HOPSCOTCH DESIGN FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES INITIAL LINEUP


"Hopscotch Design Festival, a two-day gathering to discover the people designing the future, is thrilled to announce its initial speaker lineup. The inaugural Raleigh-based festival will bring together thinkers, makers, and storytellers from Dublin to Durham to share ideas and foster conversations. The first round of speakers and tickets available for purchase are at www.hopscotchdesignfest.com.
Hopscotch Design Festival will happen Wednesday, Sept. 3 and Thursday, Sept. 4 at multiple venues in downtown Raleigh. These venues include the Contemporary Art Museum, Kings Barcade, Flanders Gallery, Clearscapes, The Stockroom, The Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh City Museum, and Fletcher Opera Theater. Over the festival’s two days, there will be more than 30 official speaker sessions and presentations. Most of these daytime sessions will happen concurrently: attendees will choose to experience the sessions they want at the venue of their choice. Sessions will begin at 9:30 a.m. each day.
Hopscotch Design Festival is the result of a collaboration between the acclaimed Hopscotch Music Festival, celebrating its fifth anniversary in 2014, and New Kind, the Raleigh design and community-building firm.
Matthew Munoz, Chief Design Officer at New Kind, explains how the festival came to be, “New Kind was interested in presenting an event that reflected Raleigh’s strong foundation in design and the energy of the designers living here. When the opportunity to partner with Hopscotch Music Festival arose, we saw it as a chance to build an annual design event around an established festival known for its risk-taking and uniqueness.”
Greg Lowenhagen, Founder and Co-Owner of Hopscotch, agrees, “When I first spoke with Matt and Jonathan Opp from New Kind, I told them I thought the design festival concept could fit really well within the framework of Hopscotch weekend. With our music programming, we continue to highlight local North Carolina acts, while showcasing established and up-and-coming national artists. We want to do the same with Hopscotch Design and we think we’re off to a good start with today’s announcement.”
INITIAL LINEUP
Hopscotch Design Festival features leaders who work across the disciplines of graphic design, user experience design, urban planning, technology, industrial design, architecture, music, food, film, and more.

The first ever festival will welcome Harper Reed, the Chief Technology Officer for the Obama for America campaign and current CEO of Modest in Chicago; Sarah Miller Caldicott, great grandniece of Thomas Edison and an expert in applying Edison’s innovation methods to modern organizations; Doug Powell, Design Education Program Director at IBM in Austin; Elle Luna, the San Francisco-based designer, painter and writer who has worked with IDEO, Mailbox, and Uber; Brian Singer, a Communication Design team Manager at Facebook; Maurice Woods, the Founder and Executive Director of the Inneract Project; Alexander Isley, Founder of Alexander Isley Inc. and one of America’s most influential designers, and Annie Atkins, Lead Graphic Designer on Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.
In keeping with the same local focus that differentiates Hopscotch Music Festival from other nationally recognized events, Hopscotch Design presents some of this area’s most notable innovators: Cliff Bleszinski, the former Design Director at Epic Games; Mitchell Silver, the former Raleigh Planning Director and current Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Parks and Recreation; Rob Cotter, the Founder and CEO of Durham-based Organic Transit, and Matt Tomasulo, Chief Instigator behind Walk [Your City].
Hopscotch Design Festival 2014 – First Announcement

Alexander Isley – Founder of Alexander Isley Inc.

Annie Atkins – Lead Graphic Designer on Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel

Apple Juice Kid & Pierce Freelon – Co-Founders of the Beat Making Lab

Brian Singer – Manager on Communication Design team at Facebook

Cliff Bleszinski – Former Design Director at Epic Games

Doug Powell – Design Education Program Director at IBM

Elle Luna – Designer and Painter

Elliot Montgomery – Co-Founder of The Extrapolation Factory

Harper Reed – CTO of 2012 Obama campaign and CEO of Modest

Jake Levitas – Organizer and Designer focused on Civic innovation

Jarin Tabata – Creative Director at SYPartners

Katie Potochney – Creative Director at SYPartners

Lee Noble – Musician and Designer; Also playing Hopscotch Music

Matt Tomasulo – Chief Instigator of Walk [Your City]

Maurice Woods – Founder and Executive Director of the Inneract Project

Mitchell Silver – Commissioner of New York City’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation

Pamela Abalu – Global Head of Design and Construction for MetLife Inc.

Rob Cotter – Founder and CEO of Organic Transit

Sarah Miller Caldicott –Thomas Edison’s great grandniece and collaboration consultant

Sha Hwang – Designer on Healthcare.gov team

Tim Myers – Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of North Carolina Opera

Tristan Shone – Musician and Engineer; Also playing Hopscotch Music as Author & Punisher 
In the coming weeks, Hopscotch Design Festival will announce the complete 2014 speaker lineup.
MORE THAN SPEAKER SESSIONS
On top of Hopscotch Design’s more than 30 official sessions, the festival will feature workshops, happy hour at Fletcher Opera Theatre on Wednesday evening, and a concert at The Lincoln Theatre on Wednesday night. Details about these events and the day party that will serve as the Hopscotch Design wrap-up party on Thursday afternoon are coming soon.

TICKETS

• 2-Day Pass to Hopscotch Design: $150.
• 2-Day “Add-On” Pass: $75. These passes are limited and only available for attendees who buy, or have already bought, a VIP or 3-Day wristband to Hopscotch Music Festival.
• There are no single day tickets available to Hopscotch Design Festival, and overall capacity is based on the legal capacities of participating venues.
PASSES ARE ON SALE AT WWW.HOPSCOTCHDESIGNFEST.COM AND ETIX.COM.
REVIEWS FOR HOPSCOTCH MUSIC FESTIVAL

“Hopscotch: perfection, indeed” —The News & Observer, Raleigh
“Hopscotch Music Festival is one of the best and most eclectic music festivals in America.” —Spin

“In Raleigh Thursday through Saturday, it was all about an extraordinarily cool roster of bands. With streets cordoned off throughout the downtown area, thousands of people ... wandered among ten participating music venues, creating a Mardi Gras-like atmosphere.” —Rolling Stone

“Hopscotch Music Festival is fast becoming Raleigh’s cultural center of gravity.” —Raleigh Public Record"
A Press Release

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