REDDING, Calif. – For the second year, TEDxRedding will bring together practical visionaries from the Redding area and beyond to share “ideas worth spreading.” The event, at the historical, art deco Cascade Theatre, offers a curated afternoon of speakers and performers as well as some of the best pre-recorded TED talks from TED.com.
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading; the acronym stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. The annual TED conference, founded in 1984, brings together some of the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED created a program called TEDx where x = independently organized. One of the first TEDx events in the North State, TEDxRedding formed in fall of 2011 and hosted TEDxRedding: Fill in the Blank in February of 2012. This year, guided by the just-released line-up of speakers, TEDxRedding participants will explore the theme of Mapping Connections.
“Redding is well suited to join the ranks of smaller cities that combine the qualities of rural life with the exposure to new ideas that is so much a part of city dwelling,” said Rachel Hatch, the co-curator of TEDxRedding, “We hope that TEDxRedding can in some way be a part of that.”
TEDxRedding aims to foster learning, inspiration and wonder; to map the connections between ideas that matter.
The event on September 7th is from 2-5pm, with a reception to follow on the downtown Redding Promenade. Tickets are available at the Cascade Theatre box office atcascadetheatre.org or by calling 530-243-8877.
For more on TEDxRedding, follow along on Twitter @TEDxRedding or search TEDxRedding on Facebook. TEDxRedding is powered by Catalyst Redding Young Professionals. A partial speaker and performer list for the September 7th event is below.
Shasta Taiko’s mission is to introduce, teach, develop, promote, and preserve the art of taiko—Japanese style drumming—and related music and arts. In so doing, they aim to culturally enrich the community and artistically evolve the art. Shasta Taiko was founded in 1985 by Russel Hisashi Baba and Jeanne Aiko Mercer, both recognized artists in traditional and contemporary taiko, new music, and jazz. They began their taiko training with Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka and San Francisco Taiko Dojo in 1972. In 1996, Baba and Mercer established a successful annual formal taiko show—Shasta Taiko in Concert. In 2005, the show expanded outdoors to Mount Shasta’s Shastice Park and was renamed ShastaYama, which is now developing into a major taiko and music festival.
Dan Scollon has taught Geography, Geographic Information Systems and Natural Resources at Shasta College in Redding, California since 1996. He is a founding member of Shasta College’s Sustainability Committee. Dan is a principle sponsor of FarNorCalGIS.org, a platform for sharing geospatial data and resources. He has been active in organizations including the Far North Regional GIS Council, the California Geographical Society, Shasta Resource Advisory Committee, the Shasta Land Trust, and local watershed groups. Dan has been a board member of the Borneo Project since 1994, where he initiated a participatory mapping program that remains active to this day. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from Cal Poly and an M.A. in Geography from San Francisco State University.
Andy Stoll is an American-based media producer and social entrepreneur. He focuses on how regions not traditionally known as hotbeds for entrepreneurship can grow a more innovative, creative, and globally networked community of entrepreneurs, creative, and start-ups from the ground-up, to foster job creation and engage a new generation of emerging entrepreneurs in building the economic future of their community. Co-founder of Startup Iowa, Andy more recently co-founded Seed Here Studio, a social good startup working to grow the grassroots entrepreneurial and creative community in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area, a region of Iowa that is still recovering from massive floods in 2008.
Tracy Manuel is an art student by day, a drummer by night, and an opportunistic songwriter at any given moment. In addition to being a graduate of Shasta High School and Shasta College, she’s studied animation at CSSSA, the California State Summer School for the Arts. She has self-produced everything from a duct tape prom dress to a full album of original songs and has performed classical, jazz, and folk music in concert halls, backyards, and densely wooded areas (not necessarily respectively). Though extremely grateful for the character she’s built and the characters she’s met throughout the glorious years of her 100% Redding, CA upbringing, Manuel is transferring to UC Davis this fall to pursue a degree in studio art and to dabble in most everything else. Her cats will miss her.
Matthew Diffee has been contributing cartoons to The New Yorker since 1999. His work has also appeared in Time Magazine and The Believer and he writes and illustrates a regular column in Texas Monthly. He is the editor of volumes one and two of “The Rejection Collection: Cartoons You Never Saw and Never Will See in The New Yorker” published by Simon & Schuster. A couple years ago, he branched out and illustrated a special collector’s edition of Stephen King’s novel “Under the Dome.” He is now hard at work on a new book for Scribner called “Hand Drawn Jokes for Smart Attractive People.”
Leah Goold-Haws’ work focuses on developing strategies for business growth—both domestically and globally. She is the creator of Know Opportunity, a board game and curriculum used to teach global commerce and entrepreneurship. For more, see the recent Forbes article, “Entrepreneurship: The Board Game.” She is the executive director for Working Strategies for Women as well as founder and partner in 2 separate business ventures– LGH Marketing/Strategy and Mindevices. Leah also serves as Global Trade Deputy Sector Navigator for Northern California – a position developed through the State of California Chancellor’s office, working to increase global connectivity in our region.
In a previous life, Paul Krafel was a National Park naturalist, which afforded him time to walk and think; his job was to observe the world around him. To articulate these observations, he wrote Seeing Nature: Deliberate Encounters with the Visible World. Paul is interested in how nature works as a system (especially flowing water) and the implications and inspirations this has for humans. He has also produced an online video, The Upward Spiral. Here in Redding, he was part of the education team for Carter House Natural Science Museum, one of the predecessors of Turtle Bay Exploration Park. Today, Paul serves as administrator and teacher at Chrysalis Charter School, which he co-founded.
About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 26 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. At TED, the world’s leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Benoit Mandelbrot, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Two major TED events are held each year: The TED Conference takes place every spring in on the West Coast (along with a parallel conference, TEDActive), and TEDGlobal is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.
TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily; the new TED Conversations, enabling broad conversations among TED fans; and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.
TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
For information about TED’s upcoming conferences, visit http://www.ted.com/registration. Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED
-from press release
