KentPresents Brings Together 60 Thought Leaders For Largest Ideas Festival In The Northeast

KENT, Conn., April 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 60 artists, business leaders, engineers, politicians, scholars, scientists and writers will gather for KentPresents, an ideas festival exploring What Comes Next. From August 13-15, over 350 attendees will engage with presenters in breakout sessions, debates, seminars, meals and cocktail receptions. Highlight presenters include Paul Krugman, Henry Kissinger, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Soledad O'Brien, Fareed Zakaria and Britain's Rory Stewart.

"In its inaugural year, KentPresents has already established itself as the largest ideas festival in the northeast. Nowhere else will you have a chance to connect with so many luminaries, including Nobel Laureates, members of all the National Academies, Pulitzer Prize winners and recipients of Emmy, Peabody, MacArthur, Tony and National Book awards," said Ben Rosen, co-founder.

KentPresents is a non-profit that will support local charities. Co-founder Donna Perret Rosen commented, "To bring this unique project to a community we hold dear is a special privilege."

Ben Rosen is a former venture capitalist; chairman emeritus of California Institute of Technology and chairman emeritus of Compaq Computer. A legendary figure in the technology industry, Rosen founded the Semiconductor Industry Forum and Personal Computer Forum in the 1970s, groundbreaking conferences that brought together, among others, Bill Gates, Andy Grove, Steve Jobs and Gordon Moore. Now 82 years old, Rosen has created a new stage to share ideas that extend well beyond technology.

Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus commented, "Ben is widely known for his intuition about what's next, so I and many others will be eager to see how ideas and collaborations that emerge at KentPresents will help to shape the future ––and a better one!"

Donna Perret Rosen has been instrumental in weaving the arts into KentPresents. A longtime contemporary art gallery owner, she pioneered the arts district in New Orleans and is a board member at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New Orleans Museum of Art and American Friends of the British Museum.

"Donna is one of the quiet heroines of New York's art and cultural life," said Calvin Tomkins, author and member of the KentPresents Board of Advisers.

Sessions have been curated by the Rosens in collaboration with the Board of Advisers that includes Stephen Sondheim, Jasper Johns and Agnes Gund. Topics include the arts, sciences, business, humanities, politics, global affairs, health, education and technology.

KentPresents: An Ideas Festival Exploring What Comes Next
August 13-15, 2015
On the grounds of the Kent School in Kent, Connecticut 
www.kentpresents.org

Contact: Danielle Oteri,
Director of Marketing and Communications
917-881-3918
[email protected]

SOURCE KentPresents

Related Links

http://www.kentpresents.org