Single Tickets On Sale Now for Top Coast Festival Headliners

May 1, 2014

Single tickets for MPR News' Top Coast Festival headliners Russell Simmons, Ezekiel Emanuel, Aneesh Chopra and Paul Tough are now available for $35 each. Organizers opened up the individual sessions to allow for more flexibility for attendees.

Top Coast Festival is a celebration of real-world solutions on May 31 & June 1. Presented by the College of Continuing Education at the University of Minnesota, the two-day solutions festival features interactive headline presentations, symposia, and solution-finding with some of the nation's most renowned thought leaders and top public radio personalities. To view the complete schedule, visit mprnews.org/topcoast.

Multiple tickets to the same speaker will be $35 per ticket. Tickets to different speakers are offered at the following levels: Two tickets to two different speakers: $60; Three tickets to three different speakers: $85. There is no discount for four tickets, as the two-day event pass is still available at $150. Visit the Top Coast Festival website at mprnews.org/topcoast for ticket and registration information.

More about the headliners:

Russell Simmons - Finding success through stillness (Sunday, June 1, 11 a.m.) Interviewed by Dessa, Twin Cities hip hop artist Simmons is a master entrepreneur and visionary. He has influenced virtually all aspects of business and media. In music, he was the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings. In the fashion industry, he created the trailblazing Phat Farm, Baby Phat, Run Athletics and Def Jam University clothing lines. His work in film, television and on stage includes HBO's "The Def Comedy Jam," "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry" and the Tony Award-winning stage production "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway." In addition, his work includes numerous ventures in the financial services industry, mobile communications and philanthropy.

Ezekiel J. Emanuel - Reinventing American healthcare (Sunday, June 1, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.) Interviewed by Kerri Miller, host, The Daily Circuit on MPR News Emanuel is Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. From 2009 to 2011, he served as special advisor for health policy to the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Dr. Emanuel received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard University. After completing his internship and residency in internal medicine at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital and his oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, he joined the faculty at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He has since been a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UCLA, the Brin Professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School, and the Kovitz Professor at Stanford Medical School and visiting professor at New York University Law School. Dr. Emanuel has written and edited nine books, including Reinventing American Health Care, and more than 200 scientific articles. He is currently a columnist for The New York Times.

Aneesh Chopra - Reshaping government for the 21st century (Saturday, May 31, 4 p.m.) Interviewed by Chris Farrell, economics editor, Marketplace Chopra has spent his life focused on education and innovation, with a deep commitment to opportunity and equality for all. After attending Johns Hopkins University and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Chopra worked for the Advisory Board Company, a health care think tank dedicated to helping hospitals better serve patients. He began a full-time career of public service when Governor Tim Kaine chose him to serve as Virginia's Secretary of Technology. He was chosen by President Obama, in 2009, as the nation's first Chief Technology Officer.

Paul Tough - Exploring the childhood origins of character (Saturday, May 31, 9 to 10:30 a.m.) Interviewed by Stephen Smith, executive editor, American RadioWorks Tough authored How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, a New York Times bestseller that has been translated into 22 languages. He is a contributing writer to New York Times Magazine, where he's reported on education, parenting, poverty and politics. He's also worked as a reporter and a producer on WBEZ's This American Life, and he was the founding editor on Open Letters. Paul Tough's appearance is supported by American Public Media's Healthy States.

More about the symposium speakers:

Neil Blumenthal - Disrupting and aged industry (Saturday, May 31, 11 a.m. to noon) Interviewed by Chris Farrell, economics editor, Marketplace Blumenthal is co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, a transformational lifestyle brand that offers designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses. In 2012, Blumenthal was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company. In 2013, he received an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and was recognized as part of "The Next Establishment" by Vanity Fair.

Mark Leibovich -Exposing Washington, D.C.'s dysfunction (Saturday, May 31, 1:15 to 2:15 p.m.) Interviewed by Tom Crann, host, MPR's All Things Considered An author, journalist and political writer, Leibovich is currently the chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, and he's previously written for The Washington Post and The San Jose Mercury News. His most recent book is This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral -- Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking! -- in America's Gilded Capital.

Molly Melching - Making lasting social change (Saturday, May 31, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.) Interviewed by Krista Tippett, host, On Being Melching has lived and worked in Senegal, West Africa, since 1974 and dedicated her life to the grassroots empowerment of communities. Her time working with children in Dakar and living in a rural village formed Tostan, an organization whose Community Empowerment Program engages communities for three years in the cross-cutting themes of democracy, human rights, problem-solving, hygiene, health, literacy, project management skills, and parental education. She is highly regarded for her expertise in non-formal education, human rights training and social transformation.

Ramez Naam - Innovating to save the environment (Saturday, May 31, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.) Interviewed by Jon Foley, director, University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment Naam is a computer scientist, futurist, and award-winning author, most recently of The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet, which focuses on the environmental and natural resource challenge of climate change, and changing our policies to encourage both conservation and critical innovations.

Melanie Warner - Healthily feeding 300 million Americans (Saturday, May 31, 1:15 to 2:15 p.m.) Interviewed by Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, food critic, Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine Warner has covered business and food-industry stories for many publications, including The New York Times, Men's Journal, Fast Company, and CBSNews.com. She's fascinated by where our food comes from, and she relayed her findings on its origins in her book, Pandora's Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal.

Clive Thompson - Improving our minds - with smartphones (Saturday, May 31, 11 a.m. to noon) Interviewed by Neal Justin, reporter, Star Tribune A contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired, Thompson wrote Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better, released last year. A blogger since 2002, Thompson has long been fascinated by the Internet as a means for self-expression -- from Wikipedia and collaborative art to the ESP of status updates.

Jonathan Foley - Innovating to save the environment (Saturday, May 31, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.) Director of the Institute on the Environment (IonE) at the University of Minnesota, Foley leads IonE's Global Landscapes Initiative, focused on the sustainability of our civilization and the global environment. He's been published in many scientific journals, as well as The New York Times, Scientific American, and The Guardian.

Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl - Healthily feeding 300 million Americans (Saturday, May 31, 1:15 to 2:15 p.m.) Moskowitz Grumdahl is one of America's most awarded food writers. She has won five James Beard Awards for her food, wine, and food personality coverage and is senior writer for Minneapolis St. Paul magazine. She contributes to Saveur, Bon Appetit, and Food & Wine, and can frequently be heard on both the Current and MPR's All Things Considered Appetites.

Maggie Koerth-Baker - Confronting human experimentation (Saturday, May 31, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.) Interviewed by Tom Weber, host, MPR News' The Daily Circuit Koerth-Baker is the Science Editor at BoingBoing.net, an independent online publication devoted to sharing and celebrating interesting things. She writes for The New York Times Magazine and authored Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure and the future of energy.

Dr. Megan Gunnar - Protecting Children from toxic stress (Saturday, May 31, 1:15 to 2:15 p.m.) Dr. Gunnar has spent her career studying how infants and young children respond to potentially stressful situations and understanding the impact of early life stress on children's brain and behavioral development. She is a Regents Professor and Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Child Development at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota.

MPR News personalities, such as Kerri Miller, Krista Tippett, Tom Weber and Stephen Smith, will join these experts in what is expected to be lively discussions throughout the festival. Single tickets are not available to the symposium sessions. A two-day pass is available for $150, which includes all sessions.