“write it. shoot it. publish it. crochet it. sauté it. whatever. MAKE”- Joss Whedon
Along with Bali’s obvious popularity as a tourist destination, there is also something about this island that harvests an environment ripe for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. It must be something in the water!
This past Saturday, we had the privilege of attending the 4th annual TEDxUbud, a community organized TED event filled with inspiring performances by live musicians, comedians, artists, activists and philosophers alike.
What is TED exactly?
For those who aren’t familiar with what TED talks are, let us briefly explain. Short for Technology, Entertainment and Design, TED is a lecture series and non-profit organization that aims to “promote ideas worth spreading” and enact change.
What began as a small conference in California has now transformed into a movement of thinkers and doers getting up on stage to share their ideas for a live audience and via TED.com. TEDx essentially derives from this mission in order to create independent TED-like events in local communities all around the world.
TEDxUbud 2014:
Set on the grounds of Ubud’s Fivelements wellness retreat on 6 September, TEDxUbud 2014 featured a successful collaboration of speakers and experts in their field. With a special focus on Indonesia and Bali in particular, talks throughout the day highlighted topics such as bamboo architecture, water conservation, batik technology and much more.
A few highlights from the day:
Rizal Abdulhadi, Multi-intrumentalist/Folk singer/Social activist
When this Indonesian musician couldn’t find the exact instrument he was looking for in stores, he decided to stop looking and just make it himself. “Why do we buy buy buy when we can make make make?” asked Rizal, the creator of the guitar-percussion-didgeridoo instrument, also known as the rasendriya. A native of West Java, Rizal was a fan favorite amongst the TEDx crowd for his folk songs evoking stories of travel, democracy and adventure. Check out some of his music here.
Ainun Najib, KawalPemilu.org
When the Indonesian presidential election recently came to a close and both candidates declared victory, it was clear that it was more important than ever to ensure results were carried out in a fair and democratic fashion. On the TEDx stage on Saturday, Aiunun Najib told us the story of how he and four friends mobilized over 700 volunteers in a matter of days to create KawalPemilu.org, an online crowdsourcing platform which served to display the election’s voting forms from every regency in Indonesia. Their efforts ultimately led to the public guarding of a transparent and accountable election for the world’s third largest democracy.
The videos from the talks above, as well as the remainder of lectures from this series, will be available in the near future on TEDxUbud.com.
In order to support this year’s event, sponsors and individuals from around the Bali community came together in great numbers to donate their services, some of which included Jenggala, Fivelements, Anomali Coffee, Monsieur Spoon, Fossil, Utama Spice and many more. The 300 attendees were treated to amazing coffee, pastries, organic food and other treats, as well as generous gift bags from participating vendors.
Sound like something you’d like to attend or participate in? Look out for the 5th annual TEDxUbud event next year on 5 September 2015, as well as other TED events occurring every week in cities worldwide.
