As part of the summer speaker series #hearhere, the AT&T Performing Arts Center will present Matt Groening and Lynda Barry. #hearhere (formerly known as #thinkspeak) will feature dynamic discussions from leaders in radio, TV, journalism, art and filmmaking. The series removes the barrier between audiences and some of the most interesting minds of our time.

Matt Groening, creator and executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning series The Simpsons, made television history by bringing animation back to primetime and creating an immortal nuclear family. The Simpsons is now the longest-running scripted series in television history and was voted “Best Show of the 20^th Century” by Time Magazine.

Lynda Barry has worked as a painter, cartoonist, writer, illustrator, playwright, editor, commentator and teacher and found they are very much alike.She earned a degree from Evergreen State College during its early experimental period (1974- 78), studying with painter and writing teacher, Marilyn Frasca. Frasca’s questions about the nature of images and the role they play in day-to-day living have guided Barry’s work ever since.