Nine ESU Branches Gather For Annual Region VI Conference

Event Recap

ESU's Region VI branches joined forces for the annual Regional Meeting on May 29-30, 2015. Twenty-one branch members represented all nine Region VI branches for the conference in the historic river town of Madison, Indiana. Barbara Kiffmeyer, Region VI Chair, organized a Friday evening and full-day Saturday of events. Click here for a list of attendees

On Friday evening, Barbara arranged for ESU Regional members and guests to attend a fundraising event at the historic Shrewsbury-Windle House (left) for the renovation of the interior of the 1848 Greek Revival-style home. The home is a National U.S. Historic Landmark and on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Captain Charles L. Shrewsbury was the Mayor of Madison, a riverboat captain, flour manufacturer and port merchant. It was a wonderful opportunity for all branch representatives to gather and renew friendships, some meeting for the first time.

Barbara had previously announced her plans to retire as Chair of Region VI and the Nominating Committee for Region VI, consisting of Annalee, Kathy Luttmer and Howard Creveling, selected Jeff Schnabel, president of the Kansas City Branch, as the new Chair of Region VI. A new Secretary was also nominated, Lucille Van Alstine, Board member, Cleveland Branch. Region VI members voted and approved the two nominees to the Region VI Board.  Jeff Schnabel stated, "I'm excited to serve as Chair for Region VI and look forward to meeting as many of our Branch's members as possible as well as providing support and sharing best practices with all branches in the Region."

During the business meeting on Saturday, Chris Broadwell, Executive Director of the ESUUS Headquarters, shared his vision of the ESU in the 21^st Century as it approaches its centenary in 2018. He emphasized that the primary function of the ESU is universally recognized as an education-based organization. Its educational programs, some dating back over 50 years, are the foundation and trademark of the ESUUS.

Chris gave an update of each of the ESU's national educational programs including the recent addition of the "Teaching Shakespeare Workshops" which emphasizes the Foger approach to teaching Shakespeare. This ESU national educational program will have particular emphasis in 2016, when the traveling exhibit titled, "First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare" will be on tour in all 50 states, Wash. D.C. and Puerto Rico. Approximately 25 ESU branches are in cities that will be hosting the First Folio Exhibition and many community outreach programs are being planned for this event. The ESU is proud to be a national participating partner with the esteemed Folger Shakespeare Library and we look forward to working closely with the host venue in each of our branch cities exhibiting the First Folios.

2016 also marks the 400^th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death and all ESU branches worldwide will be participating in international programming events commemorating that historic event. As ESU branches in Region VI start developing their own local programming for this historic anniversary, we hope to share each of our unique and creative program ideas with each other in the Region.

Ed Mohylowski, Deputy Executive Director of the ESUUS, also attended the Region VI Conference and gave a presentation focusing on fundraising at the National level.

Jeff Schnabel, who is also the Chair of the Branch Services Committee on the National ESU Board, gave a presentation on the background of this Committee which consists of twelve members of the Board including Regional Chairs. Some of the key areas the Committee is working on include: communication; developing a new organizational structure to limit legal liability at all levels of the ESU; developing an alternate branch model that may better serve branches that are not able to continue to operate under the standard branch model; reviewing membership goals; and improving charitable outreach in our branch communities. Jeff also discussed the ESU branch websites, reviewing why it's important for branch operations and the organization as a whole to maintain current websites.

Barbara concluded the business meeting by giving some interesting background on Hoosier authors, as the theme for the conference was "Hoosier Spoken Here."  She commented that during the 19^th and early 20^th century, there were more authors being published from Indiana than from New York.  She mentioned many famous Indiana authors, some of whom wrote best-sellers that were turned into screenplays and movies, such as Booth Tarkington – The Magnificent Ambersons and Penrod, Theodore Dreiser – Sister Carrie, and Lew Wallace -  Ben-Hur. Later 20^th century authors included Kurt Vonnegut – Slaughterhouse Five, Jessamyn West – Friendly Persuasion, Dan Wakefield – Going all the Way, and Jean Shepherd – A Christmas Story. Barbara read James Whitcomb Riley's "Little Orphan Annie" and urged attendees to remember and use Cole Porter's lyrics from the musical "Kiss Me Kate" for the song, "Brush up your Shakespeare," with the last refrain,  "Brush up your Shakespeare, Start quoting him now! Brush up your Shakespeare and they'll all kow-tow!"

Barbara ended  her presentation by thanking all the branches for their  years of support while she was Chair of the Region and she hoped to stay in touch with all of the branches in the years to come.

The afternoon on Saturday was filled with interesting tours of historic places in Madison, Indiana, including the Lanier Mansion (left), the Francis Costigan House, and the Schroeder Saddletree Factory Museum.

Barbara graciously hosted a dinner in her home for all 23 attendees at the Regional Conference on Saturday evening.  Her beautiful home overlooks the scenic Ohio River and hills of Indiana and Kentucky. All the guests had a delightful time at the dinner visiting with old and new friends.

Photos from the Conference will be in the Photo Gallery soon.

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