TEDx marks the spot for hive of ideas

TEDx Hackney curator Daniel Vais: aiming to “inspire people, to share wisdom and bring sunshine to the borough": Photograph: Michele Rossi

TED – a kind of super high-brow events company based in the United States – is coming to Hackney for the second year in a row later this month.

The organisation, which describes itself as “a non-profit devoted to ideas worth spreading” is a global brand centred on snappy lectures given by innovators.

The name stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design”, and its events in Hackney are being run under the banner of TEDx (with the ‘x’ standing for “independently organised TED event”—basically a license that TED grants to third parties).

At the Arcola Theatre in Dalston on 29 June there will be a variety of lectures and live performance artist Katherine Araniello will be speaking about disability issues.

Poet Inua Ellams will be giving a TED Talk on his urban adventure known as “The Midnight Run,” and philosopher James Giles will speak about the idea of sexual desire as an existential need.

Despite the seemingly disparate subject matter, organisers of the event are promoting a theme that explores how sharing the diversity of the human condition can help shape our lives, our art and our potential for healing.

The TEDx series is widely popular online due to the consistency and streamlined nature of the format: no speaker can exceed 18 minutes nor can they plug any product or money-making venture. With such a wealth of diversity, creativity and innovation happening in Hackney on a daily basis, there’s little doubt that the event will provide plenty of the “ideas worth spreading” that TED is known for.

The event runs from 11am to 5pm on 29 June. Tickets are still available here and cost £20.