TEDxBloomington 2018 tickets are on sale!

Hundreds of TEDx enthusiasts will come together on Friday, August  24, for our fourth TEDxBloomington. The independently organized event, licensed by TED, will feature local voices and TED Talks, bringing together an engaging group of speakers to explore the theme of growth from creative, personal, municipal, social, and sexual perspectives. Launched in 2009, the TEDx program licenses locally organized events that bring community members together to share a TED-like experience. Some of the most engaging talks from past TEDx events around the world – including pastTEDxBloomington events – have gone on to be featured on TED.com and have been viewed by millions of people all over the globe.

The August 24th event will take place on the evening of August 24th at the historic Buskirk-Chumley Theater in downtown Bloomington, Indiana, and will feature a diverse and impressive line-up of speakers, including:

  • Shannon Downey, Director of Development for Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago, where she raises funds to grow and protect immigrant and refugee rights and power through civic engagement and language access. She is adjunct faculty at Columbia College and DePaul University, where she teaches Creatives how to build empires that will pay the bills and change the world. She is, however, best known by her alias – Badass Cross Stitch – where her shenanigans tend to get the most attention. In this role, Shannon is a community organizer disguised as a fiber artist and craftivist. She blends politics, activism, and art into projects that are designed to inspire others to take action, think, discuss, engage with democracy and their community, and find some digital/analog balance.
  • Brian Richardson, Founder of the Krimson Leadership Academy and Assistant Director for Diversity and Inclusion at Indiana University-Bloomington School of Public Health, serves the Bloomington-area community as the Vice-Chairperson on the Commission for the Status of Black Males through the Bloomington Mayor’s office. Mr. Richardson strives to create change and inspire others to be their greatest selves, and helps others become leaders. He is one the 2018 City of Bloomington’s “10 Under 40 Influential Leaders,” and Bloomington’s 2017 Outstanding Black Male Leader of Tomorrow.
  • Santi Garces, hired by Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, 7 years ago “to help the community rediscover what it means to be a city,” Mr. Garces started the Department of Innovation and Technology in South Bend, and is Chief Innovation Officer, focused on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of municipal services by developing talent, optimizing processes, and designing technology solutions. He helps South Bend collaborate with the University of Notre Dame on smart city research.
  • Michele Mattoon is director of the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF), an organization that teaches educators how to improve school culture. She’s also president and owner of Coltrain Group, which teaches leadership skills that emphasize collaboration tools (protocols) that foster community and maximize productivity. She has worked with businesses and educational groups around the world, training their employees to work together better. Michele is obsessed with intentionally building healthy, productive communities through the use of specific collaborative structures.
  • Lizzy Bartelt, Doctoral Student at Indiana University, has worked in sexual health and with LGBTQ+ youth for many years, and has done research studies related to bisexuality among parents, and in both heterosexual and LGBTQ+ communities. Lizzy’s research focus is on sexual and gender minority youth and their experiences with sexual and reproductive health care. (For more information, see http://biresource.org/research-spotlight-lizzy-bartelt/ )
  • Brian Janosch, a comedic genius known for his work at The Onion and Adult Swim, also worked on Google’s Personal Assistant and has spent 10+ years managing creative teams big and small and overseeing the production of TV shows, books, digital video, live events, and marketing campaigns – always focused on being comedic while also making a strong point. He’s the co-founder of Cultivated Wit, a company focused on bringing comedy and technology closer together. Now based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Brian earned his B.A. degree in Journalism at IU-Bloomington, where he worked on the Indiana Daily Student, and was the founding editor of INside Magazine.

Once again, we are delighted to welcome Sarah “Intellagirl” Smith-Robbins, Director of Learning Technologies at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, back to the TEDxBloomington stage as our emcee for the evening.

Also appearing on this year’s TEDxBloomington stage are musical performers Opal Fly and KAPOW! Multi-instrumentalist Opal Fly is a Kentucky-born singer/songwriter whose music is firmly rooted in tradition, yet her style transcends established genres. A fresh and original voice, the two time NWAMA Songwriter of the Year first honed her talent playing on the streets of New Orleans and has traveled the world developing her unique sound and exploring new musical territory along the way. Bassist Mark Buschkill and drummer Donn Middleton have played together in a number of groups over the last decade. As a rhythm section, they bring groove-based, power trio sensibilities that serve as perfect counterpoint to Opal’s traditional leanings. Joining forces in 2013, Opal Fly and KAPOW! have been playing shows and gaining new fans all across the midwest. The Bloomington, IN based quartet released their second album, “Abundance”, in 2017.

According to Jennifer Borland, Executive Producer for TEDxBloomington “This year’s event invites members of our community to explore the concept of growth from a variety of different perspectives, but ultimately our main goal with every TEDxBloomington event is to grow new ideas and spread great ideas from Bloomington with the rest of the world.”

Tickets for the event cost $25 for General Admission, $15 for Students, and may be obtained online or at the BCT Box Office in person or by phone.

 

More Information:

Buskirk-Chumley Theater:

https://bctboxoffice.org/event/tedxbloomington-grow/

114 E Kirkwood Ave

Bloomington, Indiana 47408

          812-323-3020

Web: www.tedxbloomington.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/223331558303805/
Twitter: @tedxbloomington