Charlotte SHOUT! Convergence with Noelle Russell

Join us as we launch Charlotte SHOUT! with an unforgettable evening celebrating the festival's four vibrant pillars: food, music, arts and ideas. This kickoff at the newly renovated Carolina Theatre will set the stage for two weeks of creativity, culture and community. The evening will culminate with the official launch of the Charlotte Ideas Festival, featuring an enlightening and timely keynote presentation by AI leader Noelle Russell on the crucial intersection of innovation and ethics. 

Noelle Russell is a multi-award-winning technologist who specializes in helping companies with Cloud, Data and AI transformation. She has led teams at NPR, Microsoft, IBM, Accenture, AWS and Amazon Alexa, and is a consistent champion for AI literacy.

The evening will also feature Boris “Bluz” Rogers, an Emmy Award-winning poet and author known for his powerful storytelling; Sainted Trap Choir, a Charlotte-based group blending gospel, R&B, hip-hop and trap music to celebrate Southern church culture through music, fashion and art; and Will White, a multifaceted artist specializing in fashion design and fashion illustration. Will was a semifinalist on Season 17 of Project Runway.