Text Box: The new American Lyceum,® Inc. is based on Aristotle's Lyceum, Plato's Academy, and the original Athenian congress in ancient Greece. In more recent times, an American lyceum movement began around 1825 and continued for 40 years.  Many libraries and schools were built by the national organization, which disbanded with the Civil War in 1865, evolving into the National Educational Association, the Chautauqua movement and the National Speaker's Platform. But many independent lyceums continued to exist. When Horace Greeley and Nathan Meeker led people to "Go West..." to Greeley, Colorado they started a local Greeley lyceum in 1871 to decide issues in their "utopian community."  Lyceums and Chautauquas are related.  Chautauqua events are summer programs that are recreational and entertaining in nature.  Lyceum events are winter programs with serious debates and deliberations on important issues of the day. The modern-day, new American Lyceum, Inc.® was formed in Colorado in the mid-1980's by a Greeley, Colorado newspaper editor, James Frazier, with the help of newspaper publisher Annette Winkler-Riesel, and a professional animal scientist, Richard Hergert, who raised funds for most events. Frazier developed the concept in 1980 when working with the Western Governors' Policy Office (WESTPO) in Denver as a media producer. He saw the need for government to educate citizens, and also the need for citizens to investigate impacts of government programs.  Thus the main concept of the Lyceum was "citizen education" when the bylaws were approved in 1981, and formal non-profit status was obtained from  the IRS. In 1982, the official poem of the lyceum, "Riddle for All Nations" was copyrighted by James E. Frazier and adopted as the organization's mantle.  In 1984, the American Lyceum started producing TV programs in Fort Lupton, Colorado where Frazier was the local newspaper editor, and Annette Winkler-Riesel was a columnist. Using the local cable TV station equipment, they produced over 20 local programs that were housed in the Fort Lupton Public Library. In 1982, the name "American Lyceum" and the eagle symbol received approval as a federal trademark. A year later, when Frazier was an editor of the Brighton-Standard newspaper in Brighton, Colorado,  he conducted test projects with elementary school students. Gifted students in the 5th grade were trained to gather data and deliberate an environmental issue in the unique, high-speed Lyceum format. This format was very successful. In 1985, Richard Hergert, an animal nutritionist from Windsor, Colorado, began to raise funds and sponsor symposiums on agriculture in Weld County. Frazier produced a slide show for Hergert's public event: The History of Agriculture in Weld County. This program helped stimulate discussions and debates on the future of agriculture in Weld County. The show was converted to video and ran on local cable TV. From 1985-2005, Frazier operated a video production company serving small businesses and multi-national corporations. With the same facilities, the Lyceum produced numerous local cable TV documentaries and public debates primarily on water and agricultural issues  in Colorado. Richard Hergert raised funds and guided most of these productions as Executive Producer. A 13 part series, VISIONS OF AMERICA, included interviews conducted by Frazier with food producers and ag workers all over America, from coast to coast. He obtained the interviews while traveling on paid projects for various companies. Frazier's corporate videos and the American Lyceum productions  won top media awards in northern Colorado for the best cable TV productions  in various categories of shows.  The Wealth of Water in Northern Colorado  is an award winning documentary on water issues in northern Colorado sponsored in part by the Denver Metro Water Board. The show inspired  debates on water that were televised on local cable stations in the region.  America's Fabulous Food  System   illustrates how modern agriculture may be the best way to protect and save the world's rain forests.  This show features Dennis Avery of the Global Food Institute. He provides the facts to support the idea that modern agriculture is the best way to save  rain forests around  the world. This show is great for classroom discussions on agriculture. Richard Herger and the Lyceum  worked together with local sponsors to bring national speakers into Greeley. The first speaker was Earl Butz ( former US Secretary of Agriculture). Others included  Jim Mosely (Deputy Director of US Dept. of Agriculture), John Keys (Commissioner US Bureau of Reclamation), Jeremy Stump (Homeland Security director for USDA),  Russell George (Director Colorado Dept of Natural Resources.) and  former Secretary of Agriculture, Clayton Yuetter. The next phase of building the Lyceum involves rapid deliberations of cultural issues and ideals.  For example, Lyceum members as "citizen journalists" study a cultural issue and government impacts of related programs. Then selected members use that information to rapidly deliberate. Republicans and Democrats might provide opposing views. The plan now is to begin with a radio program based on the Lyceum format: The Spartan Assembly. After programs are successfully operated on radio, we would move to local and statewide TV broadcasts. Streaming internet video technology is  now suitable for broadcasting on the internet. Currently, we are developing talent and sponsors for the Spartan Assembly as a radio show. If you are interested please check out the website and email us at: info@LyceumUSA.com  or info@AmericanLyceum.org Or call  970-346-8407    or 719.510.3186    

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