We’re going to need a bigger bank note.
Richard Dreyfuss from Jaws is coming to Helsinki Hudson on March 15 for “An Evening with Richard Dreyfuss,” in which the Academy Award winner will discuss his film career, political activism, and his civic education initiative in a benefit for Columbia Memorial Health.
Dreyfuss will talk about a number of issues through the Dreyfuss Civics Initiative, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization he founded in 2010 that encourages public school curriculums to cover American government and history.
“We must teach our kids how to run our country with common sense and realism, before it’s time for them to run the country,” he says. “If we don’t, someone else will run this nation and the experiment of government by, for, and of the people will have failed.”
While his organization’s primary goal is supporting civic education, Dreyfuss will also cover a number of other issues through the initiative, including environmental problems and substance abuse.
Dreyfuss has accumulated a significant amount of political experience by serving on and participating in educational institutions worldwide. He previously served as Senior Research Advisory Member of St. Antony’s College at Oxford and spent 12 years on the Board of the National Constitution Center, an institution established by Congress to spread knowledge and understanding of the Constitution. He is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the American Bar Association’s committee for education.
The evening won’t be all politics, though. Dreyfuss will also talk about his acting career and personal experiences behind the scenes of American Graffiti, The Goodbye Girl, Jaws, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, as well as his more recent work on the small screen in shows like “Parenthood” and “Weeds.”
Audience members will have the opportunity to ask Dreyfuss questions about anything and everything, from his close-ups with the famous cinematic shark to his stance on STEM curriculums in schools.
Doors open at 6pm for the March 15 event; The show begins at 8pm. Visit Helsinkihudson.com for more details.
