TEDxNantymoel will take place from 10am – 4pm on Sunday 19th November at the Mem Community Centre in Nantymoel. The independently organised event, licensed by TED, will feature local speakers and TED Talks videos under the theme of ‘The Heart of the Community’.
Launched in 2009, TEDx is programme of locally organised events that bring the community together to share a TED-like experience. Some of the best talks from TEDx events have later featured on TED.com and received millions of views from audiences across the world. The first TEDxNantymoel event was held in January 2020, and the talks from this event have currently have over 120,000 views on the TEDx YouTube channel!
TEDxNantymoel is a locally organised event, which aims to give a voice to local people and celebrate those within the community with ideas worth sharing.
Announcing the speakers, lead organiser of TEDxNantymoel, Andy Caress, said:
“We are excited to be holding the event at the Mem Community Centre, which is an amazing local hub and space for people to meet and relax. The atmosphere of watching TEDx talks live is an electric experience, and attendees will feel inspired by the enthusiasm and knowledge of all the speakers.
“I am so excited to bring together such an inspirational group of people to share their ideas. The audience will hear talks on a wide variety of topics from people who are experts in their fields, and get the chance to discuss and reflect on what they learn throughout the day.”
Speakers at TEDxNantymoel include:
Martin Griffiths – Astronomer
Martin Griffiths is an enthusiastic science communicator, writer and professional astronomer. Born in Nantymoel, Martin was one of the founder members of NASA’s Astrobiology Institute Science Communication Group and after spending 17 years as a lecturer at the University of South Wales, he is now Director of the Brecon Beacons Observatory, a science presenter for Dark Sky Wales and consultant to the Welsh Government.
Amanda Powell – Author and Journalist
Award-winning writer Amanda Powell has a long career as a journalist and editor. Originally from a coal-mining family in the Rhymney Valley, she became a graduate trainee at what was then Thomson Regional Newspapers and began her career as a junior reporter at the Glamorgan Gazette in Bridgend in the early 1980s. During the 1984-85 miners’ strike, she and her now-husband Richard covered these events. Next year they will be publishing a book of photography about the events of that period.
Corin Morgan-Armstrong – Head of ‘Invisible Walls’ Family Services
Corin Morgan-Armstrong has worked within the field of rehabilitation for the last 26 years, starting as a prison officer at HMP Parc in 1997. Corin has created a specific model that has at its heart the engagement of people in prison with their children and families, for the purposes of rehabilitation, derailing intergenerational crime, and re-building community inclusion. The ‘Invisible Walls Wales’ family mentoring service, initially lottery funded in 2012 and currently evolving into a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, was described by HM Inspectorate of Prisons as “innovative and radical, and probably the best they had seen in any prison”.
Kate Wood – Community Arts Practitioner
Kate Wood set up ‘The Craft Junction’ in Bridgend in 2018 after teaching Design and Technology for 18 years both in the UK and abroad. She is currently studying an MA Arts Practice (Arts for Health and Wellbeing) at The University of South Wales. Kate has recently set up a Community Interest Company called ‘Art and Soul’ with a view to setting up a Community Art and Wellbeing Cafe to support all ages of people, who struggle with mental health and wellbeing, social isolation or have additional learning needs, by taking part in a variety of creative activities.
TEDxNantymoel is supported by Awen Cultural Trust. Chief Executive Richard Hughes said:
“We were delighted with the number and quality of applications we received from people interested in speaking at this year’s TEDxNantymoel event. The high calibre of our speakers demonstrates that the county borough of Bridgend is full of inspirational individuals with fascinating stories to tell. We look forward to hearing and sharing their ‘heart of the community’ talks.”
Tickets are available to buy here. They cost £8.50 each including refreshments and a light buffet lunch.
For more information about TEDxNantymoel, please visit:
https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/55615 or https://www.facebook.com/TEDxNantymoel.
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. 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 on a mission to discover and spread ideas that spark imagination, embrace possibility and catalyze impact. Our organization is devoted to curiosity, reason, wonder and the pursuit of knowledge — without an agenda. We welcome people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world and connection with others, and we invite everyone to engage with ideas and activate them in your community.
TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, but today it spans a multitude of worldwide communities and initiatives exploring everything from science and business to education, arts and global issues. In addition to the hundreds of TED Talks curated from our annual conferences and published on TED.com, we produce original podcasts, short video series, animated educational lessons (TED-Ed) and TV programs that are translated into more than 100 languages and distributed via partnerships around the world.
Each year, more than 3,000 independently run TEDx events bring people together to share ideas and bridge divides in communities on every continent. Through the Audacious Project, TED has helped catalyze more than $3 billion in funding for projects that seek to make the world more beautiful, sustainable and just. In 2020, TED launched Countdown, an initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis and mobilize a movement for a net-zero future. View a full list of TED’s many programs and initiatives.
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