TEDxDetroit to Showcase Entrepreneurs, Artists, Inventors, and Creators

DETROIT, Sept. 16, 2010 — TEDxDetroit (www.tedxdetroit.com), an event locally organized to bring together regional leaders and share ideas worth spreading, will bring more than 800 attendees to the Detroit Institute of Arts for an all-day conference featuring local community and business leaders, entrepreneurs, musicians and artists. Presenters and attendees will focus on how to create, grow and share a thriving creative business culture in Michigan and beyond.
 
WHERE                 Wayne State University presents TEDxDetroit at the Detroit Institute of Arts
                                5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48202
 
WHEN                  Wednesday, September 29, 2010
                                8:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
 
WHO                     The nearly 50 presenters, artists and musicians at TEDxDetroit* come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences.  Speakers will include:
·         Jerry Paffendorf and Mary Lorene Carter, founders of Detroit micro-real estate nonprofit makeLOVELAND
·         Geoff Horst, chief science officer of Algal Scientific Corporation and a member of the team that developed a process that uses algae for waste water treatment and nutrient recovery
·         Will Smidlein, 13-year-old prodigy and freelance web designer, known as @NullFear
·         Rick DeVos, founder of international open art competition ArtPrize
·         Kami Pothukuchi, Associate Professor of Urban Planning at Wayne State University and driver behind SEED Wayne, a program dedicated to building sustainable food systems on campus and in Detroit communities
 
REGISTRATION  A limited number of tickets for TEDxDetroit are available and can be obtained by submitting an application. To submit for a conference ticket, visit www.tedxdetroit.com and fill out the relevant information.  If approved, you will be mailed an invitation. Though the event is free-of-charge, a $21 donation is encouraged. All donations will support Public Art Workz, an organization committed to opening children’s minds with art and technology. Each donation also will purchase a $1 inchvestment of makeLOVELAND, a new concept in microfunding art projects in Detroit.
 
PARKING             Parking can be found in structures near the Detroit Institute of Arts and Wayne State University.
              
*The full speakers list is available on the event website and will be updated regularly
 
MEDIA                  Kaitlin Slattery, Airfoil Public Relations on behalf of TEDxDetroit
CONTACT            Phone: 248-304-1436 (o) or 248-318-4303 (c)
                                E-mail: slattery@airfoilpr.com
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About TEDxDetroit
In the spirit of “ideas worth spreading,” TED has created TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxDetroit, where x = independently organized TED event. At TEDxDetroit, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.
 
Follow TEDxDetroit on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDxDetroit for more details.
 
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, 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 TEDFellows 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.
 
Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at facebook.com/TED.
 
TED2011, “The Rediscovery of Wonder,” will be held February 28-March 4, 2011, in Long Beach, Calif., with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs, Calif.