The Guilford College Bryan Series, which brings nationally known speakers to the area, is ending after decades. The final event will be held on April 8 with actress and activist Ashley Judd.
The Bryan Series has brought some big names to Greensboro since its inception in the mid-1990s, including author Toni Morrison, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, actor/director Ron Howard and journalist Judy Woodruff.
The speaker series was originally free but became a subscription model around the same time organizers moved it off campus. It’s been held at the Tanger Center since 2022.
In 2019, the lecture series had 2,300 paid subscribers, says Ty Buckner, Guilford College’s chief communications officer. But the in-person program shut down for two years during the COVID pandemic.
"When we came out of that and began presenting programs at Tanger in February of 2022, the environment had changed entirely," he says. "People's activity patterns had changed.”
He says subscriptions dropped by about 30 percent.
Guilford College has faced substantial financial challenges in recent years. Buckner says discontinuing the Bryan Series is part of a focus on sustainability for the college’s future.