- Madeline Bleiweiss / Scene
- The TEDx Launch Party at Cleveland Public Library
Cleveland's 2014 TEDx event will be held on April 4 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Its theme, in keeping with both regional boosterism and the "technology, entertainment, design" which inspired the "TED" acronym, will be IMPORT/EXPORT CLEVELAND.
As such, the evening's lineup will include Cleveland natives who are making a difference in the local business and cultural communities or former Clevelanders who are succeeding elsewhere. A couple boomerangers will also be making an appearance. From the TEDx press release:
"The idea is that, whether one was born/raised in Cleveland but is [now] innovating outside the region or was brought up elsewhere but came to Cleveland to bring their idea to fruition, the city itself has a profound impact on your person and your work."
Tickets for the evening's presentations — the "ultimate brain spa" — are $43 (or $33 for simulcast) and include admission to the CMA Mix event afterwards. Here's a complete list of the speakers:
● Jonah Bayer (Export: Internationally syndicated music journalist; from Cleveland, OH resides in Brooklyn,
NY)
● Brian Michael Bendis (Export: Marvel Comics writer & Eisner Award winner; from Cleveland, OH resides in
Portland, OR; Presented in conjunction with Cleveland Public Library)
● Jennifer Coleman (Native: Chairperson of the Historic Landmarks Commission; Cleveland, OH)
● Art Falco (Native: President & CEO, PlayhouseSquare; Cleveland, OH importing worldclass content, exporting a worldclass image of Cleveland)
● Andrea Lane (Native: Student at MC2 STEM who is helping MIT to build FAB LABS across the country; Cleveland, OH)
● Jeffrey McClellan (Native: Headmaster at MC2 STEM the first STEM school on a corporate campus; Cleveland, OH)
● Angelo Merendino (Boomerang: Photographer who documented his wife’s devastating losing battle with breast cancer; Brooklynite returned to Cleveland, OH)
● Alonzo Mitchell (Boomerang: Founder of Ohio Homecoming, New Year’s Eve on Public Square & leader of the Rockefeller Park rapid revitalization project; Californian returned to Cleveland, OH)
● Megan Moynahan (Import: Director of the Center for Functional Restoration at CWRU; went to CWRU
undergraduate, left for a 17 year career at the FDA in Washington, D.C., returned to Cleveland, OH)
● Lisa Peng (Import: 17-year-old Laurel School senior & international human rights advocate; born in China, raised in California and Cleveland, OH)
● JD Samson (Export: Musician, Producer and DJ best known for her bands Le Tigre and MEN; from Cleveland, OH lives in Brooklyn, NY)
● Baiju Shah (Boomerang: CEO of BioMotiv and CoLeader of the Harrington Project; returned from Boston, MA, to Cleveland, OH)
● David Shimotakahara (Import: Founder/Executive Artistic Director at Groundworks Dance Theater; imported from Montreal, Canada to Cleveland, OH)
● Michael Williams (Export: Founder of international style blog A Continuous Lean; from Cleveland, OH, resides in New York City, NY)
