Chelsea is building a stage for its biggest ideas.
TEDxBellingham Square has officially opened speaker applications for TEDxBellingham Square: Pa’lante — Moving Forward Together, Chelsea’s first-ever TEDx event, taking place March 6, 2027, at Chelsea High School. The independently organized TEDx event will platform up to ten speakers with bold, original ideas.
The call for ideas comes at a defining moment for Chelsea. Nearly half of Chelsea residents are foreign-born, three in four households rent their homes, and every census tract in the city bears environmental burdens greater than most communities nationwide.
“Chelsea has never had a shortage of extraordinary ideas — we’ve had a shortage of platforms big enough to carry them,” said JAKE Small, Founder and Head Organizer of TEDxBellingham Square, as well as a member of the Chelsea School Committee. “Some of the ideas capable of changing Greater Boston, Massachusetts, and maybe even the world are already being lived and imagined in communities like ours. Now we’re asking people to step forward and tell us what theirs is.”
As Chelsea plans for its next chapter, Small said TEDxBellingham Square is asking the people who live these realities every day: What ideas could help us build a future where everyone can stay, belong, and thrive? What could environmental justice look like in a city confronting extreme heat, flooding, and generations of pollution? How do we create pathways to opportunity — through education, entrepreneurship, arts and culture, and economic mobility — that allow the people already here to shape what Chelsea becomes next?
TEDxBellingham Square is looking for people who reflect Chelsea itself — across generations, cultures, neighborhoods, professions, and lived experiences — and who have an idea bold enough to change how we see our community or the world.
“When I think about what it means for Chelsea to host our first TEDx event, I think about where this city has been and where we’re headed,” said Chelsea City Manager Fidel Maltez. “This isn’t the finish line – it’s a mile marker showing the incredible progress this community continues to make each day. It tells our residents, our businesses, and our partners across the region that Chelsea is a place where things are happening.”
The inaugural theme reflects the possibility, resilience, creativity, and collective imagination of Chelsea. TEDxBellingham Square is being built as a community effort, with partnership from the City of Chelsea and Chelsea Public Schools, which will host the inaugural event at Chelsea High School.
“We are proud that Chelsea Public Schools can help TEDxBellingham Square create a platform that celebrates learning, inspires possibility, and moves Chelsea forward together,” said Chelsea Superintendent of Schools Dr. Almi Abeyta.
Small said TEDxBellingham Square is intentionally casting a wide net. A compelling applicant might be a student, educator, artist, entrepreneur, researcher, organizer, public servant, or community member whose work or lived experience has led them to see something differently. Applicants will be considered primarily on the strength and originality of their idea and their connection to it, rather than their resume or previous speaking experience. Selected speakers will receive coaching and support to develop their idea into a TEDx talk.
Speaker applications are now open at TEDxBellinghamSquare.com.
“For Chelsea’s young people and families, TEDxBellingham Square is a creative space to showcase visionaries and the wealth of knowledge that exists in our city,” said Chelsea School Committee Vice Chair Kati Cabral. “Each speaker will speak life into their lines!”