User:Westminster THF/sandbox

The Westminster Town Hall Forum is a nonprofit based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The mission of the Forum is to engage the public in reflection and dialogue on the key issues of our day from an ethical perspective. A forum is one hour in length and consists of a speaker presentation followed by a question and answers session with questions submitted by the audience. Town Hall Forums are held eight to ten times a year at noon or 7:00pm. (Doors open at least one hour before the presentation begins.) Local musicians perform a half hour before each forum and a public reception, often with a book-signing by the speaker, follows the presentation. Forums are free and open to all. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, and no ticket or RSVP is required.

History
In 1980, Westminster Presbyterian Church members Paul and Diane Neimann launched the Westminster Town Hall Forum. Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, was the first guest speaker, and the Reverend Donald Meisel moderated. Since then, more than 250 speakers have addressed Forum audiences, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Thomas Friedman, Cornel West, David McCullough, Marcus Borg, Marian Wright Edelman, Sue Monk Kidd, David Brooks, Salman Rushdie, Gwen Ifill, and Bryan Stevenson.

Collaborations
From day one, the Forum’s primary collaboration has been with Minnesota Public Radio. Forums are always aired at noon on MPR News Presents, 91.1 FM in the Twin Cities. Noon forums are broadcast live, and evening forums are recorded for later broadcast, usually within a day or two of the event.

Sponsorship and funding
The Town Hall Forum welcomes community involvement and support. Over the years, Forum events have been co-sponsored by businesses, nonprofits, faith communities, and educational institutions, including Hennepin County Library, United Theological Seminary, the YWCA of Minneapolis, The Nature Conservancy, and MinnPost, to name just a few. The Forum receives 85% of its funding from individual donors.

Advisory Board
The Town Hall Forum is guided by a volunteer advisory board that meets five times a year and is comprised equally of Westminster Church members and at-large community leaders. The Advisory Board provides guidance and support in the areas of policy, governance, development, community relations, and programming. The Forum is led and managed by a paid director.