This spring, City Winery is hosting a series of TED talks on a wide range of topics, including agriculture, sex positivity, and mental health advocacy.
The TEDx event – called TEDxDilworthPark, although it won’t take place in the park – will take place on Saturday, May 11 from noon to 3 p.m. The 12 speakers range from Lauren Cristella, CEO of government watchdog group Committee of Seventy, to Ssanyu. Lukoma, a 19-year-old student at Howard University who founded a nonprofit organization that works to inspire children to read more diverse literature.
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Organizer Charles Black said it would be a great opportunity for people to network and share their ideas.
“It’s going to be a day of very different ideas, very different perspectives,” Black said. “TED’s slogan is ‘Ideas worth sharing,’ so we’re going to challenge people with ideas they may not have heard of, question their views. I hope it’s just a really nice way to meet different people involved in a project in a variety of fields, from the arts to health care to government advocacy.
Tickets are $60 and go on sale Wednesday, January 10 at TEDxDilworthPark.com. There are 100 tickets available, Black said.
The speakers were selected from a pool of 75 people who auditioned for the event, Black said. Their sessions will be recorded and available on the TED global website in the weeks following the event.
The speakers and their presentations are:
• Nicole Bailey-Williams: “Letters Lessons”
• Maybe Burke: “Replacing gender inclusion with gender expansion”
• Lauren Cristelle: “The cure for political overwhelm”
• Lyndsey Getty: “The myth of overthinking”
• Adaeze Iloeje-Udeogalanya: “How embracing cultural identity is the key to unlocking your success in STEM”
• Ssanyu Lukoma: “Eradicate the paradox with intergenerational inspiration”
• Theo Major: “Harmony in turmoil”
• Tina Neal: “North Star Parenting – Navigating gender with your child”
• David Sylvester: “The cuddle effect”
• Michael Twinning: “Change your world and your life with climate-smart food”
• Brian Tucker: “What happened to Calvin?”
• Najya Williams: “The pulsation in our minds and in our blood”
The TEDx event is sponsored by Fractured Atlas. Its name includes Dilworth Park because hosts are required to add a location when they host an event, and organizers thought Dilworth Park was the closest landmark, Black said.
Black said he hopes TEDxDilworth Park can become an annual event and inspire others. He previously hosted TEDx events in central Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University also held TEDx events last year.
“There’s a lot of interest, not just from people who want to talk but also from people who want to come and hear,” Black said. “So I’m really hoping that this is something that we can build not only for my event, but also for events in the Philadelphia area.”
Saturday May 11
Noon to 3 p.m. | $60
City cellar
990 Filbert St., Philadelphia, PA 19107
