#Ideas

Feb 18, 2019

Welcome to Tom Tom’s Mobile App!

A seamless ticketing system for all badge holders that opens up your Tom Tom experience! Apple Download Android Download Introducing the Tom Tom App This year navigating Tom Tom’s hundreds of sessions will be easy with the improved Tom Tom App. Alongside a new master registration platform, Sched, which integrates with the Eventbrite ticketing platform, you’ll be able to build custom schedules, share them with your friends, meet other attendees, and review your sessions, among

Apr 2, 2018

What is the Tom Tom Team Looking Forward To?

by: Tom Tom Staff The Tom Tom Founders Festival family works hard year-round to bring you an intense and engaging week of celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship, with Block Parties, workshops, luncheons, and art thrown into the mix. This year is no different. Here is a taste of what each of us are most looking forward to this year, and think you should have at the top of your list. See you soon! Paul Beyer Founder and Executive Director “I’m looking forward to having inc

Mar 27, 2018

by Tom Tom Staff The What The Tech Mixer takes place amidst the magic and mingling of the Block Party; it is an opportunity for individuals to connect and network with the region’s and nation’s top innovating companies. Showcase your talent and you may just be recruited! But first, you’ll need to upload your resume to start throwing your hat in the ring! Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. Get connected to dozens of potential dream employers, and see what heights Tom Tom

Mar 26, 2018

Make a Difference – Volunteer at TomTom!

by Tom Tom Staff Impact Tom Tom Foundation is a nonprofit that brings the Founders Festival – the Summits, Block Party, workshops, luncheons, Resident Artists, and more – to the community of Charlottesville; we aspire to keep it accessible and open to the public as much as possible. Who doesn’t love a free concert on a warm spring day in the heart of your favorite city? The truth is: none of this is possible without our volunteers. Year after year, Another truth? Tom Tom Fest

Mar 26, 2018

Bringing Inclusion and Empowerment to the Forefront at Tom Tom

by Tom Tom Staff Tom Tom Goals For the 7th annual Tom Tom Founders Festival, we are putting the spotlight on inclusiveness. It is time to have transparent conversations on representation across the eight vectors we feature at our Summits. This year, we are proud to present an array of talented, diverse individuals who are at the top of their game in across the health, design, energy, agriculture, data, entrepreneurship, media, and government fields and industries. All of our

Mar 26, 2018

CAT and JAUNT All Wrapped Up in Art

by Tom Tom Staff You voted, we tallied, and they wrapped! We are pleased to present the 2018 City Art Bus winners – for the first time, we have TWO! One design will be featured on a CAT bus, and another on a JAUNT bus for the duration of the year. Four Years of Art Bus Initiatives In the four-year running annual initiative, Tom Tom Festival and Charlottesville have seen buses decked in art come and go, bringing diversity and joy to the city streets and the over 200,000 commut

Mar 21, 2018

Download the Tom Tom App!

Whether you’re a badge holder or a free festival attendee, you’ll want to have Tom Tom’s new app! . Introducing the Tom Tom App This year navigating Tom Tom’s hundreds of sessions will be easy with the new Tom Tom App. Alongside a new master registration platform, Sched, which integrates with the Eventbrite ticketing platform, you’ll be able to register for sessions, share them with your friends, meet other attendees, and check venue capacity, among many other things. With th

Mar 20, 2018

UVA Alumni Returning to Cville for Tom Tom

by Tom Tom Staff UVA Connection Tom Tom 2018 will welcome over 200 speakers to Charlottesville, VA, including a number of notable University of Virginia alumni. University if Virginia’s presence is Charlottesville is undeniable, and arguably essential to the ebb and flow of life in the city. As a Founding Partner, UVA has had a positive influence and impact on the birth and growth of Tom Tom Founders Festival. In helping oversee, helm, and cohost programs, we have seen succes

Mar 16, 2018

Incredible Cash, Mentorship Prizes for Aspiring Entrepreneurs at Crowdfunded Pitch Night

by Tom Tom Staff Lights… Camera… PITCH! Ten local entrepreneurs have three minutes each to share their pitch with a live audience – three minutes that may prove to be the most important of their lives. In those three minutes, the local dreamers are vying to inspire the crowd, and ultimately seize the top prizes that will help launch their business concept and see it come to fruition. Take a look at some of our previous winners, and the positive mark they have left on Charlott

Mar 15, 2018

UVA “Hacking Diversity” Gives Power to the Underrepresented

by Tom Tom Staff On Saturday, April 14, during the 7th annual Tom Tom Founders Festival, a coding hackathon will take place at the historic Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Cohosted by the UVA’s Hacking Diversity, the hackathon aims to provide a chance to hundreds of talented individuals who would like to be a part of the coding community, but are often overlooked – simply because of who they are and how they look. Registration is OPEN and accepting applicat

Jan 18, 2018

Media Speakers We Cannot Wait to Hear From

Each year, Tom Tom Festival curates a selection of speakers, moderators, and performers who we see are making an impact at large in our society today. This year is no different. However, with Charlottesville in a spotlight since August 12th, 2017, it is more important than ever for us to invite and introduce individuals who represent inclusiveness, ideologies on progress, and ideals for a future of unity. We are fortunate to have a slew of prominent and prolific journalists,

Jan 8, 2018

2017 Tom Tom Staff Highlights – Our Favorite Moments

by: Tom Tom Staff We are a small, busy staff at the Tom Tom Founders Festival, and we take pride in our ability to produce two yearly festivals with hundreds of events, artists, and speakers for our community. Looking back on 2017 there is a lot to be proud of. Here are the things that stood out for each of us last year. Paul Beyer Founder and Executive Director Photos by Tristan Williams “It was incredible to see everyone come together in Emancipation Park for the Fall Festi

Jan 2, 2018

2017 Tom Tom Highlights – The Year in Concerts and Parties

by: Tom Tom Staff In 2017, Tom Tom once again proved that we throw the best party in town. Over 23,000 people attended our Block Parties in April and 14,000 of you joined us for our Fall Festival Block Party in September. The free Block Parties have always been at the heart of the festival, with non-stop concerts, a craft beer garden, and food truck rallies in downtown Charlottesville. Here are a few reasons why our concerts and parties were better than ever in 2017, and why

Nov 11, 2017

4 Steps to More Innovative Public Schools

by Kaleigh Watson: When we picture the future of education, it’s fun to envision sending our kids off to schools where they’ll spend their days in classrooms integrated with floor to ceiling technologies as hologram teachers lead their lessons. And while this picture of a futuristic classroom may not be far off, the perhaps more important future of education seems to lay not in yet-to-be-invented technologies, but in the curriculum itself. In fact, the future of education, an

Nov 11, 2017

Everything You Need to Know about Collaborative Workspaces

by Kaleigh Watson: Picture your favorite study space from college, all grown up. Subtract the stuffy libraries, keep the coffee, and add? Well, more than you might imagine. Collaborative workspaces are popping up in urban spaces across the country and today’s modern workers are loving them. Tony Bacigalupo of New Work Cities, Matt Busby, director of The Camp House, and Ariel Lev, director at CoLab explained what these spaces are and why they matter during the 2017 Tom Tom Fou

Nov 11, 2017

7 Tips for Implementing Public Art in Your City

by Kaleigh Watson: This past spring, leaders in the arena of public art gathered at Tom Tom Founders Festival’s Hometown Summit to share insights on the intersection of art and community. Monica Diodati, project manager at Better Block, Nicole Mullet, executive director of Arts Now, Marie Schacht, director of the Hopscotch Design Festival, and Dan Schwartz, founder of the Wunderkammer Company discussed the importance of public arts projects. Below are some of their most impor

Nov 11, 2017

Creating Our City’s Narrative

by Kate McGinn: Stories shape perspective. They contextualize information and package complex ideas into digestible insights. Our lives are filled with stories — about us, our family, neighbors, city, and country. When interconnected, these stories create a complex structure known as our narrative. This is what guides us through the world and defines our values. Narratives lead to cultural and personal shifts powerful enough to promote goodness and dangerous enough to destroy

Nov 11, 2017

Bringing Democracy to Public Budgets

by Anna Pollard: Since 2009, participatory budgeting has been sweeping the country as an alternative method for managing public money. Participatory budgeting involves community members directly engaging in a democratic process of how to spend part of a public budget. It’s an empowering public engagement technique as citizens can help make budget decisions that will affect their lives. Participatory budgeting is a practice that has been used in Brazil for over thirty years.

Nov 11, 2017

Helping, Not Hurting: What Role Should Universities Play in Cities?

by Anna Pollard: As major powerhouses for business and employment, universities have the ability to bring economic prosperity and opportunity to the communities around them. But what happens when places of higher education undercut the surrounding communities and create inequalities? Leaders from John Hopkins University, Duke University, and Virginia Commonwealth University lead a discussion on this issue at last spring’s Tom Tom Founders Festival Hometown Summit. They explai

Nov 11, 2017

Industries of the Future: Driving Technological and Business Sustainability

by Anna Pollard: At last spring’s Tom Tom Founders Festival Hometown Summit four speakers looked to the future during a breakout session on what commerce might look like in years to come. Ed Harrell, entrepreneur in residence at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, Jerry Peng, founder of Vastly, Megan Robinson, executive director at The Collider, and Steve Warner, chief strategist at the Charleston Regional Development Alliance each brought unique insights on this

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