Theme: What is Community? Home, Heart, & Hearth

Join a full day of diverse speakers from around the globe focused on conversations about what makes community work as we celebrate our HOME.

This is a unique moment of growth in so many communities around the world. Woodstock, with its history in conservationism and its reputation as one of the most beautiful small towns, is an ideal place to forge conversations about creating peaceful communities, innovation in business / farming / technology and living a more sustainable life.

TEDxHartlandHill has created a forum to find the best new ideas for building more cohesive communities and to celebrate local innovation with respect for the past and an eye towards the future.

Located at Billings Farm & Museum, the day will include interactive displays, local food and spirits, music and more... ending with a community farm-style dinner and the music of KeruBo, a Vermont-based singer/songwriter born in Kendu Bay, Kenya who's musical styling range from traditional African music to gospel, blues, and Afro-jazz.

We are also thrilled to be producing our TEDXHartlandHill Innovator’s Showcase, free to the public, during our TEDx talks, on the Woodstock Village Green.

The Innovator’s Showcase is a large curated market of the "best in community" innovation throughout Vermont!
This will be an opportunity for local innovators, entrepreneurs, and others to illustrate new ideas from business to ecological technology to sustainable practices, etc.

Special thanks to our Title Sponsors: Billings Farm & Museum | Woodstock EDC | Mad Old Nut
With additional support from The Woodstock Inn, SleepWoodstock, & Ottauquechee Health Foundation

Billings Farm & Museum / The Woodstock Village Green
69 Old River Road
Woodstock, Vermont, 05091
United States

Alpaslan Özerdem

Alpaslan Özerdem is Dean of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution (formerly known as the School for Conflict Analysis & Resolution) and professor of peace and conflict studies. Prior to his appointment as Dean in August 2019, Dr. Özerdem was Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at Coventry University in the UK. Dr. Özerdem specializes in conflict resolution, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. With over 20 years of field research experience in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, El Salvador, Indonesia, Kosovo, Lebanon, Liberia, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and Turkey. Dr. Özerdem has undertaken numerous research projects that were funded by the UK’s Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC); British Academy, US Institute of Peace, and various US and European Union funding schemes. Dr. Özerdem has published extensively (14 books and numerous journal articles, book chapters and op-eds) and amongst others, is author of Post-war Recovery: Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (2008); co-author of Managing Emergencies and Crises (2011 & 2022); co-editor of Child Soldiers: From Recruitment to Reintegration (2011); co-author of Peace in Turkey 2023: The Question of Human Security and Conflict Transformation (2013); co-editor of Human Security in Turkey (2013); co-author of Youth in Conflict and Peacebuilding: Mobilization, Reintegration and Reconciliation (2015); co-editor of Local Ownership in International Peacebuilding (2015); (2016); co-editor of Routledge Handbook of Turkish Politics (2019), co-editor of Comparing Peace Processes (2020), co-editor of Routledge Handbook of Peace, Security and Development (2020), and co-editor of Routledge Handbook of Conflict Response and Leadership in Africa (2021). He is also co-editor of Modern Turkey Series by Edinburgh University Press. Dr. Özerdem has also taken an active role in the initiation and management of several advisory and applied research projects for a wide range of national and international organizations such as the United Nations and international NGOs. He also runs tailor-made and in-country professional training programs for a wide range of audiences from humanitarian aid practitioners to civil servants and policy makers. Dr. Özerdem is a frequent speaker and workshop leader for events organized by the private sector, higher education institutions, international organizations and governmental authorities. He is a member of the Anna Lindh Foundation Scientific Committee, and received his Professor Extraordinary in Politics title by Stellenbosch University in 2017 and visiting professorship to the Jiangsu University and Coventry University in 2019.

Ben Mezrich

Ben Mezrich is considered “the reigning cowboy of narrative non-fiction” and has authored twenty-four books including major international and New York Times bestsellers, with well over ten million copies sold. His book The Accidental billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal as adapted into the hit movie The Social Network, which was nominated for eight Oscars, winning three, as well as the Scripters Award for Best Adapted Screenplay which Mezrich shared with director Aaron Sorkin. “

Ben Silberfarb

Ben Silberfarb is an experienced writer and director as well as director of photography and video editor. He has a layered visual style and often combines older/rare lenses with the latest digital cameras. By doing so, he creates individualized and textured visual stories. His projects range from the production of feature films (Brief Reunion,www.briefreunion.com) to television commercials and everything in between. Ben’s background in environmental conservation including a Masters of Environmental Studies (Yale University), employment by The Nature Conservancy (1992-97) and The Lyme Timber Company (1999-2006) has fed a special interest in filmmaking about the outdoors.

Dr. Jennifer Ashby

UCSF OSHER CENTER, DOCTOR OF ACUPUNCTURE, ONCOLOGY Jennifer Ashby is a licensed acupuncturist who has practiced traditional Chinese medicine for more than two decades. She currently practices at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health, where she focuses on cancer and chronic kidney disease and cares for adults and children with a variety of conditions. Her expertise encompasses women's health (including menstrual and menopausal issues, reproductive health, preconception care and pregnancy care), chronic pain, depression and anxiety disorders, stress disorders (including post-traumatic stress disorder), headaches and insomnia. She uses acupuncture, Chinese herbs and other supplements, nutrition, mind-body techniques and lifestyle adjustments, tailoring treatment plans to individual patients. In her research, Ashby studies the effects of acupuncture on depression as well as on drug detoxification and recovery from addiction. She is also part of a research team studying cancer-related pain. Ashby earned her master's degree in traditional Chinese medicine from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) at California Institute of Integral Studies. She also earned her doctorate of acupuncture and Oriental medicine from ACTCM, focusing on pain management and women's health. She completed a residency in labor and delivery at Marin General Hospital and a residency in women's health and labor and delivery at Shanghai General Hospital. Ashby has lectured at the UCSF School of Medicine; UCSF Department of Psychiatry; Women's Cancer Resource Center in Berkeley; University of California, Berkeley; San Francisco Doula Group; and ACTCM, where she was the keynote speaker at the 2012 graduation ceremony.

Helen Hong

Before moving to the Upper Valley in 2005, Helen was a modern-day nomad, moving every couple of years. She was born in South Korea and moved with her family to Chicago and then New Jersey as a young child. Helen is currently the Executive Director of COVER Home Repair, a non-profit based in White River Junction VT that brings together volunteers, homeowners, and professional staff to build ramps and roofs (and complete other urgent home repairs) to help under-resourced homeowners stay in their homes. Prior to COVER, Helen spent 13 years at Twin Pines Housing where she helped Vermonters buy their first home. Helen is married to her husband, Sergi Elizalde, who is a math professor at Dartmouth College. They enjoy skiing and traveling with their children, aged seven and 13. Helen hopes that one day her children will give nomad-living a try.

Jamie Forbes

Jamie is the founder and leader of Learning Courage. His experience includes nearly two decades in the private sector in both finance and marketing roles, where he honed his business acumen, strategic thinking and creative approach. Jamie has also consulted with, helped start, and been involved in board leadership of other nonprofit organizations. His work with schools began when he shared the story of his own abuse as a student at Milton Academy. During the resulting investigation, he observed first-hand how important and yet challenging it can be for both survivors and school leaders to support healing. Learning Courage came out of his observation that schools needed guidance keeping survivors at the center of incidents of sexual abuse and misconduct. Central to his findings in this work is that being survivor-centered is in the best interests of not just survivors but also the institutions where the abuse occurred. The best way to improve the sector's response to sexual abuse, he reasoned, was to create an organization that collected and shared what they learned. The Learning Courage name speaks to the K-12 school audience which focuses on education and learning and also the necessity to always learn about how we can do this work better. Jamie graduated from Connecticut College and lives in Portsmouth, NH with his wife, two daughters and a dog that thinks he’s actually human.

Jeffrey Kahn

Jeffrey Kahn grew up in Westfield, NJ before attending Lafayette College, Dartmouth College and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1972 he moved to Vermont with 30 friends, the Baloney Brothers and Sisters, and soon participated in a commune they created together named “The Land” on 50 north facing acres in Sharon, Vermont. After leaving “The Land” in 1976 and traveling to India a short lived business importing Ayurvedic toothpaste ensued. In 1978 he opened UNICORN, an eclectic gift shop in the heart of Woodstock, which continues to thrive today 44 years later. Beginning in the 1980’s he became involved in community affairs in Woodstock. He served on the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors followed by 20 years on the Pentangle Arts Board of Directors. He was one of the founding members of the Woodstock Area Jewish Community in 1988. He has been elected for various terms and served as chair on the Woodstock Board of Village Trustees, and continues to serve on that board. His three children attended Woodstock public schools and he currently lives in the Village with his wife Rachel, when he isn’t living at UNICORN.

Rev. Dr. Leon Dunkley

The Rev. Dr. Leon Dunkley ministers to the North Universalist Chapel Society in Woodstock, VT. He is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist. The church of his childhood was the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Monmouth County in Lincroft, New Jersey. From this church (and from its minister, Reverend Harold Dean), Leon learned about the sweetness of life. He learned about compassion, peace, and possibility. Leon received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University and his Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh. He studied the traditional drumming of Ghana and the Republic of Zaire, the Kora tradition of Senegal, the Gamelan traditions of Java and Bali in Indonesia, the African American Blues and Jazz tradition(s) throughout the Americas. Most recently, he has taken an interest in Bluegrass and Country Blues. The joy of life is the best within us becoming possible. So then, how do we best foster the joy of life? A poet writes, Reaching to the past, we find ourselves less distantly, trying to remember our tale Asking of tomorrow just the simple gift of peace, oceans over ourselves And, here, to give oneself upon an altar high, trying to remember our tale To see and hear within the stillness, to touch and taste the sky, trying to remember our tale As if the golden light was in our hands, As if Silence had whispered my name… Beholden and here I am Silent and singing away How do we commit ourselves to our highest hopes and aspirations? How do we challenge the barriers, the impediments that hold us back? Leon is currently writing a book entitled The Flower of Impossible Soul. It explores the meaning of spiritual growth and radical forgiveness in the presence of violence and racial strife.

Robert DuGrenier

Robert DuGrenier Associates, Inc. was started in 1980 by Robert DuGrenier as a design studio specializing in glass sculptural pieces and three-dimensional design. Over the years, based on his strengths of creativity and knowledge of materials, Robert has worked in collaboration with architects and designers to create custom glass sculptural installations and chandeliers. These are installed in hotels (The Dorchester London), stores (Tiffany & Co.), museums (The Jewish Museum, NYC) and private residences (Bill Gates) around the world. The company has also become well known for its design and development of innovative packaging for the cosmetics industry (Faberge, Laura Mercier, Nautica) and for creating custom awards for a variety of high-profile clients including MTV Networks, CMT Music Television, and ESPN. Robert DuGrenier is a well-known sculptor working primarily in glass, metal and marble. Much of his work is informed by nature and its effects over time on a variety of elements. Robert worked on the redesign of the flame for the Statue of Liberty and was commissioned to create and produce the 1/12th scale model from which the French artisans sculpted the new flame. His most recent art installation features two hundred hand-blown glass planets, each illuminated by an LED light, that comprise the commissioned chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the grand staircase in YesterHouse Museum at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester VT. Each planet has a digital life as an NFT (non-fungible token), a unique digital asset that represents a work of art or collectible; purchasers of NFTs can control the color LED light for their corresponding planet. “I’ve been fascinated by the sun, moon and stars in the universe since I was little,” says DuGrenier. “I had a telescope in my room and would spend hours looking out the window at the night sky. My NFT VitroVerse collection is a joining of two worlds: the universe and the metaverse”. Robert has shown his work in various museums and galleries, including solo shows at the Brattleboro Museum of Art, Wilson Museum at Southern Vermont Arts Center, Salmon Falls Art Gallery and Fulcrum Gallery. He has also been part of group exhibitions at SITE: Brooklyn, Heller Gallery NY, University Galleries at ISU, and The American Crafts Museum, NY. In 2018, Robert was inducted into the College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame at Illinois State University.

Robert Sturman

A dedicated yoga practitioner, photographer Robert Sturman has increasingly focused on capturing the timeless grace and embodied mindfulness of Asana in his work. His portraits, whether set in the lively streets of Manhattan, the expansive beaches and canyons of the California coast, the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, the timeless elegance of Walden's New England, or the bleakness of San Quentin Prison, remind us that there is beauty everywhere. His stunning repertoire runs the gamut from yogis perched on rocks surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, to African orphans practicing yoga in Kenya, to breast cancer survivors, bare-chested and scarred. In addition, Sturman has worked extensively photographing war veterans who have embraced the practice of yoga to heal PTSD, in an effort to help change the heartbreaking statistics of veteran suicides each day. In Sturman's own words, "I often think of Rumi's words 'I can't stop pointing to the beauty.' That feels right to me." Sturman's honors include Official Artist of the 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards, 2010 FIFA World Cup Artist Representing America, and Official Artist 2008 United States Olympics. Sturman has been the subject of two separate New York Times articles celebrating his photographs of yoga from around the world.

Thato Ratsebe

Thato Ratsebe is an Associate Director and Programs Manager at the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, AALV. She’s been helping build communities with a team of community champions in Vermont since 2012. AALV helps new Americans from all parts of the world gain independence in their new communities through a range of integration services, including bridging case management, workforce development, behavioral health awareness, and interpreter services programming.

Tina Packer

Tina Packer is the Founding Artistic Director of Shakespeare & Company, one of the largest and most critically acclaimed Shakespeare Festivals in North America. Packer founded Shakespeare & Company in 1978 with the goal of creating a sustainable and vital program of performance, training, and education of the highest standard that holds language as the center of the theatrical experience. With her vision and leadership, the Company has become a home for theatre professionals from all over the world. It is also one of the largest theatre-in-education programs in the northeast, reaching upward of 50,000 students annually with performances, workshops, and residencies. Packer is also a published author. Her book, Power Plays: Shakespeare’s Lessons in Leadership & Management (2001), co-written with John Whitney, spent several weeks on the Business Best-Seller charts. Her children’s book, Tales from Shakespeare (2004) received the Parents’ Choice Award. Her forthcoming book, Women of Will (2015) is the result of a lifelong exploration into Shakespeare’s famed yet misunderstood heroines; it is based on her five-part performance piece of the same name which enjoyed critical acclaim in its off-Broadway run this past year. She has also been the subject of TV and film specials; Sex, Violence & Poetry: a Portrait of Tina Packer was produced by WGBH, and Brush Up Your Shakespeare, an hour-long concert special in partnership with the Boston Pops and Boston Philharmonic Orchestra on PBS. Born in Wolverhampton, England, Packer trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, was an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and performed in the West End in over 20 productions for BBC and ITV television. She has lectured or been the keynote speaker at over 30 colleges and universities including Columbia, Harvard, and M.I.T, and has received six honorary doctorate degrees. She received the 1992 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Direction in Boston, the 1996 Boston Theatre Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, and the 2001 Elliot Norton Award for Continued Excellence in Theatre. She was also the 1999-2000 Arts Recipient of the Commonwealth Award, Massachusetts’ highest cultural recognition.

Tony McAleer

Tony spent 15 years in the white supremacist and neo-nazi movements starting as a skinhead and evolving to leadership positions and was instrumental in ushering in the internet building one of the first white supremacist websites for Resistance Records in the mid 90’s. Tony’s expertise is gleaned from receiving over a thousand hours of one on one and group counseling to understand his own process. Tony has spent countless hours coaching and mentoring change in others and is a certified Life Coach. Tony has been involved in Life After Hate since its inception in 2011 and served as Executive Director from 2013-2017 while Life After Hate developed its online support groups and the EXIT USA program (based on EXIT Sweden’s model). In 2017 he became Board Chair until his departure in December 2019. Tony has worked closely informing law enforcement and government from Attorney Generals to senior staff at the Department of Homeland Security. Tony testified before Congress in was recently at the Paris Summit for the Christchurch Call with the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and supporting Government and Law enforcement in Victoria, Australia helping them grapple with the rising problem of violent white supremacist groups. Tony is the Author of the book The Cure For Hate: A Former White Supremacists Journey From Violent Extremism To Radical Compassion