TEDxPhilly - Tracy Broyles & Spiral Q Puppet Theater - Affirmation, Imagination and Practice

Spiral Q Puppet Theater is a Philadelphia-based, social justice puppet troupe that builds strong and equitable communities characterized by creativity, joy, can-do attitudes, and the courage to act on their convictions. In her talk, Tracy Broyles, Executive Director of Spiral Q, explores the three tools Spiral Q relies on to facilitate the building of such communities: affirmation, imagination and practice. Affirmation is a central tool in encouraging and supporting the telling of stories, giving voice to individuals in the street and the classroom who often do not feel safe in the world. Spiral Q provides a safe place for participants to imagine and experiment with their ideas. And through a community effort like a protest, march or performance, people come together to test those ideas out in the world -- making them real through practice. These tools are exemplified through a special Spiral Q stage performance of community actors, hand-made puppets and music. "While we sleep neighbors are evicted, war is waged, bombs are dropped, and friends are deported." What emerges from the evolution of the story is something to celebrate. http://spiralq.org The 2011 TEDxPhilly conference examined vast interpretations of the theme "The City" on Tuesday, November 8. TEDxPhilly brought together engaging speakers, performers, participants and exhibitors to deconstruct, decipher and explore some of the greatest challenges, innovations, concepts and realities that shape and are shaped by cities and their inhabitants. Philadelphia was the point of departure, but the conversation traveled beyond its borders. The event took place at Temple Performing Arts Center in North Philadelphia. http://www.tedxphilly.com In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)