The City Club of Cleveland was formed 100 years ago to provide a venue for citizens to learn about and discuss important topics of the day. Its perch at East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue attracted downtown businessmen for food, networking and dialogue at a time when corporations bought memberships, business lunches were common practice and most people still got their news from actual newspapers.

A century later, times have changed a bit. Today, most downtown professionals are lucky to get a lunch break, and news is what fits on an iPhone screen.

Yet the venerable club, whose tag line is the "citadel of free speech," has changed over the years, as well. It has launched a young professionals group and begun streaming speeches live over the Internet to appeal to diverse audiences.

Now, as the nonprofit group kicks off its 100th anniversary celebration this year, it is hosting a National Conference on Free Speech at the newly renovated Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare to highlight its continued relevance to society as well as how free speech rights are being redefined in the age of the Internet.

The day-long conference includes discussions on free speech in the age of the Internet, free speech in the age of terrorism, media independence and free speech in the music industry. Speakers include Gwen Ifill, Senior Correspondent for the NewsHour on PBS; Jeff Fager, Executive Producer of 60 Minutes; Juan Williams, Political Analyst for Fox News; and Dee Snider, former front man of the 80s heavy metal band Twisted Sister and proponent of free speech in music.

The conference will be broadcast live over the Internet as part of the City Club's efforts to reach new audiences and grow its role as content provider.

"The topics that we deal with today are as relevant as the ones we dealt with 100 years ago, but how people get their information has changed," says Elizabeth Horrigan, Director of the 100th Anniversary Celebration at the City Club. "We're expanding our reach as a media outlet so that we can reach out to, engage and inform markets we might not reach at this point."

One of the City Club's primary efforts to this end has been expanding the number of radio markets that carry its programming. Horrigan says the club is in about 200 markets right now, but is actively seeking to grow that number.

Other activities planned for the club's 100th anniversary celebration include an encore speaker series, an archival project to digitize past speeches, an essay contest for high school students and a gala celebration on October 18th, 2012.

And in case you're wondering, the City Club is also on Facebook (and Twitter, too).

Source: Elizabeth Horrigan
Writer: Lee Chilcote