TED

Attention filmmakers: Enter your short film (30 sec to 3 mins) in our first-ever short film contest -- with winners to be shown at the TEDIndia conference this November, to an audience of creative and influential people from around the world. Deadline for entry: Oct. 2, 2009.

Get details and the brief entry form here:
http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/333

Every day this week on the TED Blog, we'll feature a short film that played live at TED; today's is the clever "How to Make a Baby," a short and somewhat educational film from Cassidy Curtis and Raquel Coelho.

Find out more:
http://blog.ted.com/2009/09/enter_your_shor.php

At TED this year, Dr. José Antonio Abreu made an incredible wish. A wish that would transform the lives of children around the world. A wish that brought the audience to its feet in support of his dream. Now you can help it come true.

See him make his wish:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jose_abreu_on_kids_transformed_by_music.html

Incredibly, this wish is now on its way to being fulfilled.

On May 5, 2009, el Sistema USA < http://www.elsistemausa.org > was launched - introducing to the world the Abreu Fellows Program.

A one-year postgraduate certificate program for accomplished young musicians who desire to become worldwide ambassadors of El Sistema, the Abreu Fellows Program is an endeavor to bring real change to the underserved youth of our world. Housed at the New England Conservatory in Boston, this program will train the next masters to create and lead El Sistema centers around the world.

The 18-20 fellows that will go through the program each year will learn every aspect of what it takes to recruit, train and inspire kids to let music transform their lives.

We want your help. It's a grand experiment, and if every fan on this page donated just $5, we could fund the entire program for one year.

That is 18 Abreu Fellows trained, 18 communities transformed and hundreds of children’s lives transformed, just through your contributions alone!

From this link < http://elsistemausa.org/support-a-fellow >, we can help to bring a unique and proven style of education to children around the world who need it. Please add your voice and your contribution to Dr Abreu’s dream.

More information on El Sistema & this program >> < http://www.elsistemausa.org >

To understand the power of how music and this system has transformed the lives of children in Venezuela, watch the astonishing performance of the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra, led by Gustavo Dudamel: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/astonishing_performance_by_a_venezuelan_youth_orchestra_1.html

While we were browsing the talks here at TED -- yes, we do that too -- we discovered that almost half of the National Geographic Explorers, as well as a few members of their staff, have given TEDTalks.