Theme: Bounce

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. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Circus Maine
4 Thompson's Point
Portland, Maine, 04102
United States

Circus Maine

Circus Artists

Circus Maine harnesses the brazen courage and nostalgia of traditional circus arts with the athletic expertise and emotional storytelling that the art form of contemporary circus delivers. Circus Maine accomplishes this by offering high-value circus training and world-class circus performances, and germinating circus culture to the world at large. Circus is unique in the way that it provides a creative venue for individuals to display their athleticism.

Maine Youth Rock Orchestra

Rock Orchestra

Under the direction of Kevin Oates, Maine Youth Rock Orchestra is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) program in part with the Maine Academy of Modern Music, which provides orchestral string students ages 10-18 the opportunity to work alongside and perform with professional artists in an alternative setting. Since its founding in 2014, MYRO has performed at five venues across Maine with 20 artists, providing concert experiences featuring all genres of music. MYRO's young artists have produced two music videos, including one for Converse Rubber tracks with The Ballroom Thieves. They will be producing two more over the course of 2016. During the 2015-2016 season, MYRO will be performing in Boston, Burlington, NYC, Portland, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, allowing its talented orchestral students the opportunity to showcase the great experiences that Maine has to offer.

Christopher Poulos

Legal Fellow

Born and raised in Portland, Maine, Chris spent the 2015 summer in Washington, DC, as the Legal Fellow at The Sentencing Project. Chris also chairs the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program Subcommittee for Portland Mayor Michael Brennan's Substance Abuse Task Force, and serves as President of the American Constitution Society at the University of Maine School of Law, where he is completing his final year. Prior to law school, Chris overcame many obstacles, including tragic family losses, addiction, homelessness, and a federal incarceration. He now dedicates his life to helping others overcome or avoid similar challenges and supports a public healing-based approach to addiction. His work promotes equal access to the law and seeks to end mass incarceration and the collateral consequences now facing tens of millions of people with criminal convictions.

Clara Coleman

Farmer

Clara is the daughter of renowned farming pioneer Eliot Coleman. She is a second-generation organic farmer, consultant, writer, and speaker on sustainable four-season farming. In 2008 Clara created Divide Creek Farm, an organic, intensively-managed, two-acre, four-season vegetable farm in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. She produced year-round vegetable crops under harsh winter conditions using unheated and minimally heated moveable high tunnels and greenhouses. Clara is now focused on building the ARC Farming Project, consulting, writing a book on four-season farming for the next generation, family farm grant projects with land trusts, and promoting the work of both Slow Tools and Farm Hack to further the collaboration between farmers, engineers, and makers of innovative tools. She participates in farming workshops and speaking engagements nationwide as a means to inspire and encourage the next generation of farmers. Clara lives in Portland, Maine, with her two sons.

Demetri Maxim

Biomedical Researcher

Demetri received the top prize for his work at the Maine State Science Fair in 2014 and 2015 and also won first place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world's largest pre-college science competition. He has presented his work at several scientific conferences and continues his kidney disease research at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. Demetri is currently a high school senior at Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, where he is a competitive alpine skier and enjoys playing soccer, cycling, and mountain biking in his free time.

Elise Pepple

Storyteller

Elise has spent the last decade learning the contemporary branches of oral storytelling apparent to her: oral history, radio, live storytelling, social work, and public art. In 2009 she helped facilitate StoryCorps in rural Alaska, where she used to live. She moved to Portland, Maine, in 2013 to attend the Salt Institute, the same year she received a grant to coproduce The Other AK: an experiment in narrative truism. Elise was selected as a 2014 Creative Community Fellow with National Art Strategies for her work using creativity to build community. In her spare time, Elise hosts a live storytelling series called Hear Tell, which is like if The Moth had an amateur cousin who curses too much. Elise is pursuing her Master's degree in social work, exploring how narrative therapy can be applied on the micro and macro scale.

Francesca Birks

Foresight + Research + Innovation Leader

Francesca is an Associate at the NYC offices of Arup, an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants, and technical specialists. She is a strategist and certified facilitator with a background in media and advertising who brings her understanding of ethnography, storytelling, and strategic planning to everything she does. As the Americas Leader of Foresight + Research + Innovation, she is responsible for delivering projects that promote strategic foresight and innovation in the design development process, including authoring the Drivers of Change Demographics card set and developing the future of hospitality and education programs. Francesca works collaboratively with a variety of clients to envision the future of their organizations and to develop a design process that fully integrates that vision and the views of their stakeholders. She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Doggerel, Arup's online magazine, focused on innovation in the built environment.

Ian Harvie

Comedian, Actor, Writer, and Producer

A native Mainer now living in Los Angeles, Ian was the first transgender (female-to-male) standup comic in the country. He began his career in the Portland, Maine, comedy scene more than 13 years ago and has been breaking new ground ever since. You may have seen him co-starring as “Dale” on the Golden Globe and People's Choice Award-winning TV series TRANSPARENT; on Comedy Central's The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore; or on CNN's Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin. In 2014, with friend and executive producer Margaret Cho, Ian unveiled his first standup comedy special, IAN HARVIE SUPERHERO, which was filmed live at Portland State Company. The film screened at over 25 film festivals worldwide and won several awards. Ian's unique approach queers the traditionally macho, sex-obsessed world of standup in ways you won't believe, proving that laughter cuts across all gender identities and ultimately unites us all.

Jamie Bissonnette Lewey

Healing Justice Coordinator

Jamie is Abenaki. She is the chair of the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission and coordinates the Healing Justice Program for the American Friends Service Committee in New England. She is one of the founders of the Healing and Transformative Justice Center which shares essential healing methodologies by focusing on the healing of whole communities or nations. Over the past 30 years, Jamie has worked with numerous communities and individuals in the struggle for dignity and self-determination, focusing on sovereignty and responsibility, including with Native People in Mexico migrating to the US for jobs; Xhosa Communities in the South African Townships of Gugulethu and Khayalitsha developing justice practices; and Tribal Communities in the ancestral region of her People, Southern Canada and New England on criminal justice and emerging Tribal justice issues. In 2013, the Episcopal Divinity School awarded Jamie an Honorary Doctorate in Divinity.

John Bielenberg

Designer

John has won over 250 design awards, including the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Gold Medal for lifetime achievement. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has acquired six of his design projects and staged a solo exhibition of his work in 2000. In 2003, John created Project M, an immersive program designed to inspire and educate young designers, writers, photographers, and filmmakers that their work can have positive impact on communities. Project M has developed projects in rural Alabama, Baltimore, Connecticut, Costa Rica, Detroit, Germany, Ghana, and Iceland. He co-founded Future Partners in 2012 to teach Think Wrong Practices to individuals, teams, and organizations around the world. Most recently, John launched CCA Secret Project, a new Think Wrong Lab at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

Kate Braestrup

Chaplain

The daughter of a foreign correspondent, Kate spent her childhood in Algiers, New York City, Paris, Bangkok, and Washington, DC. She was educated at the Parsons School of Design and Georgetown University and holds a Master's degree from Bangor Theological Seminary. Kate's first husband, State Trooper James Andrew “Drew” Griffith, was killed in the line of duty in 1996, leaving Kate a widow with four young children. In 1997, Kate entered Seminary and was ordained in the Unitarian-Universalist church in 2004. Since 2001, she has served as chaplain to the Maine Warden Service, joining games wardens on search and rescue missions. She is the bestselling author of Here If You Need Me, Marriage and Other Acts of Charity, Beginner's Grace, and Anchor & Flares. Kate is married to the artist Simon van der Ven. Between them, they have six children.

Kenneth Lewis

Pastor

Rev. Lewis is an Ordained Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of America, Inc. Blessed with more than 20 years of progressive effective ministry, Rev. Lewis has served historic congregations such as Rush Memorial AME Zion Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Goodwin Memorial AME Zion Church in Amherst, Massachusetts. Appointed in 2003, Rev. Lewis is honored to serve as the senior pastor of the historic Green Memorial AME Zion Church in Portland, Maine. He currently serves as the Chief of Protocol, Chairman of Overseas Missions, and a member of the Committees on Conference Studies, Holy Orders, and Trustee of the New England Annual Conference. Nationally, Rev. Lewis has served as a delegate to the General Conference and is a current member of the Connectional Council as the Northeastern Episcopal District representative to the Board of Publications.

Leonid Eichfield

Teenager

Currently a sophomore at Baxter Academy in Portland, Leo is not just trans but a rich and complicated amalgamation of things, just as each of the rest of us are.

Lisa Bjerke

Discarded Resource Manager

Lisa is a Master's student at College of the Atlantic, where she manages the school's discarded resources while also studying human conceptions of waste. Lisa's passion for compost and other processes to reuse discarded resources has taken her around the world and back to Maine. She tries to understand how and why we see physical materials as something to toss or keep, the impact of our habits of discarding, and how to move beyond waste management. Lisa is originally from Sweden, and holds a BA in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic. In 2014, she was a Thomas J. Watson Fellow and visited Germany, India, China, and Japan to explore people's relationships to compost and food waste.

Muna Adan

Poetess

Muna is an 18-year-old student who, in the midst of adversity, began to convey her emotions through poetry. Growing up as a black Muslim woman, Muna has dealt with many forms of discrimination, but instead of allowing the abhorrence of others to consume her, she decided to become a voice for change—a leader. After finding herself and overcoming these difficult times, poetry became a great part of her life. By the end of her junior year in high school, Muna began to perform at numerous events where she utilized her love for poetry, writing, and motivational speaking to advocate for social justice. Her faith in the integrity of humanity encourages her not to abandon the change that she desires to implement. Muna now attends the University of Southern Maine, where she double majors in Communications and Media Studies.

Rosemary Crimp

Soprano

Praised for her powerful, evocative soprano voice, and for her devotion and strong musicianship at such a young age, Rosemary Crimp is well on her way to her life's goal of singing internationally. Rosie has been accepted into notable national programs such as the Washington National Opera Institute and the Walnut Hill Summer Opera Program. Under the tutelage of teacher David Goulet of Portland, Maine, Rosie's classical aspirations have blossomed. She has won regional competitions and competed at the national level. Currently a senior and high honors student at Kennebunk High School, Rosie is eagerly applying to conservatories nationally.

Salim Salim

Student

Salim is currently a senior at Deering High School in Portland, Maine, and serves as the school's Student Body President. Throughout his high school career, the Seeds of Peace camp has given him a multitude of opportunities and changed his entire life for the better. Salim, who speaks five languages, credits organizations like Seeds of Peace, The Telling Room, and TEDxDirigo for helping him maximize his potential as an immigrant living in America.

Scott Nash

Illustrator and Designer

As a founding partner of BIG BLUE DOT, Corey McPherson Nash and NASHBOX, Scott Nash has developed an expertise in the branding and creative development of products and programming for the entertainment, consumer product, and publishing worlds. In addition to designing identities for Nickelodeon, PBS, ABC, Comedy Central, FX, and YTV, Scott's design clients include American Girl, Disney, Harvard University, Mattel, The Boston Pops, and From the Top. He has lectured widely and taught at Boston University, Northeastern University, The Art Institute of Boston, and Maine College of Art, where he established and chaired the illustration department. Scott has illustrated over fifty children's books, including Flat Stanley, The Bugliest Bug, and Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp! Scott is the author/illustrator of TUFF FLUFF, The Case of Duckie's Missing Brain and The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate.

Suzanne MacDonald

Community Energy Director

Suzanne MacDonald is the Community Energy Director at the Island Institute, where she has been supporting island communities in their efforts to better understand and confront their unique energy challenges since she developed the program in 2009. She directs award-winning programming on community-based energy efficiency, locally-owned renewable energy, and energy education. Recognized by the US Department of Energy for her leadership in engaging communities in energy decision-making, Suzanne has a passion for supporting islanders who are rethinking the ways in which their communities generate and use energy, and a keen interest in sharing their stories to help the rest of the nation build a more sustainable energy future. Suzanne holds a Master's degree in urban and environmental policy and planning from Tufts University and a BA in political science and international development studies from McGill University.