Backstage Pass:
Conversations, Connections, and Curiosity

Step behind the red circle and join our Backstage Pass community online engagement series. 

This series is designed to bring our audience closer to the heart of what makes TEDxAsheville so special: the people, the ideas, and the pulse of our mountain town. Whether you’ve been in the audience, on the stage, or in the wings, this is a chance to reconnect and reimagine what TEDxAsheville can be together.

What to expect.

  • Intimate interviews with past speakers

  • Interactive activities and audience prompts

  • Access to Application Information Sessions

  • Insights from the TEDxAsheville team

  • Curated clips and reflections on recent TED/TEDx talks

Join us for the first installment with co-hosts Brett A McCall and TEDxAsheville Lead Coordinator, Barrie Barton for a live interview with Spenser Simrill, and special guest Michael Simril.

Where & when.

On ZOOM. No charge.

Tuesday, July 1 @ 7:30 PM

Register HERE.

Born on Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia—Dr. Spenser Simrill Jr, is the creator of the Once Removed podcast and a TEDxAsheville speaker on racial healing. His research has informed reconciliation efforts in Northern Ireland, Liberia, and across the American South—culminating in the first historical marker in South Carolina to mention the Ku Klux Klan.

His work has appeared on CNN’s The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, Audible Originals, The New York Times, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone. His students have won multiple national awards, including two top honors in The New York Times Best Student Podcast Contest. He lives with his family in Arden, North Carolina, and teaches at Christ School. 

Michael Simril is a musician, community organizer, barber, and stylist. He hails from Rock Hill, South Carolina—his ancestral home.

During the Revolutionary War, his enslaved forebears made cannonballs for the Patriot army. During Reconstruction, they testified against the Ku Klux Klan in federal court, then migrated to Liberia, West Africa.

Michael’s story has been featured on CNN’s The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, the Audible Original podcast Once Removed, and in a TEDx talk on racial healing. In his free time, he enjoys genealogy, fishing, meditation, and spending time with his children and grandchildren.