PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
April 1, 2013
Media Contact
Jane Gendron
(435) 640-3315
jgendron@jgendron.com
TEDxChange
April 3, 2013
PARK CITY, UT – Connecting Park City with a world-wide community devoted to “ideas worth
spreading,” TEDxChange comes to The Eccles Center on Wednesday, April 3.
This half-day conference entitled “Positive Disruption” is streamed live from the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation in Seattle. The event features streamed webcasts of world-renowned speakers and
performers as well as live appearances by influential, local voices and creative thinkers. Engaging
conversation about the “positive disruption-themed” issues is woven into the experience.
TEDxChange takes place from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. and is open to all Park City Performing Arts
Foundation members (membership may be renewed or purchased for $25). The event includes lunch.
TED, an acronym for technology, entertainment and design, began in 1984 with the mission of
creating “ideas worth spreading.” Since then, leaders from all walks of life have entered the TED
fold and the scope of the project has moved beyond a bi-annual conference of the world’s best and
brightest. Today, an array of conferences and programs, such as community-based TEDx, continue
the TED mission. Like a TED conference, these satellite events are designed to bring people together
and stimulate dialogue and innovation.
This year’s TEDxChange Live-streamed speakers include:
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Host Melinda Gates is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Along with Bill
Gates, she shapes and approves the foundation's strategies, reviews results, and sets the
overall direction of the organization. Melinda will host TEDxChange from the Gates
Foundation campus in Seattle, Washington.
Cathleen Kaveny, who will speak on religion, tradition and modernity, is an American legal
scholar and theologian. She is a John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Theology
at Notre Dame Law School, and is currently a visiting professor at Princeton University.
Halimatou Hima will speak to investing in girls and is a Masters in Public Policy candidate
at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Following an internship in the
Women & Population Division at the United Nations Foundation, she worked in the Child
Protection Division at the United Nations in her home country of Niger (UNICEF).
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Roger Thurow, who will address shifts in agriculture, joined the Chicago Council in January
2010 after three decades at the Wall Street Journal. For 20 years, he was a foreign
correspondent based in Europe and Africa.
The event will also feature a trailer from the feature film Revolutionary Optimists, about
how children are saving lives in the slums of Calcutta. Two children from the film, Salim and
Sikha will be there for some Q&A. Local Park City speakers are to be announced.
On-site local speakers and performers include Larry Cesspouch, Ute Spiritual leader; Fred
Gottlieb, disaster relief specialist; and Nicole Chang, high school pianist and aspiring med
student.
“This is a remarkable opportunity for Park City community members to take part in a tremendous
dialogue with extraordinary innovators, thinkers and doers,” explains PCPAF executive director Teri
Orr. “Committing one morning to sharing ideas is just the beginning of the conversation, which we
hope to continue in days, weeks, months and years to come.”
EVENT DETAILS:
TEDxChange is a half-day event, which is part live-streamed webcast and part local conference of
speakers, performers and community dialogue. PCPAF will host the simulcast at The Eccles Center
from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event is open to all PCPAF members and includes lunch. Memberships
start at $25, and are available online at www.ecclescenter.org or by calling the Box Office at 435655-3114, Monday – Friday, from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Upcoming Eccles Center Performances and PCPAF Events:
TEDxChange – April 3, 2013
Ethel with Todd Rundgren - April 6, 2013
* Please contact Jane Gendron for interview requests, review tickets and press information,
435-640-3315.
ENTERTAINING, EDUCATING AND ILLUMINATING SINCE 1998
Park City Performing Arts Foundation is a non-profit organization, dedicated to bringing world-class
performances to the community. Since 1998, PCPAF has presented internationally renowned and cutting
edge musicians, actors, authors, comedians, dancers and film at The George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles
Center for the Performing Arts (a joint-use facility with the Park City School District). The organization
is currently presenting its ninth season of headliner concerts at Deer Valley Resort. PCPAF is dedicated
to introducing young people to the arts through free student outreach workshops, shows and
demonstrations. They proudly launched the Mega Genius Supply Store and IQ HQ - an after school
literacy program and very thinky retail store - in January 2010.
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