SSU speaker series coming to Lynn

LYNN – Salem State University is bringing its popular speaker series to the Lynn Veterans Memorial Auditorium for the 2013 season.”Well, we’re doing it for a couple of reasons,” said Salem State University Marketing Director Karen Cady.The speaker series brings politicians and academics, as well as those from the sports and entertainment worlds, to the university’s stage. The events typically are held in the O’Keefe Center on Canal Street, but that location is undergoing renovations.Cady said the university is putting an addition on the center, which will render it a construction zone for the 2013 spring season. The plus side, she said, is that the project also gives the university the chance to reach out to a new audience and take advantage of “a beautiful venue” in neighboring Lynn.State Sen. Thomas McGee, D-Lynn, said bringing the series to Lynn also allows the city to show off one of its best assets, the auditorium, to a new audience.”It’s really exciting,” he said.Community Development Director James Marsh, who has been working to cultivate a relationship between Salem State and Lynn for nearly a year, called the event “a very big deal.” He said a partnership with a university brings with it a cachet that further legitimizes the auditorium and, with speakers, it allows it to branch out to a different genre.”It’s not classic rock and it’s not Latin music, which has been our niche,” he said. “And we’re diving in with a partnership that hopefully will blossom into a longer term relationship.”Cady said the university is only focused on the spring series at the moment, which will be revealed during a reception at the auditorium on Thursday, Jan. 31. McGee agreed that it’s too early to say what will happen in terms of a long-term partnership between Salem State and the Lynn Auditorium, but he believes it makes sense for the university to consider the idea.McGee said the university has already made forays into the city by offering three classes in affiliation with North Shore Community College. When Salem State officials came to Lynn to discuss that project almost a year ago, he took them on a tour of the auditorium and suggested it would be a great venue for the speaker series.”It’s pretty exciting that now it’s going to happen,” McGee said. “I think it’s a great thing for Lynn and it’s a great thing for Salem as well. It’s a perfect facility for that.”When the university hosts a big-name speaker, it has to bring a stage into the O’Keefe Center, which does not have a permanent platform, but the Lynn auditorium provides a ready-to-use space that seats 2,100, McGee said.Marsh and McGee both said they hope the first speaker of the season is just one of many who will take the stage in the auditorium, bringing with it a different kind of show and a continuing partnership with nearby Salem.”This is a big deal for us, a really big deal,” Marsh said.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].