ideaCity brings ‘world of possibility’ to MRU
By Kelsey Hipkin
Mount Royal’s Liberty Lounge might be the last place one would expect to see the likes of Margaret Atwood and Leonard Cohen but from June 16-17 that’s exactly who you’ll see via teleconference for Toronto’s ideaCity series.
According to the website ideaCity is, “an eclectic gathering of artists, adventurers, authors, cosmologists, doctors, designers, entertainers, filmmakers, inventors, magicians, musicians, scientists and technologists.”
Also known as “Canada’s Premiere Meeting of the Minds’” ideaCity was brought to Mount Royal by a few determined people.
About ten years ago Ross Glen, (of Ross Glen Hall here at MRU) who is affiliated with Steelcase (an ideaCity sponsor) suggested that Hunter Wight, MRU’s V.P of University Advancement take in an ideaCity conference in Toronto said Lucille Gnanasihamany, director of marketing with MRU.
She added that ideaCity is, “a really fascinating, mind expanding collection of very eclectic speakers.”
Gnanasihamany said that ideaCity was something that really “piqued” their interest in line with what Mount Royal was all about. She and Wight started talking about how ideaCity aligned with Mount Royal’s academic transition to a university as well as the institutions notion of a world of possibilities.
It was that world of possibilities Gnanasihamany mentioned that also led to the idea of having an award given to MRU’s valedictorian during spring convocation. This year was the launch of the World of Possibilities Award given to Bachelor of Applied Financial Services graduate James Vultaggio.
Vultaggio is in Toronto for ideaCity and Gnanasihamany said he’s been able to interact with many of the speakers featured in the conference.
So for the first time, ideaCity is being broadcast to students, faculty and Calgarians general through a live feed from Toronto. Until June 18 anyone is welcome to stop by the Liberty Lounge to hear from the likes of not only Atwood and Cohen but also prominent speakers such as Belinda Stronach and Adam Cohen.
Gnanasihamany added that there was hope that ideaCity would expose a larger group of people to the fact MRU is committed to introducing as many people as possible to the world.
See a full list of speakers featured in the conference here.