TED Fellows Program

TED Fellows Program
Name	TED Fellows Program
Type	Fellowship program
Founded	2009
Founder	Rihanna
Location	Vancouver, Long Beach, California
Key people	Chris Anderson (entrepreneur), Patricia-Anne Glaser
Parent organization	TED (conference)

Contents

TED Fellows Program

The TED Fellows Program is an initiative associated with TED (conference) that supports a global cohort of innovators, artists, scientists, activists, entrepreneurs, and practitioners. The program connects fellows with networks, resources, and speaking platforms tied to TED Prize, TEDx, TED Global, TED Senior Fellows and other TED initiatives. Fellows participate in conferences, workshops, and mentorships that intersect with institutions such as Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, University of Oxford and cultural organizations like The Kennedy Center and Smithsonian Institution.

Overview

The TED Fellows Program selects diverse individuals from fields represented by Nobel Prize, MacArthur Fellowship, Pulitzer Prize, Turner Prize, and Fields Medal recipients. Fellows have included figures who collaborate with NASA, World Health Organization, World Bank, United Nations, and International Monetary Fund—linking creative practice to international institutions. The program is linked to TED’s speaker pipelines, including appearances at TED Conference, TEDGlobal, TEDWomen, TEDYouth, and TEDMED stages, and benefits from partnerships with cultural venues like Bolshoi Theatre and media outlets such as The New York Times and BBC.

Launched in the late 2000s alongside expansions of TED Conference programming, the fellows program grew in parallel with TED’s broader initiatives including TED Prize and TEDx. Early cohorts included participants who later partnered with entities such as National Geographic Society, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, and Rockefeller Foundation. Over successive years the program adapted to technological shifts driven by platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and to policy environments influenced by events such as Paris Agreement negotiations and initiatives like Sustainable Development Goals. The program has staged gatherings in locations tied to TEDGlobal events, including Edinburgh and Vancouver.

Prospective fellows are typically nominated or apply via processes coordinated by TED (conference) staff and selection panels composed of alumni, curators, and advisors connected to institutions like Royal Society, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and philanthropic entities such as Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Selection criteria emphasize demonstrated impact comparable to awardees of MacArthur Fellowship or Rhodes Scholarship, and trajectories visible alongside affiliates of BlackRock, Google, Apple Inc., and leading research centers at California Institute of Technology and Imperial College London. Finalists may be evaluated by metrics used by organizations like Forbes, Nature (journal), and Science (journal).

The program provides speaking opportunities at TED Conference and linked events such as TEDx salons, mentorship from TED curators and alumni, and introductions to funders and partners including Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and venture entities like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. Fellows gain access to production teams experienced with outlets like NPR, PBS, and HBO, as well as collaboration spaces modeled on labs at MIT Media Lab and Harvard Innovation Labs. Support often includes travel stipends, workshop curricula informed by practitioners from IDEO, Frog Design, and McKinsey & Company, and media training comparable to programs at The New Yorker and Vanity Fair.

Alumni have included individuals who later appeared on stages with figures such as Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Elon Musk, Malala Yousafzai, and Jane Goodall; partnered with organizations like Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, Greenpeace, and World Wildlife Fund; or received major honors including Pulitzer Prize, Oscar Award, and Tony Award. Fellows’ projects have catalyzed collaborations with research centers at Johns Hopkins University, Salk Institute, Wellcome Trust, and cultural institutions such as Museum of Modern Art and Tate Modern. The program’s network effect has helped incubate startups that secured funding from Y Combinator and partnerships with corporations like Microsoft and Amazon.

Critiques of the program echo broader debates about TED, including concerns raised in analyses by The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The Guardian regarding curatorial selection, commercialization, and the amplification of individuals with privileged networks tied to entities like Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Blackstone (company). Critics cite potential inequities compared with award systems such as Rhodes Scholarship and question influence dynamics resembling those scrutinized around major donors to Smithsonian Institution and Guggenheim Museum. Defenders point to collaborations with humanitarian organizations including Oxfam and CARE International and to fellowship outcomes documented in reports by World Economic Forum and Brookings Institution.