Civic Media Center's SpringBoard features Ottón Solís at Matheson Museum

Civic Media Center's SpringBoard features Ottón Solís at Matheson Museum
Joe Courter
March 2008

The Civic Media Center, Gainesville's reading room and library of the non-corporate press, will be presenting its annual "SpringBoard" fundraiser Friday, April 11th, from 6pm to 10 pm. The location is different this year, as the event will be moving to the Matheson Museum at 513 E. Univ Ave.

Prior years the event was at the home of Paula and Hal Stahmer, for which we are exceedingly grateful, but we've somewhat outgrown their house, and with scheduling difficulties on their end, the Matheson Museum is a great alternative, with a lot of room to mingle, and a lot of parking by the Museum and across the street at Kirby-Smith.

In addition to the usual vast spread of fine food from area restaurants, the items of art and services available for silent auction and the door prizes, we will have a very special guest speaker. Dr. Ottón Solís is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Florida from his native Costa Rica. An outspoken critic of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the US driven neoliberal policies of rampant privatization, Mr. Solís, an economist, is the founder, president and two time presidential candidate of Costa Rica's Citizen Action Party, which narrowly lost (1%) to President Oscar Arias in 2006.

Mr Solís is also a strong advocate for ethics in government , the author of two books on the subject, as well as many articles and opinion pieces. Ottón Solís will speak to us on the topic of "Corporate Media and Resisting the Washington Consensus," followed by questions and answers.

Advance tickets for the event will be available at Wild iris Books and Omni Books starting on March 20th. The tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Tickets can also be reserved by mail by writing the Civic Media Center at 1021 W. Univ. Ave Gainesville, Fl 32601, with checks payable to the CMC.

For more information call the CMC at 352-373-0010 or visit the website at www.civicmediacenter.org