TEDxSUNYPotsdam Videos Now Available

Talks from First-Ever TEDxSUNYPotsdam Event Featuring Faculty, Students & Guest Speakers Now Posted Online for All to See

Potsdam, NY (09/09/2019) — SUNY Potsdam is proud to announce that videos of engaging talks led by faculty, students and guest speakers from the College's first-ever TEDxSUNYPotsdam event have now posted online.

TEDxSUNYPotsdam focused on "The Future of Creativity," and was hosted on April 6 at the College's Performing Arts Center. An independently-organized TED event, the daylong gathering gave participants the opportunity to consider the future of creativity in its widest sense, a transformative forum for intellectually stimulating discourse, exchange of ideas and innovative creative practices across disciplines.

The day featured professional, student and faculty-led research, but what united the talks was the pursuit of excellence and the spirit of intellectual generosity, of sharing "ideas worth spreading," following the TED theme.

Everyone can appreciate the stimulating conversations that were sparked that day, by checking out some of the videos that have posted on the official TEDx Talks YouTube channel and social media feeds, including:

• "How Technology Threatens the Arts," Nick Prokop & Clemens Prokop (guest speakers, of TYE: Shows, Düsseldorf, Germany)
• "Esports is Real Sports," Anthony Betrus (professor of educational technology and business administration)
• "The Rebirth of the Modular Synthesizer," Jerod Sommerfeldt (associate professor of music theory and composition) & Bobby Rice '19 (music education major)
• "Dinosaurs, Asteroids and Climate Change," Page Quinton (assistant professor of geology)
• "Building the Future of Creative Arts Out of Our Communal Past," Sara Cantwell (adjunct instructor of English and communication)
• "The Creativity of Artificial Intelligence," Jeremy Waltz '19 (political science and philosophy major)
• "Technology in Dance: On & Off Stage," Cynthia DuFault (assistant professor of dance)
• "The Beauty of Interconnection," Melissa Dolese (assistant professor of psychology)
• "Exochemistry: Expanding Science Beyond 'Earth Normal,'" Martin Walker (professor of chemistry)
• "Journey from the Stage to the Classroom," Harold Simmons (guest speaker, artist known as Fyütch)
• "Performances on the Correctional Environment of Northern New York," Rivka Rocchio (assistant professor of theatre)
• "Music Will Never Die," Kelly Friedmann '22 (music composition and music education major)

TEDxSUNYPotsdam was organized and produced by two faculty members, Marc Ernesti (executive director of the Crane Institute for Music Business and Entrepreneurship) and Joshua Vink (arts management program coordinator). They led a team of students who worked on technical production, marketing, fundraising and event management, gaining valuable skills along the way, to help make the TEDx event a success.

"I was involved in a TEDx at Aldeburgh, in England, with a team of 50+ professionals behind it. What we have seen here in Potsdam, delivered by a cohort of our current students, was nothing short of impressive: a testimony to the next generation of professionals in arts management and music business," said Ernesti.

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, TEDTalks 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.

Thanks to the success of the inaugural College's TEDx, the organizers are already beginning to plan SUNY Potsdam's next TEDx event. For more information, visit http://www.tedxsunypotsdam.com.

TEDxSUNYPotsdam was made possible by a Lougheed Applied Learning Grant, thanks to the generosity of Donald and Kathryn Lougheed '54.

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