TEDxWrigleyville Goes Virtual for June 28th Program

TEDxWrigleyville will livestream its program to the public for free from Chicago's Wrigley Field on Sunday, June 28th from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. CST. The independently organized event, licensed by TED, will feature a variety of TED Talks, performances, and activations under the theme of "Humanity, a View from Inside the Pandemic."

Launched in 2009, TEDx is program of locally organized events that bring the community together to share a TED-like experience. Some of the best talks from TEDx events have gone on to be featured on TED.com and garnered millions of views from audiences across the globe.

TEDxWrigleyville focused its 2020 program on taking an internal look at the human response to the COVID-19 pandemic with a mission to educate and inspire viewers in the midst of this global crisis. Join us for seventeen innovative and inspiring talks; fourteen presented from Wrigley Field itself and three more filmed off location in Chicago's Bronzeville and Pilsen neighborhoods. Amidst the talks, stay tuned for uniquely engaging breaks, including a donated performance by international cello sensation Yo-Yo Ma. Presenters will go beyond a mere discussion of the impact of this tragedy to present ideas on managing the response and inspiring hope. The event will share stories of humanity's resilience, support local and broader communities, and help find meaning amidst the suffering.

"The tens of thousands of empty seats in the iconic Wrigley Field serve as stark reminders of all that 2020 has taken away,” explains Shermin Kruse, Founder and Executive Producer of TEDxWrigleyville. “But these times also reveal something about the core of all of us. That beneath the crowds and markets, hidden under the injustices and inequalities, adjacent to disease, we stand as one collective species, more interconnected than ever before. By now, we must know that our nation is only as safe as the nations around us, our homes only as secure as the neighboring streets, and our bodies only as healthy as the most vulnerable among us. Looking closer, we see the field isn't empty after all. Join us for a closer look at humanity's resilience, compassion, and innovation, persisting in this day full of ideas worth spreading."

Speakers include:

• Brooke Hartman - Licensed Clinical Social Worker/Traumatologist, "Disaster, Recovery, and Hope"
• Dimitri Syrkin-Nikolau - Entrepreneur, Innovator, "An Entrepreneur's Guide In Times of Crisis"
• Sasha Duchnowski - Food System Re-Designer/Global Agriculture Strategist, "Where Did All the Flour Go? Supply Chains and COVID"

• Katie Rich - SNL Writer/Second City Performer/Television Producer, "How to Laugh During a Pandemic"
• Kambium Buckner - State Representative and Dissenter, "From Bronzeville to the Gold Coast - Local Leadership Amidst Disasters."
• Dr. Caroline Adelman - Clinical Psychologist, Group Practice Founder, Teaching Faculty, "Navigating in Darkness: Stories of Resilience"
• Cécile Shea - Diplomat/Big Thinker, "What's My Government Ever Done for Me?"
• Caroline Dettman - Gender Equality Consultant, "Why Crisis Present Opportunities for Gender Equity"
• Dr. Ben Levy M.D. - Doctor/Cellist/Founder of Refugee Clinic, "Motivating Health Education with Music"
• Alison Henderson -Body Language Expert, "Digital Body Language: Conquering Online Meetings"
• Nora Flanagan - Educator, Instigator, Parent, "What We Learn When Schools Can't Stop"
• Megan Cairns Tress - Nurse Practitioner/ Communication Activist, "Connected Isolation and Health"
• Dr. O. Okanlami, M.D., M.S. - Doctor and Disability Activist, "Healthcare Disparities: Beyond the Economic Dividing Lines"
• Prof. Joshua Kleinfeld - Lawyer and Political Philosopher, "Saving Democracy"
• Tanya Lozano - Activist/Dancer/Founder of Healthy Hoods Chicago, "Activating Communities During Crisis"
• Rodrigo Garcia - Chief Investor and Economic Systems Innovator, "The People Within Economies"
• Cara Greene Epstein - Film & Theater Artist and Educator, "It's Not the End, It's Just an Intermission"

Performers:

• Master of Ceremonies: Mia Saini Duchnowski -Journalist, Engineer, Entrepreneur
• Musical Performance: Performance of Bach: Prelude to Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major generously donated by Yo-Yo Ma, along with original choreography created specifically for TEDxWrigleyville by dancer Isaiah Day and the Chicago Academy for the Arts.
• The only performance of the Star-Spangled Banner in any baseball park in the United States thus far in 2020, by Sarah Wasserman, sung from Wrigley Field
• The only performance of Take Me Out to The Ballgame in any baseball park in the United States thus far in 2020, by Marisa Bucheit, sung from Wrigley Field

Activations:

• Pause and Peace Meditation by Roxy Bargoz (executive) & Zeeba Elise Kruse (9-year-old child)
• Resilience Video Panel -Pastor Chris Harris (Bright Star Church), Brian Johnson (CEO, Equality Illinois), Susan Frankel (CEO, National Runaway Safeline) and Ainsley Proffit (Athlete, US Ski Team)
• Pierce Kruse & Quinn Costello - Interview of a child by a child

TEDxWrigleyville sponsors include: The Chicago Cubs, Mimi Production, Will Byington Photography, Maloos Photography, Vimeo, Clark and Addison, Chapman & Cutler, Mayer Brown, The Chicago Academy for the Arts, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Eftekhari Law Offices, Barnes & Thornburg LLP, June and Donger Kim, WBSE, Green Thumb Industries (GTI), WEARELLISON, and Terese Connolly.

For more information about TEDxWrigleyville or to RSVP, please visit www.tedxwrigleyville.com and/or https://www.facebook.com/TEDxWrigleyville.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, often in the form of short talks delivered by leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED conferences, including our annual fathering in Vancouver, as well as TEDWomen, intimate TED Salons and thousands of independently organized TEDx events around the world. Videos of these talks are made available, free, on TED.com and other platforms. Audio versions of the talks from TED2019 are published to TED’s podcast TED Talks Daily, available on all podcast platforms.

TED's open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; TEDx, which licenses thousands of individuals and groups to host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities; the Audacious Project, which surfaces and funds critical ideas that have the potential to impact millions of lives; TEDSummit, which gathers the most engaged members of the global TED community for brainstorms, discussions, performances, workshops and an eclectic program of mainstage talks; and the educational initiative TED-Ed. TED also has a growing library of original podcasts, including The TED Interview with Chris Anderson, WorkLife with Adam Grant, TED en Español and Sincerely, X.

Follow TED on Twitter athttp://twitter.com/TEDTalks, on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/TED, on Instagram at https://instagram.com/ted and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ted-conferences.