TEDxNavesink Explores the “Value of Play” with 25 Speakers and Entertainers

RED BANK, N.J. - March 13, 2014 - PRLog -- Twenty-five speakers and entertainers will share their unique perspective on the value of play as it relates to their work and society at the all-day TEDxNavesink event on Saturday, May 10, 2014 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Two River Theater at 21 Bridge Avenue in Red Bank, N.J. A luncheon and evening reception will offer guests opportunities to network with each other and speakers.

The first TEDxNavesink sold out in September 2013. Reserved seats for the 2nd Annual TEDxNavesink are filling up fast as are the speaking slots with more than 100 applications from around the globe submitted for consideration.

TEDxNavesink admission is $90 and includes reserved seating, lunch and an evening tasting reception. To purchase tickets visit www.tedxnavesink.com or visit the Two River Theater box office at 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, N.J. TEDxNavesink will be recorded live for a global audience and ticket sales are limited to 350.

“Play opens up possibility, and with possibility comes innovation, learning, trust and hope,” said Brian Smiga, Executive Director of TEDxNavesink. “Kids know this, but we think both kids and adults cannot get enough play. We struck a chord with play because speaker submissions from around the world and ticket sales are way ahead of last year.”

Several TEDxNavesink: Play Speakers confirmed to date include:

Poornima Vijayashanker
Talk: Taking Time To Tinker
Poornima Vijayashanker is the founder of Femgineer, an education startup that provides tech professionals and engineers, notably women, with skills to better themselves in product development, communication and leading teams. She is a visiting professor at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering and founding engineer at Mint.com.

John Dias
Talk: We Call it a Play for a Reason: Pretending, Art and Life
John Dias was named Two River Theater’s Artistic Director in 2010. In partnership with Managing Director Michael Hurst, he has overseen expanded programming at the 20-year-old Red Bank theater, including producing subscription shows on two stages for the first time; launching a commissioning program for new plays; public events such as the Crossing Borders festival of Latino plays; and a high-school performance of A Little Shakespeare and other arts-education initiatives.

Peter Gray
Talk: Why Free Play is Essential for Children’s Healthy Social and Emotional Development
Peter Gray is a research professor of psychology at Boston College. Gray has conducted and published research in neuroendocrinology, developmental psychology, anthropology and education. He is author of an internationally acclaimed introductory psychology textbook (Psychology, Worth Publishers, now in its 6th edition). His recent research focuses on the role of play in human evolution and how children educate themselves, through play and exploration, when free to do so.

Lois Holzman
Talk: Unveiling the Mystery of How Play Helps Us to Grow at Any Age
Lois Holzman is director of non-profit East Side Institute. She travels the world to help create and support a new generation of play revolutionaries and is a pioneer of the “psychology of becoming,” which incorporates play, performance and practical philosophy to inspire life-long human development through group creativity.

Matthew Urbanski
Talk: Creating Play Spaces for the Contemporary Livable City
Matthew Urbanski is a landscape architect and Principal of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, where he has worked for over two decades. He has planned and designed landscapes throughout the U.S., including significant play spaces in New York City, Hoboken, Tulsa and Chicago. His work in playground design is guided by an appreciation for the imagination and enthusiasm that children bring to their interaction with landscape environments.

Laurie Brekke
Talk: What Does Trickery, Playtime and a School Garden Have in Common?
Laurie Brekke is co-founder of GoSprouts.org. Along with co-founder Hope Hanlon, she proposed the creation of a learning garden to Atlantic Highlands Elementary School. Now more than three years old, the program has educators fighting for weekly spots on the calendar. Students and teachers alike have enjoyed discovering connections between their curriculum and health and nature and sustainability. They have also gained a deep sense of teamwork, accomplishment, empowerment and civic responsibility.

TEDxNavesink is hosted at Two River Theater and is supported by over 50 artists, nonprofit partners, media sponsors and financial contributors. TEDxNavesink held the first TEDx conference on the subject of shore life on September 20, 2013, which sold out and featured 25 live talks and ten artists. To view TEDxNavesink talks from 2013, visit www.tedxnavesink.com.

About TEDxNavesink
Led by third Monmouth County organizers, TEDxNavesink is a self-organizing annual event dedicated to education, community, innovation, culture and ideas worth spreading. To learn more, to sponsor, or to volunteer, visit www.tedxnavesink.com

About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a conference in California 26 years ago, TED has grown to support world-changing ideas with many initiatives. At a TED conference, the world's leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives. TEDx is a program of local events to give people a TED experience.