Lexington, KY - What began three years ago under the TED brand (Technology, Entertainment and Design) as TEDxLex has morphed into a new event, marrying the rapid-fire, thought-provoking talks of TED with the programming of Idea Festival (IF).
Last held in Lexington in 2004, the biennial IF conference became an annual affair in 2006, when it was relocated to Louisville. Since the move, viewed by many as a significant loss to Lexington, TEDxLex founder Kent Lewis and IF founders at the Kentucky Science and Technology Center (KSTC) came together to form Creative Disruption, IF Lexington.
“TED, they’ve got to keep a pretty strong control on their brand, and now they have 700 events worldwide. It’s gotten to the point that there’s (on average) two a day,” said Kent Lewis, a Product Manager for Enterprise Software at HP and founder of IF Lexington. Lewis wanted to develop a concept that was more local for Lexington, either by partnering with an established initiative or creating a new one. Lewis approached KSTC about four months ago, and the ball began to roll.
Antony Miers, the director of education services for KSTC, said with outcroppings of the Idea Festival starting to grow, they wanted to have one back in Lexington, KSTC’s home.
On March 7 and 8, Creative Disruption, IF Lexington was held at Fayette County’s agroscience high school, Locust Trace. The first day was aimed at students, as 10 speakers from high schools in four counties spoke on topics ranging from interspecies heart transplants to reducing the use of plastics through a program to install water-bottle fillers in high-school drinking fountains.
“I want something that is going to be sustainable, that is here. We have Idea Festival in our backyard,” Lewis said.
Two of the student speakers were voted by the nearly 300 in attendance from Fayette, Franklin, Scott and Woodford counties to participate the next day in the adult session.
“It shows a need and a desire by kids in high school today to experience this type of event, and to share what they’re doing,” Miers said. “If you give them enough room and challenge them enough, they’re really going to do just about anything.”
Lewis’s partner in the project, Brad Clark, a gifted coordinator in Woodford County, said it was important to make this event open to students and accessible.
“This event was born out of trying to (combine) service, leadership, creativity and performing arts,” Clark said. “We made it free; that way, it’s accessible. We let a lot of people fall through the cracks, and this sort of catches people and gives them a way of interacting with each other that they wouldn’t get school-to-school. “
Lewis said he plans to keep the TEDxLex brand alive through quarterly “salon” sessions starting at some point in the next six months.
Info on IF Lexington event is available at www.iflexington.com.