By Jim McCarthy Nov 14, 2011 0 comments

TEDxBroadway: What’s the Best Broadway Could be in 2032?

I haven’t had a chance to write about this yet, so today’s the day!

I’m happy to announce TEDxBroadway and invite you to join us in New York City on January 23rd.

Here’s the basic idea: 20 years ago–gasp–was 1992, and if you were to compare Broadway, its environs and the world around us today to the world of 1992, the contrast is pretty startling.  Do we expect more, less or about the same rate of change between now and 2032, which is the same amount of time ahead of us as 1992 is behind us…double gasp.

Well, I’ve never heard any smart money on “less change” so let’s begin to think about that.  Broadway is a place with numerous stakeholders and its vitality have a huge impact not just on theatre or mid-town Manhattan, but on the intellectual life of the country and world.  Many people talk about things that are “wrong” with Broadway and many talk about the things that are “right” with Broadway, but here’s perhaps a more intriguing question:

What’s the BEST it could be?

Ken Davenport, Damian Bazadona and I started talking about how to frame this event, and we decided to challenge the speakers and the group to come up with ideas on multiple fronts for the very best possible outcome.  We may or may not see all of it come to pass, but if you never envision the best, the chance of seeing it happen is pretty close to zero.

So we’re gathering a diverse group of interesting people to think about this from a lot of different perspectives.  Jordan Roth of Jujamcyn Theatres, Bill T. Jones, choreographer and performer, Juan Enriquez, economist and all-purpose genius, Frank Eliason, customer service maven, Patricia Martin, fascinating author, and more.  Even our pal Neil Patrick Harris is doing a presentation on his thoughts, though it will be in video form because he’s filming that day.

A bunch more presenters will be announced, and it’s happening at New World Stages (appropriately enough).  It’s half a jam-packed day, and the ideas are going to be big and provocative, and fun.

The theatre’s not huge, and even though we’ve announced it, we haven’t publicized it much yet.  So get your tickets while it’s easy!  It should be a great day.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo! Buzz

Comments are closed.