Brainstorm Speaker Series

Join the Library, Center for the Arts, and Jackson Hole News & Guide for the 3rd season of presentations meant to ignite conversation and curiosity.

Sam Ellis: Sports & Geopolitics in the 21st Century

MON, JAN 12, 2026
7:00 p.m.
Center for the Arts
Free tickets areavailable through The Center Box Office at jhcenterforthearts.org

From Roman emperors staging gladiator spectacles to modern leaders orchestrating World Cups and Olympics, politicians have long used sport as a tool of image and influence. But can sports be more than a cultural tool? In the 21st century, stadiums, tournaments, and athletes serve as platforms for projecting military might, winning allies, and reshaping global influence. The world order is shifting, and sports are front and center. 

Sam Ellis is a journalist, video director, editor, and animator. He's currently the showrunner and creator of “Search Party,” a YouTube channel that covers sports and geopolitics. Ellis has produced explainers on the world's thorniest geopolitical stories, from the rise of Vladimir Putin, turmoil in the Middle East, and the international drug trade, to the world of sports, the rise of England's Premier League, and the socialist roots of the NFL. But he's most interested in the intersection of the two: Why no one wants to host the Olympics, the warlord using MMA to raise an army, and how Mongolia conquered sumo wrestling.  

An Evening with Tara Westover

WED, APR 29
7:00 p.m.
Center for the Arts
Free tickets will be available through The Center Box Office at jhcenterforthearts.org on March 13, 2026 at 10:00 AM.

Tara Westover is an American author. Born in Idaho to a father opposed to public education, she never attended school. An older brother taught her to read, and after that her education was erratic and haphazard, with most of her days spent working in her father’s junkyard or stewing herbs for her mother. She was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. After that first encounter with education, she pursued learning for a decade, graduating magna cum laude from Brigham Young University in 2008 and subsequently winning a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. 

In 2018, she published her memoir, “Educated,” which explores her struggle to reconcile her desire for education and autonomy with her desire to be loyal to her family. “Educated” debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list and remained on the list for more than two years. The New York Times named “Educated” one of the 10 Best Books of 2018, and the American Booksellers Association voted it the Nonfiction Book of the Year. Bill Gates listed it as one of his favorite books of the year, saying, “It’s even better than you’ve heard.”