The We Need To Talk‘s inaugural Boulder event is quickly approaching, taking place on September 9th at BMoCA. This intimate series focuses on a curated panel discussion concerning the roles that Power (September 9th), Beauty (December 9th), Glory (March 9th) and Truth (June 9th) play in our everyday lives. As proud sponsors, we are very much looking forward to this event. Paul Cure is the creative director behind We Need to Talk, so we were excited to speak to him and gain some insight about this event.
Why was “power” chosen as the first panel discussion topic for We Need to Talk?
During last year’s Conference on World Affairs, Heidi Zuckerman and I were discussing topics of interest for future panel discussions and she had proposed, “Women and Power”. I thought that it would be a fantastic discussion so I started to reach out to women leaders in our community. After some initial conversations with Nicole Perlroth, we both found it unnecessary to have gender be so prominent as we thought, if it were four men on the panel, would it be called “Men and Power”? The conversation has now become focused on Power as a principle and how we use power, deny power and manipulate power for different gains in the fields of art, medicine, media and government.
What is your process for choosing the panelists? Will there be opportunities for participation by other Boulder speakers in the future?
The way in which I choose panelists is to focus on people whom I feel are integral to moving the conversation forward, breaking new ground and have crucial stories to tell. People such as Reyna Godoy of the Unreasonable Group, here in Boulder, who is so brilliant she makes you want to go to a foundry and cast a Nobel prize medal for her. Also, Kate and Andy Manz of Boulder Lifestyle Magazine do such a stellar job each May in selecting magnificent women for their women’s issue that I sometimes just ask them for advice!
Your website states that space for each event is limited. What size crowd should event goers expect?
Monica Powell and Mike Piche at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art have been crucial to outlining the space for the discussions. The upstairs gallery will host 100 seated guests and the lower galleries will allow for 100 standing guests to listen via speakers. If guests could please RSVP through our website so I can assure those first 100 a good chair! Also if you are not able to attend the talks in person, KGNU has graciously agreed to tape and rebroadcast the event.
Tell us about the private reception prior to the public panel discussion. What is included in the price?
The private reception and dinner is a way to be able to raise funds for a particular cause attached to each event as well as to host friends in a gorgeous space at BMoCA and the jewel box private dining room at Frasca. The reception will be sponsored by Will & Coral Frischkorn of Cured who will provide Scarpetta wine and their signature charcuterie boards. It will take place one hour before the talk in the upstairs gallery as a way for panelists and guests to have the opportunity to meet each other and discuss ideas. The four course dinner after the talk is being hosted by Bobby and Lachlan at Frasca where guests will have a “Jeffersonian” dinner which the Unreasonable Group uses for many of their events wherein the 4 panelists will change tables at each course allowing for a truly unique and dynamic conversation.
We understand that a portion of event proceeds are going to support Mila’s Miracle Foundation. Will you be accepting additional donations, and is there anything else that event goers can do to support this cause?
Julia Vitarello, who is the head of Mila’s Miracle Foundation, is courage and power incarnate. There will be a table set up at the entrance of the museum where the Foundation will have materials explaining the cause and ways in which you can contribute. Partial proceeds will be donated to the Foundation and guests who have the opportunity to meet Julia will find that her Foundation is moving mountains and that the aiding of it is simple and necessary. Additional aid for the various causes attached to the discussions will be posted to the website.
If any other Boulder businesses are interested in getting involved, will you be accepting additional sponsors for future events?
Boulder is a harbor of good hope. I feel so incredibly honored to be able to live and work in such a dynamic and vibrant community. I have had the honor to receive sponsorships through the restaurant community, City of Boulder and the inimitable Jennifer. If other businesses would like to be a part of this community with sponsorships or recommending a speaker to us they can always reach out through the website.
For those who are unable to attend, will the discussion be filmed or broadcast over social media or any other channel?
The events will be taped and rebroadcast through KGNU who will be doing interviews prior to each event as well, many thanks Maeve! In addition, I am having the great privilege to work with the photographer George Lange, www.langestudio.com Instagram’s Artist-in-Residence. George will be documenting the speakers and relevant material attached to the discussion topic and BMoCA will project his images in the museum’s foyer to promote it’s cause. I will be doing separate interviews as well with the speakers which will culminate in an end of the season podcast and book entitled, We Need to Talk.