TEDxSoho

Danny Robins will be hosting the event which runs from 10am until 5pm. Robins is the creator of the World #1 Drama Podcast, The Battersea Poltergeist, and his play 2:22, was recently nominated for Best New Play at the Olivier awards.

This year, TEDxSoho will celebrate the people and organisations who dare to dream AND have the strength, skill and resolve to take action, beat a new path and make ‘better’ a reality.

Representing the people, work, creativity and culture behind London’s most colourful and infamous district, home to the UK’s performance, media and creative industries, TEDxSoho will consist of a carefully curated program of short inspirational talks up to 15 minutes in length. It brings to the stage the innovators, leaders, mavericks, creatives and ground breakers, from Soho and beyond, who have chosen to rewrite the rules, throw away the book and set their sights towards a brighter future.

The first round of speakers to be announced include CEO of the UK Cinema Association, Phil Clapp and International Editor of Variety, Manori Ravindran.

Ex-Razorlight guitarist David Ellis will be performing exclusive new music at the event whilst author and computational biologist, austism advocate and winer of the 2020 Science Book Award, Dr. Camilla Pang, will be talking about her life and research.

Karl Lokko, a former gang leader turned activist, poet, public speaker, adventurer and personal advisor to HRH Prince Harry has also been confirmed. Having grown up on the gang-ridden Myatts Field estate, Karl saw his first shooting at the age of 12 and went on to be shot at, stabbed, cut in the face and witness to his close friends’ murders. It wasn’t until the intervention of a Church-run anti-youth violence project that Karl was able to denounce his gang involvement and turn his life around.

Prof. Katy Shaw attends to discuss the levelling up of culture in the North. Most recently, she is the author of the Case for Culture: the APPG Northern Culture inquiry report into post-covid cultural recovery and is researcher in residence on the Michael Sheen, Mirror, New Statesman and Joseph Rowntree project, A Writing Chance. Prof Shaw leads research into twenty-first century writings at Northumbria University.

Paulo De Tarso, founder of Margot and celebrity restauranter has confirmed his attendance along with author and journalist Janet Wang who will be discussing why Chinese wine is not readily found on the menu and how it will soon be having it’s renaissance.

Completing the initial line up is Aindrea Emelife, a 26-year-old art critic, independent curator, art historian and presenter from London. A ground-breaking new voice in an art world otherwise steeped in tradition Aindrea debuted her first column for the Financial Times aged 20 years old, and has been published widely and internationally, including articles in The Guardian, Vanity Fair, The Telegraph, BBC, GQ, Frieze, The Independent, BBC and ArtNet.

These are just a handful of the thought-provokers with more to be confirmed over the coming weeks.

If the past couple of years have taught us anything it’s that life is no rehearsal. Everywhere you look rapid change is taking place and now as never before we have a need for new thinking, tough decision makers and rapid action.

The day will be divided into hour-long sections, interspersed with music and performances and punctuated with regular breaks, giving speakers and delegates many opportunities to network. TEDx is a global phenomenon, with events happening all over the world. Join us, become part of the global TED community and help make this event one to remember.