Tickets
Non-Members: $115
Members: $95
No tickets will be sold for individual talks or partial parts of the day.
The Annual Creativity Conference returns to The Church! Join us for our third-annual full-day gathering of ideas exploring creativity in the arts and sciences, featuring six outstanding thought leaders. This year our program delves deeply into the life sciences. Our speakers are:
Mark Epstein – Psychiatrist, Author of The Trauma of Everyday Life, et al.
On: Buddhism, John Cage and Psychotherapy
Rachel Herz – The world’s leading expert on the psychological science of scent
On: Scent and Wellness
Heather Lynch – Director, Stony Brook Collaborative for the Earth
On: In Defense of Anthropocentrism in the Anthropocene
Seth Ruffins – Director, Optical Imaging Facility at the Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine
On: The Intricate Art of Nature
Scott A. Small – Director, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Columbia University
On: Forgetting and the Creative Process
Sarah Thornton – Sociologist, Author of Seven Days in the Art World
On: Her new book Tits Up: What Sex Workers, Milk Bankers, Plastic Surgeons, Bra Designers, and Witches Tell Us About Breasts
The day will begin with a light breakfast, leading into a full day of individual presentations. Each of the six speakers will reflect on their own creative practice and life, sharing insight and inspiration. Following the individual presentations there will be a group panel with all the speakers and a Q&A with the audience. The day promises an intimate and in-depth look at how our speakers are changing and shaping the sciences and arts through creativity – and invites you to discover how to cultivate your own creative flow.
The day will conclude with a reception, giving attendees the opportunity to converse with the lecturers and reflect upon their full day of curiosity, intrigue, and creativity!
Tickets include breakfast and reception. Attendees are welcome to come to as many talks as their schedule permits. No tickets will be sold for individual talks or partial parts of the day. We would like to thank our wonderful Sponsors, Carissa’s Bakery and The American Hotel.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
8:30 AM - Doors Open, Breakfast spread with croissants provided by Carissa’s Bakery
9:00 AM - First half of presentations & Q&As
Speaker 1 - Mark Epstein
Speaker 2 - Heather Lynch
Speaker 3 - Seth Ruffins
12:00 PM - Lunch Break (lunch is not provided)
1:15 PM - Second half of presentations & Q&As
Speaker 4 - Sarah Thornton
Speaker 5 - Rachel Herz
Speaker 6 - Scott A. Small
4:30 PM - Round Table
5:00 PM - Reception with Speakers
6:00 PM - Event Concludes
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Psychiatrist, Author of The Trauma of Everyday Life
-
DR. MARK EPSTEIN is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and is the author of a number of books about the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy, including Thoughts without a Thinker, Going to Pieces without Falling Apart, Going on Being, Open to Desire, Psychotherapy without the Self, The Trauma of Everyday Life and Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself. His latest work, The Zen of Therapy: Uncovering a Hidden Kindness in Life, was published in 2022 by Penguin Press. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University. He has been a student of vipassana meditation since 1974.
The world’s leading expert on the psychological science of scent
-
DR. RACHEL HERZ is recognized as the world’s leading expert on the psychological science of scent, and is at the vanguard of propelling scent science into the future. As a neuroscientist, she lectures extensively including as a TEDx speaker in 2024 and TED in 2019. Dr. Herz is vigorously involved in research and has published over 100 original scholarly articles and three acclaimed popular science books to date. She is also actively involved in outreach, advocacy, and education on the senses of smell, taste and flavor for artistic, scientific and patient organizations, is a valued consultant to international corporations, and on the faculty at Brown University.
Director, Stony Brook Collaborative for the Earth
-
DR. HEATHER LYNCH is the Institute for Advanced Computational Science Endowed Chair for Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University and the inaugural Director of the Stony Brook Collaborative for the Earth. She is a National Geographic Explorer, an AAAS Leshner Leadership Fellow for Science Engagement, a Pew Marine Conservation Fellow, and was the first ecologist to win the Blavatnik National Award for Life Sciences in 2019. Her research is focused on the impacts of tourism and climate change on Antarctic penguins, and she works closely with the Antarctic Treaty Parties on a range of conservation issues. She has an A.B. in Physics from Princeton University and received her M.A. in Physics and Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University.
Dr. Seth Ruffins
Director, Optical Imaging Facility at the Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine
-
DR. SETH RUFFINS spent summers on Ninevah Beach in Sag Harbor as a child. Raised in a family of artists, he developed an early fascination with natural shapes and design. He received his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in developmental biology and is currently the Director of the Optical Imaging Facility at the Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Science where his expertise as a microscopist reveals the intricate art of nature. His work has been exhibited at Rochester Institute of Technology, The Pasadena Museum of California Art, and is on permanent display at the University of Southern California.
Director, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Columbia University
-
DR. SCOTT A. SMALL is a physician specializing in aging and dementia and a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University, where he is the director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. He has run a National Institutes of Health-funded laboratory for over twenty years and has published more than 140 studies on memory function and malfunction, research that has been covered by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time. His insight into Alzheimer’s disease recently led to the formation of Retromer Therapeutics, a new biotechnology company that he co-founded. Raised in Israel, he now lives in New York City.
Sociologist, Author of Seven Days in the Art World
-
DR. SARAH THORNTON is a sociologist who writes about art, design, people, and now bodies. Formerly the chief writer on contemporary art for The Economist, Thornton is the author of four books, including her bestselling Seven Days in the Art World. Once hailed as “Britain’s hippest academic,” Thornton is now based in San Francisco and better known as “the Jane Goodall of the art world.” She was a scholar-in-residence at the University of California, Berkeley, for three years while writing her forthcoming book, Tits Up: What Sex Workers, Milk Bankers, Plastic Surgeons, Bra Designers, and Witches Tell Us about Breasts. Tits Up will be published by WW Norton on May 7, 2024.