TEDxBroadway TEN Announces Speakers and New Date

 

Today, TEDxBroadway organizers have announced the initial list of speakers for TEDxBroadway TEN and a new date for the hybrid event - at New World Stages and exclusively livestreaming on Stellar. On Tuesday, May 17, at 1pm Eastern a global community of changemakers will all gather to consider the central mission question, "What's the BEST Broadway can be?"

"The tradition of incredible ideas, topics and people continues on in our tenth year," says TEDxBroadway Co-Founder Jim McCarthy of Stellar. "We're pulling out all the stops to tell the stories that will impact the trajectory of the Broadway ecosystem in a positive way. And, we believe that these are exactly the speakers that the community needs to hear this year."

TEDxBroadway TEN speakers include (more speakers will be announced at a later date):

a-? Bryan Joseph Lee is a Southern-born Queer Black man who believes in making space for art. He is the founder of CNTR ARTS, a creative agency that centers artists, activists, and communities of color through artistic producing and strategic consulting. 

Most recently, Bryan served as Director of Public Forum at The Public Theater in New York City, where he investigated civic organizing and cultural changemaking at one of the nation's leading off-Broadway theater companies. He has also independently produced several Black, BIPOC, Queer and Trans artists at venues like La Mama Theater Company and The Shed in New York City. In 2021, Bryan was named a Producer-In-Residence with The Shubert Organization on Broadway, and is incubating multiple projects with Black Queer artists that defy genre. 

As an arts consultant, Bryan has guided numerous audience engagement initiatives around the world, including projects in Salem, Oregon; Alexandria, Egypt; and Perth, Australia. He is currently incubating several civic placemaking initiatives at the municipal level, including city-wide partnerships in New York, NY; Newark, NJ; and Washington DC. Bryan is a frequent speaker on the topics of building relevance and resilience for arts organizations, and has delivered keynote speeches at the PAC Australia Conference in Sydney, and the Creu Cymru Annual Conference in Wales. Through his consultancy, Bryan supports organizations across the country and around the world as they develop equity-based strategies for program development, social cohesion, and civically-based program development. 

Bryan is a 2018 Fellow of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at The University of Maryland, and was named a 2016 Rising Leader of Color by Theater Communications Group (TCG). He holds a degree in International Relations and Theater from Dartmouth College.

a-? Margaret Hall is one of the foremost emerging theatre historians of her generation. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, and is currently in the process of obtaining her Master's in Musical Theatre History from New York University, Gallatin School of Individualized Study, the first degree of its kind to be granted worldwide. She works as a teacher of musical theatre history and has students across the globe.

a-? Sammy Lopez is a curious theatre-maker dedicated to uplifting historically excluded voices and stories through the arts. He is a producer with P3 Productions, currently developing Gun & Powder, How to Dance in Ohio, Midsummer, Chonburi International Hotel & Butterfly Club, Bradical, and more. Recent co-producing credits include The Old Vic's A Christmas Carol and Be More Chill on and off-Broadway. He is the first resident director of NY Children's Theatre developing new theatre experiences for families and young audiences. During the pandemic, Sammy co-founded The Industry Standard Group (TISG) and Second Act Theatrical Capital (2ATC), a decentralized leadership cohort of BIPOC producers strategically formed to promote work reflecting diversity and increase the presence of BIPOC investors and producers in the commercial producing arts and entertainment field. He is the 2022 program mentor for Theatre Producers Of Color (TPOC) and teaches with The Business of Broadway. Currently, he is a recipient of The Shubert Organization's Artistic Circle and a Broadway League Fellow. Sammy is a proud graduate of Syracuse University's School of Drama, L.A. County High School for the Arts, and serves on the board of the New 42, TYA/USA, and CO/LAB Theater Group.

a-? Currently, Michael J. Bobbitt is the Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council, the highest-ranking government official in Arts and Culture in Massachusetts. He is an award-winning theater director, choreographer, and playwright who has dedicated his professional career to arts leadership. Bobbitt serves on the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Board of Directors, the National Assembly of State Arts Agency's (NASAA) Board of Directors, and was selected for artEquity's BIPOC Leadership Circle. He is the former Artistic Director of the New Repertory Theater in Watertown, Massachusetts and the Adventure Theater in Maryland. He has directed/choreographed at Arena Stage, Ford's Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Center Stage, Roundhouse Theatre, The Kennedy Center, and the Washington National Opera. His national and international credits include the NY Musical Theatre Festival, Mel Tillis 2001, La Jolla Playhouse, Children's Theatre of Charlotte, Jefferson Performing Arts Center, and the Olympics. As a writer, his work was chosen for the NYC International Fringe Festival and The New York and Musical Theatre Festival. His plays have been published by Concord Theatricals and Plays for Young Audiences. Bobbitt taught Boston Conservatory, Howard University, George Washington University and Catholic University. Bobbitt gained extensive experience in nonprofit arts management by training at Harvard Business School's Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management, The National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program, and Cornell University's Diversity and Inclusion Certification Program. Bobbitt is the recipient of the Excel Leadership Award (Center for Nonprofit Advancement), the Emerging Leader Award (County Executive's Excellence in the Arts and Humanities), and Person of the Year Award (Maryland Theatre Guide), along with eight Helen Hayes Awards.

a-? Russell Granet is President & CEO of New 42, the cultural nonprofit whose mission is to make extraordinary performing arts a vital part of everyone's life from the earliest years onward through its signature projects, New 42 Studios and New Victory Theater. Under his leadership, New 42 expanded its virtual presentations and educator resources, earning the nonprofit a WNET Arts Hero Award. Recent projects include fully subsidized arts education for NYC public schools; publication of "Spark Change: The Intrinsic Impact of Performing Arts on Kids," a longitudinal study developed with research firm WolfBrown; "Let's Get This Show on the Street," a star-studded outdoor celebration on 42nd Street; and New Victory Arts Break, a highly successful online curriculum series for teachers and caregivers.

Granet was formerly at Lincoln Center where he served as Executive Vice President of Lincoln Center Education, Community Engagement, and International, and as Acting President from April 2018 to May 2019, continuing his long standing efforts to bring the best of the performing arts to the broadest possible audience.

Among numerous honors, Granet was recognized in the inaugural Crain's New York Notable LGBTQ Executive List. He serves as an advisor to the NYC Mayor's Cabinet for Children and is a trustee of Times Square Alliance, Bank Street College and Sherman Fairchild Foundation.

a-? Ash Marinaccio is a multidisciplinary documentarian, theatre artist, and Ph.D. Candidate in Theatre and Performance at the CUNY Graduate Center, where her research investigates documentary theatre and theatre in war/conflict zones. For her work, Ash has received a Lucille Lortel Visionary Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women, been listed as one of Culture Trip's "50 Women in Theatre You Should Know", a recipient of a Drama League Residency, a NY Public Humanities Fellow, and is a TED Speaker. Ash recently founded Docbloc (docbloc.org), dedicated to bringing documentary artists from across genres together to create live performance projects. She is the founding artistic director of the United Nations recognized NGO Girl Be Heard and creator of the digital documentary series Stage Left, which is currently available on Roku.

a-? Adam Sobel is a professor at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Engineering School. He studies the dynamics of climate and weather, particularly in the tropics. In recent years he has become particularly focused on understanding the risks to society from extreme weather events and climate change. In recent years Sobel has received awards from the American Meteorological Society, the AXA Research Fund, and the American Geophysical Union. He is author or co-author of over 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles; a book, Storm Surge (Harper-Collins), about Hurricane Sandy and climate change; and many op-eds and articles in the mainstream media, including the New York Times, CNN, Los Angeles Times, and many others. He currently hosts a podcast, Deep Convection, featuring wide-ranging conversations with other climate scientists.

"We're looking to gather the community who wants to make Broadway the best it can be both in-person and online," says Damian Bazadona, TEDxBroadway Co-founder and President of Situation. "With nine sold-out TEDxBroadway events, more than 3 million views of recorded talks in 14 languages online - we know this is something people care strongly about. We're happy to welcome more."

Livestream tickets for the event are $40. Tickets for the New World Stages event are $100. All tickets to TEDxBroadway are available here.

For more information, please visit www.TEDxBroadway.com and follow TEDxBroadway on Twitter: @TEDxBroadway

 

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