If you haven’t seen or read about the Tom Tom Founder’s Festival, now would be a good time to start. Inspired by South by Southwest (SXSW), it aspires to be something it seems Charlottesville has not yet seen. Offering various tracks from biotech startup to a locavore expo to Charlottesville as a startup hub, there’s something for any and everyone interested in being and becoming involved in Charlottesville.

(what’s this have to do with Charlottesville real estate? Nothing other than this is but one more thing that makes living in Charlottesville fantastic … if one can make time to participate and get involved. “Real estate” is about life and lifestyle. This Festival looks to complement and accentuate life in Charlottesville – for the better)

Have a look at their various Tracks –

– TTFF’s Music Track

– TTFF’s Arts Track

– TTFF’s “City as a Canvas” Track

– And then there’s the Tom Tom Founders Festival Music Track offering a remarkable lineup of music.

– The one about which I’m most excited – TTFF’s Innovation Track, in which they seek to explore Place Based Innovation, something about which I think Charlottesville really does (and should) excel. The Sustainable Design panel looks to be exceptional:

Our “Place Based Innovation” continues with an acknowledgement of the ways the well-being of future generations will be built on this generation’s choices. Charlottesville is home to groundbreaking pioneers looking at design, infrastructure, and resource development. These decisions not only help achieve ecological and cultural diversity; they help us stay productive. This discussion focuses on local innovations in sustainable design and product development, revealing the successes and barriers to increasing sustainable practices in our community.



Panelists:


Oliver Kutner, CEO and Founder of Edison2


Joey Conover, CFO of Latitude 38, LEED Professional


Andrew Greene, Sustainability Planner at the University of Virginia


Teri Kent, Founder of Better World Betty and the Better Business Challenge

I think this from Charlottesville Tomorrow’s report sums up a lot about Charlottesville and Albemarle:

A number of the speakers noted that Charlottesville has a variety of resources that could be better leveraged for social benefits.

“Charlottesville is such a great place to live, a paradise,” Nguyen said. “But the problem with a paradise is you can get complacent when you don’t have the pain to get you to do things.”

“Charlottesville has all the energy and talent to make this a great community for everyone, we just need to harness it,” Brown concluded.

* I’m not really sure what relevance the buffalo represents.