bright One Chronicles, which was greatly influenced by his many expeditions around the world. Don’t miss this fascinating presentation.

About the Bellman Brown Bag Series

The Bellman Brown Bag series is a humanities program designed to explore ideas, history, literature, art and culture. The Brown Bag program was developed by Dr. Stewart Bellman in the 1990’s. Recognizing the Matthews Opera House as an ideal venue for the exploration of humanities topics, he engaged a line-up of speakers to present programs on a range of humanities topics each month.

Dr. Bellman was a professor of English at Black Hills State University, Spearfish, SD. His teaching career spanned thirty years. Bellman retired from BHSU and passed away in November 2002.

Programs are presented on the second Wednesday of each month, noon to 1pm. Designed to begin and end within the lunch hour, patrons are invited to bring their lunch, if desired, or simply enjoy an hour of learning and entertainment.  This is an opportunity to gain insight into themes that touch our daily lives.

Coffee for the Bellman Brown Bag Series is generously provided by Common Grounds in Spearfish, SD.

About the NEA Big Read

The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read, a partnership with Arts Midwest, broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. Since 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts has funded more than 1,700 NEA Big Read programs, providing more than $24 million to organizations nationwide. In addition, NEA Big Read activities have reached every Congressional district in the country. Over the past 16 years, grantees have leveraged more than $56 million in local funding to support their NEA Big Read programs. More than 5.9 million Americans have attended an NEA Big Read event, over 97,000 volunteers have participated at the local level, and over 40,000 community organizations have partnered to make NEA Big Read activities possible.

Visit arts.gov/neabigread for more information about the NEA Big Read. Organizations interested in applying for an NEA Big Read grant in the future should visit Arts Midwest’s website for more information.

NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
El proyecto NEA Big Read es una iniciativa del National Endowment for the Arts (el Fondo Nacional para las Artes de Estados Unidos) en cooperación con Arts Midwest