TEDxLIPA

Vicky Andrews

Visit now

TEDxLIPA

31 January 2021

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Chelcee Grimes
Book now

Inspirational figures from film, music, sport, literature and politics collaborate for a virtual TEDx event this month, hosted by two students from the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.

TEDxLIPA is a single-day conference that hosts a series of speakers, each presenting a TEDx talk to an audience. Since 1984, TED has provided a platform devoted to spreading ideas, with speakers such as Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, David Byrne, Chris Hadfield, Sir Richard Branson and Nandan Nilekani.

In the same spirit of conceptualising and creating, TED later developed the TEDx program which helps communities and individuals produce similar events at a local level.

TEDxLIPA has been organised by LIPA students Molly Glinn and Keeley MacDonald. The event aims to set the stage for a day where innovators from technology, entertainment and design can share ideas and gain new insights to make their ideas stronger and more global.

Chelcee Grimes manages to juggle a career as a Grammy nominated singer-songwriter with playing football for Tranmere Rovers and presenting MOTDx on BBC television.

The first TEDxLIPA event of 2021 was originally scheduled to take place in the Paul McCartney Auditorium at LIPA, but will now go online. Speakers at the event come from a wide variety of backgrounds and fields.

Liverpool-born Chelcee Grimes manages to juggle a career as a Grammy nominated singer-songwriter with playing football for Tranmere Rovers and presenting MOTDx on BBC television. Chelcee played for Liverpool ladies from the age of 10 and since then has played for Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham. As well as recording and performing her own music, she’s written songs for Kylie, Olly Murs and Jonas Blue and received a Grammy nomination for her work with Dua Lipa.

In 1994, Trevor Gibson managed to persuade Bruce Dickinson to perform a series of concerts in the middle of the Bosnian war. Gibson is probably best known for his involvement in the subsequent documentary Scream for Me Sarajevo, but he’s also an independent record producer who won a Grammy in 2015 for his work on the English language version of I Am Malala. On top of that, he’s a fully qualified barrister and solicitor.

Malik Al Nasir had a difficult start in life but his fortune turned around after meeting legendary poet and civil rights activist Gil Scott-Heron, who mentored him from semi-literacy to a master’s degree through poetry. Malik’s work Ordinary Guy was published in 2004 under his former name ‘Mark T. Watson’ and dedicated to Gil, with a foreword by Jalal Nuriddin. Malik has produced and appeared in several factual documentaries with Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, Benjamin Zephaniah, Public Enemy, and many other luminaries of the spoken word.

Other key speakers at TEDxLIPA include the actor Amy Jackson, paralympic athlete James Roberts, entrepreneur Kate Stewart and singer songwriter JC Stewart.

TEDxLIPA will be livestreamed, with full timings released to attendees prior to the event.

Where to go near TEDxLIPA

The Hardmans' House, Liverpool
Liverpool
Museum
The Hardmans’ House

The Hardmans’ House in Liverpool provides an intimate insight into the life and work of the respectable yet widely-deemed eccentric couple that resided there for over 40 years.

bar
City Centre
Brewery
Ye Cracke

Hidden in the Georgian Quarter, Ye Cracke is a historic Liverpool pub, known for being John Lennon’s local in his student days

City Centre
Theatre
Unity Theatre, Liverpool

A well-loved, vibrant Liverpool theatre with a local focus, showcasing the city’s creative diversity with a fantastic programme of performances, events and workshops.

The Grapes Pub, Liverpool
City Centre
Bar or Pub
The Grapes Liverpool

The Grapes is one of the oldest pubs in Liverpool – an arty haunt, with punters just as likely to be found discussing Derrida as football.

food and drink
City Centre
Café or Coffee Shop
Artefact

Artefact combines vintage finds with a laid-back coffee shop experience, plus a busy schedule of events from open mic nights to exhibitions

City Centre
Hotel
Hope Street Hotel

Hope Street Hotel is a stylish and contemporary boutique affair in Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter, with cosy rooms and two excellent restaurants

food and drink
City Centre
Café or Coffee Shop
COFFI

A speciality coffee shop in Liverpool’s historic Georgian Quarter, COFFI serves some of the best coffee in the city.

City Centre
Restaurant
92 Degrees Coffee

Since 2015, 92 Degrees have been roasting and serving the finest coffee, whilst providing a friendly atmosphere in a comfortable space.

What's on: Activity

A man in a black mac and black rain hat plays a double bass on some rocks in the countryside.
ActivityBradford
The Bradford Progress

Bradford celebrates its rich musical landscape with a two-day sonic journey led by Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller, Charles Hazlewood and Paraorchestra.

Free entry
Group of people around a computer screen watch a new documentary from artist
ActivityLeeds
Pyramid Open Studio Tours

Pyramid arts in Leeds are hosting a day of open studio tours where you’ll meet the artists in the rooms see the artworks in the spaces where they’re made.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Eclectic as ever. You'll find inventive reworkings, world-class contemporary dance and Greater Manchester's inaugural Improv Festival in our guide.

Laura Ellen Bacon, Into Being, 2025. Photo © India Hobson, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Exhibitions in the North

Willow weaving, textile collages, digital arts and ecology - all this and more in our exhibition top picks this month

portrait of Lorsung in a dark shirt with dark hair and dark round glasses
Literature Events in the North

We've got laughs and we've got leftfield on the live literature radar this month. Something for everyone, from poets playing with form to short story writers looking long.

Sextile
Music in the North

Open air clubs, new festivals and long-awaited gigs. The North West's live music scene is heating up this spring. 

Classical Music in the North

Read our latest highlights from the live classical music offer in Manchester and the North, taking in a number of the region's most cherished orchestral forces and venues.