Theme: restART

Digital Program: https://tedxroyalcentralschool.org/restart

We are an independently student-run TED like event at world leading The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. This event is approved and supported by Central and Central Students' Union.

Email: hello@tedxroyalcentralschool.org
Website https://tedxroyalcentralschool.org

**This year, our event will be completely online. Anyone can apply from anywhere in the world, not just students attending our university.**

WHY WE CHOSE OUR THEME (restART)?
It’s been a difficult and challenging time for all. Unmotivated, confined in our homes and RESTing, we are all desperate for ideas worth spreading. We need to RESTART again, and what better way to do that than to use the ARTs?

ABOUT US (TEDxROYALCENTRALSCHOOL)
What is TEDxRoyalCentralSchool? It’s hard to put into words exactly as we are like TED, but also Central, but also somewhat independent from both. Jake Saunders (SU President 2017-18) applied for the license from TED and Central’s approval in 2018, and ever since then there have always been students re-applying for the license every year. We have been running TED like events for three years now, starting our forth. Our aim has always been the same and will continue to be: for and by the students, alumni, staff, friends of Central and the Swiss Cottage community. We create a space and platform for new and current ideas to enrich students' knowledge. We are creatives, artists, technicians, costume and set designers, applied theatre practitioners, theatre makers, producers and actors. However, we don’t only use this event for our field and learning community, but for any ideas which are worth sharing by whomever for whomever is interested.

Usually, we host the event at our Embassy Theatre in the small residential North London neighbourhood of Swiss Cottage. However this year, due to the global pandemic our campus has been closed. We don’t want the lockdown to be a setback for TEDxRoyalCentralSchool, in fact all reason why it should take place as we are desperate for stimulating ideas. Therefore, we have taken the decision to run the event entirely online. More details on how we intend to do this very soon!

ABOUT CENTRAL (OUR INSTITUTION)
The Royal Central School is regarded as one of the top institutions in the world offering undergraduate and postgraduate courses in theatre making and producing, acting and actor training, technical theatre, costume and set design, playwriting and applied theatre, to name but a few.

Our small campus is located in Swiss Cottage, a small residential quiet neighbourhood in North London. However, our learning isn’t restricted within the building but, thanks to the school’s connections and prestige, extends across London, the UK and the world, offering placements and learning in professional environments.

Its vision, ‘To be a world-leading institution of the theatrical and performing arts’ and mission statement, ‘Placing students at the centre of its work, Central develops practitioners and researchers who shape the future of theatre and performance across the UK and beyond.’ (CSSD Website).

Central is known for its very extensive alumni list: actors ranging from Dame Judi Dench, Sir Laurence Olivier and Carrie Fisher to the most recent Riz Ahmed and Kit Harrigton; and in the industry at large, such as producers and theatre owners Sir Cameron Mackintosh and Sonia Friedman, writer Harold Pinter and presenter Graham Norton. Central is also known for its research in drama and theatre: in 2014, our research was classed as, ‘World Leading’ by HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England). Due to its prestige, training and alumni success, in 2012 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II gave us Royal recognition.

For more info: https://cssd.ac.uk

Embassy Theatre
The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
62-64 Eton Ave
London, London, City of, NW3 3HY
United Kingdom

Anna LaFrance

Actor, Yoga Instructor, founder of ‘The Act One Studio’ and student

Anna LaFrance is a trained actor and qualified yoga instructor specialising in the psychophysical aspects of yoga. She is the founder of ‘The Act One Studio’ which incorporates yogic principles into the actors training to implement physical and psychological balance for actors. She is a recent Acting graduate of Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance and is currently pursuing her Masters at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in Music Theatre. Her talk will consist of the methods you can use to strengthen your mind-body connection and control your nervous system to improve your mental and physical health and well-being.

Dr. Anu B.

Author, International Trainer and Coach, Owner of Digital Success Hub

In the wake of COVID-19, many women and girls are experiencing the deadly “shadow pandemic” of domestic violence. Dr. Anu B. is a survivor of domestic violence, and has personally experienced the physical, emotional, mental and financial damage that comes from it. She has also been able to find healing, and to reconstruct her life. She shares 3 factors affecting why people remain in toxic relationships (based on insights from behavioral finance and investment behavior), the 5 words that took her from near-death as a victim to life as an overcomer of domestic violence, and how we can collectively help others victims do the same. Dr. Anu B. holds a doctorate in Engineering. She is an Author, an International Trainer and Coach. She is the owner of Digital Success Hub and helps introverts succeed by embracing their super powers, thrive financially and live a freedom lifestyle.

E. Calin

multilingual writer, activist, and a first-generation Muslim immigrant graduate

E. Calin is a multilingual writer, activist, and a first-generation Muslim immigrant graduate. Growing up as an ethnic and religious minority in Germany, Calin developed a passion for writing about the immigrant experience, race, sexuality, and issues of social justice from an early age. Her talk “Too brown, too Queer and too Muslim? Or rather too white, and not Muslim or Queer enough?” features Calin’s experience of what it means to live in the ‘in-between,’ a third space marked by the intersectional layers of Queer Muslim immigrants’ identity configurations.

Harrison Gunn

Young presenter

Harrison is a 15-year-old Presenter and Content Creator from London. Harrison has been presenting since 2017 and since January 2020 has been podcasting on his hit podcast, It’s Good to Talk, currently reaching 20,000 listeners. The podcast is streamed in 60 countries and aims to spread positivity, much like his social platforms. Harrison is a BAFTA young Presenter presenting at Disney and Nickelodeon events at BAFTA HQ as well as being a Changemaker at Childrens Media Conference 2019. And now... a TEDx Speaker!

Jimmy Fong

CCO at SEON

Jimmy serves as CCO at SEON. Fraud fighters, an upstart to the fraud detection world, critical to keeping online merchants and financial institutions safe. He has over 13 years within the online payments and fraud space as part of fraud tech pioneers CyberSource (acquired for $2B by Visa), GlobalCollect (acquired by Ingenico for $1B and latterly InAuth (acquired by American Express for $250m). His passion is mixing nerdy obsession over technology and hyper commercial growth. Are you close to being an online fraudster? What happens in a world today where your personal data is floating around freely? The online world blurs the line of personal responsibility and real-world accountability, with that disconnect, let's look at how close you are to being an online fraudster.

Nicola Abraham

Lecturer in Applied Theatre Practices at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Lecturer in Applied Theatre Practices at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has most recently been working on a range of applied theatre, film and VR projects in NHS hospitals to develop new person-centred approaches to creating bespoke artefacts, including VR 360 videos, intergenerational augmented reality-based process dramas with primary school children and older adult patients living with dementia, and films to improve subjective wellbeing of patients in acute dialysis wards. She has published in Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance (RiDE), Applied Theatre Research, Contemporary Theatre Review and co-edited the 2nd Edition of TheApplied Theatre Reader (2020), and Applied Theatre with Urban Youth: Witnessing Change (forthcoming, 2020/2021).

Paula Garfield

Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Deafinitely Theatre

Paula Garfield is deaf from birth. She is co-founder and Artistic Director of Deafinitely Theatre since 2002. Paula’s production Love’s Labour’s Lost was first ever deaf-led & BSL-led production to performance at The Globe for the Globe to Globe festival 2012. In 2014, she directed another production at The Globe, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Her production of Contractions for Deafinitely won the off West End Award (Offie) for Best Production 2017. Her most recently production at N.D.T 4.48 Psychosis November 2019 & was nominated and shortlisted for Best Director by Broadway World Uk. Paula won the Tonic Award for her work in Deafinitely Theatre. She's passionate about sign language, having grown up with extremely limited language access. She hopes to influence the parents of deaf children of the future; providing an enriching and memorable association with signed language that will be remembered, guiding towards a bi-lingual upbringing and an acceptance and celebration of deaf culture.

Victoria Ruddock

Dementia Specialist Healthcare Support Worker, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Dementia Specialist Healthcare Support Worker for the Dementia Care Team within Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust seconded to Co-Project Lead collaborative Student Knowledge Exchange project for the partnership with Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She qualified with a bachelor’s degree in Science: Nursing, in the Philippines and has extensive experience working with older adults living with dementia and experiencing delirium in both hospitals and care home contexts. Victoria has additionally undertaken team leadership support in a nursing home and a private Nurse for people living with dementia.