NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE 2022 Speaker Series Announced at Kaufmann Center

The 2022 National Geographic Live series features five inspiring speakers, including a carnivore ecologist, a paraclimber and a wildlife filmmaker.

These adventurers share their journeys of exploration, triumph and discovery through award-winning photography and videography. Each presentation concludes with a Q&A session with the audience.

First to take the Muriel Kauffman Theatre stage this season is carnivore ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, whose work focuses on protecting and restoring iconic wildlife populations. She's followed by paraclimber Maureen Beck, conservationist Damien Mander, wildlife filmmaker Bob Poole and environmental photojournalist Thomas Peschak.

Season subscription packages go on sale Friday, Oct. 22. Single tickets become available to the public on Nov. 5. Subscriptions and single-ticket sales are available through the Kauffman Center Box Office at (816) 994-7222 or at kauffmancenter.org.

The 2022 National Geographic Live series in Kansas City is made possible by the Teresa and Tom Walsh Family Foundation.

The National Geographic Live 2022 Season:

Rae Wynn-Grant, Carnivore Ecologist

The Secret Life of Bears
Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Rae Wynn-Grant is dedicated to wildlife ecology research, but she had never taken a hike, pitched a camping tent or even seen a wild animal until life took her to Kenya at age 20. While there, she studied East African lions-top carnivores that live in close quarters with local communities-and observed that problematic interactions between the two groups threatened conservation efforts. Now, Dr. Wynn-Grant is finding similar patterns for North American black and grizzly bears.

As a scientist with the National Geographic Society's Last Wild Places Initiative, Dr. Wynn-Grant works to protect and restore iconic wildlife populations-grizzly bears, bison, pronghorn, cougars and more. Dr. Wynn-Grant studies the movements and behaviors of these animals to find ways to improve the relationship between local communities and the powerful wildlife that surround them.

Maureen Beck, Paraclimber
Improbable Ascent
Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Maureen Beck loves to prove people wrong. Born with one hand, she tried rock climbing for the first time after a camp counselor told her she could skip it. Her love of the sport was instantaneous, but there was no guide for climbing with one hand. Unfazed, she decided to figure it out for herself through trial and error.

After tackling some of the hardest climbs by a one-handed athlete and securing two world paraclimbing championships, Beck yearned to push still further outside of her comfort zone. So when legendary adaptive climber Jim Ewing asked her to join his attempt to make the first adaptive ascent of one of North America's classic, most wild towers-the Lotus Flower Tower in Canada's Cirque of the Unclimbables-she didn't hesitate. On their month-long expedition they dealt with rough weather, sudden illness and a food shortage, yet Beck found herself growing addicted again to the thrills and challenges of the sport. With her trademark humor and wit, this 2019 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year will share how a little creativity and a whole lot of grit and determination have propelled her to the top of her field.

Damien Mander, Conservationist
Akashinga: The Brave Ones
Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Damien Mander spent his early 20s in the Royal Australian Navy, risking his life to protect others-first as a Naval clearance diver, then as a special operations sniper in an elite hostage recovery unit. By 2009, burned out after three years in Iraq, he bought a one-way ticket to Africa for his next mission: applying military solutions to the fight against poachers.

Instead, he found himself forming the first all-female ranger unit in Zimbabwe: Akashinga ("the brave ones"). The recruits were survivors of domestic violence, single mothers, abandoned wives and AIDS orphans. The instructors were skeptical, but the results spoke for themselves-and along the way, opinions and stereotypes were rapidly altered. Be inspired not only by Mander's incredible journey from special forces to conservation, but also by the bravery and tenacity of the women he's training to protect Africa's ecosystems from poachers for future generations.

Special Engagement
Bob Poole, Wildlife Filmmaker
Nature Roars Back *
Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Experience an epic African wildlife park through the eyes of an Emmy Award-winning natural history cinematographer.a??

A childhood in East Africa gave Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Bob Poole a fierce curiosity about the natural world as well as an adventurous spirit. For a six-part PBS/Nat Geo International series, Poole drew on that experience to document the rebirth of a lost Eden: Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park, a jewel of Africa's parks system until civil war almost destroyed it. There, he joined forces with rangers and scientists (including his sister, renowned elephant researcher Joyce Poole), on perhaps the biggest conservation project on the planet. He'll share secrets of filming lions, crocs, elephants, and spectacular scenery, and tell how he cracked the "Gorongosa code"-learning to read the landscape and find prime locations for filming the park's spectacular wildlife.

Thomas Peschak, Photographer
Wild Seas, Secret Shores *
Tuesday, May 3, 2022

For Thomas Peschak, sharks aren't why you get out of the water-they're why you get in. His lifelong obsession with the ocean led him first to marine biology, specializing in the impacts of illegal fishing and kelp forest ecology.

But in 2004, deciding he could have more impact with photographs than with statistics, he became an environmental photojournalist-and soon found himself paddling kayaks alongside great white sharks in South Africa, swimming among hundreds of one-ton manta rays in the Maldives, and keeping pace with massive whale sharks in the Arabian Sea. Get up close and personal with the ocean's most charismatic creatures through his award-winning images and fascinating stories.

All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. in Muriel Kauffman Theatre. For updates regarding the Kauffman Center's health and safety policies, please visit kauffmancenter.org/health.

The National Geographic Live series subscription package includes ticket discounts and priority seating. Series tickets for National Geographic Live go on sale Friday, Oct. 22. Prices for the four-part series package range from $96 to $172 plus taxes and fees. Season package upgrades are available to include the special engagement presentation Nature Roars Back, at a discounted price. Single tickets for all five events go on sale Friday, Nov. 5.

Subscriptions and single tickets will be available through the Kauffman Center Box Office at (816) 994-7222 or online at kauffmancenter.org.

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