Tagged: IdeaFestival

International chess grandmaster Maurice Ashley visited Louisville this week for the annual IdeaFestival where he discussed how the game impacts decision-making in business and life.

In 1999, Ashley received worldwide acclaim for being the first African-American to win the coveted grandmaster title, and he doesn't mind the role model status he's attained either.

The Brooklyn-native is an ESPN commentator and Harvard fellow, who has been touring the country for years advocating that the game is a useful tool for character-building, especially for children and teenagers. Ashley sees chess as an intellectual combat that can raise a person's thinking and provide insights into how they do or do not make critical decisions

I talked to Ashley about being a pioneer, what chess can tell us about U.S. politics and the obsession people have with the game.

Thanks to bloggers and Twitter users with nationwide followings at last year’s IdeaFestival, students from DuPont Manual high school in Louisville garnered national acclaim for their questions for and engagement with IdeaFestival presenters. This year, their performance has been no less noteworthy. The Q&A session following Harvard Innovation Education Fellow Tony Wagner’s presentation was dominated by curious students.

Halfway through day two of IdeaFestival, organizer Kris Kimel announced that some organizations that had reserved blocks of tickets had released their reservations. So now, individual tickets to most events are available. The festival ends Saturday, and sessions run from 9 am until 5:30 pm.

Friday kicked off with two presentations featuring artists who are currently exhibiting at the Land of Tomorrow gallery at 233 West Broadway:

Grimanesa Amoros

When she was a child, Cynthia Lowen was painfully shy. She avoided clubs and sports, to her parents’ disappointment. She was most comfortable around books and horses—maybe most comfortable sitting quietly by herself reading books about horses. Lowen spent her childhood and teen years at a farm, mucking out stables and riding horses. The horses didn’t call her “giraffe neck,” she says, like her peers did.