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A previously retired, hobby genetic genealogist helps catch a serial killer. Though it sounds like a procedural on TNT, for Barbara Rae-Venter it’s a true story. And unlikely, cross-disciplinary, post-career reinvention stories are exactly what Dent is all about.

Barbara Rae-Venter helped catch the Golden State Killer. At the 2019 Dent conference, she told us the (binge-worthy) story. 

And she’ll be back attending Dent 2020, in Santa Fe, March 22nd-25^th 2020.

Barbara had gotten a Ph.d in Biology early in her life, but then went on to become a patent lawyer, specializing in biotech. When she retired, she expected to be“working on [her] tennis game” and dabbling in some genealogy research. After successfully volunteering to help an adoptee find their birth parent, she began to get approached by law enforcement asking for her help, including Paul Holes, the detective working on the Golden State Killer case.

After creating a profile of the perpetrator (blue eyes, likely balding, etc) Barbara cross-referenced DNA from the crime scene with DNA uploaded to an online service to construct a family tree. By looking for ancestors of the perpetrator, she was able to narrow the field to a few suspects. And abracadabra, only one had blue eyes: Joseph James DeAngelo. In 2019, He was arrested and charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.

Through this work, Barbara created a new field: Investigative Genetic Genealogy. Since then, Barbara has been featured as one of Nature’s 10, Time’s 100 Most Influential People, and a profile in The New York Times. She’s gone on to help solve more cases, including the recently solved “Clearfield Rapist” case.

In addition to speaking at Dent 2019, Barbara is a Dent Passport member (learn more about Dent Passport here.) Every quarter, we send Passport members a book. This quarter, we all read Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. In Range, David J. Epstein describes“slow bakers” or“late specializers:” people who dabble and experiment in a variety of practices before becoming “elite.” Though there is a fetishization of prodigies and hyper-specificity, (Gladwell’s 10,000 hours for example) Epstein’s research reveals that generalism can triumph.

The theme of Dent 2020 is “Reinvention.” Too many cultural myths tell us that“dents in the universe”are the dominion of the young, the myopic, and the prodigies. Barbara’s journey is a powerful counter-narrative: Broad curiosity, hobbies, and dabbling pays off. It’s never too late to make a new dent in the universe.

Apply for Dent 2020 here.

We’re kicking off the Dent 2020 conference with a party at Meow Wolf, Santa Fe’s world-changing arts collective making a big dent in the worlds of the arts, startups, and plenty in between.

Our Dent 2020 theme is reinvention – and what better way than to experience how the interactive art of Meow Wolf while you get to know your fellow attendees (and enjoy some excellent music). A few more reasons why you won’t want to miss this private party:

First, Dent celebrates the boundary-pushers, the innovators, and the weirdos. Meow Wolf has revolutionized the relationship between art and commerce, inaugurated the experience economy, and (let’s not forget) made some really weird, really cool art. Let’s get inspired by them – and see how these reinventions might apply to our work.

Second, Meow Wolf is constantly sold out! The lines are long and it’s hard to get a ticket. We’ve bought the place out for an exclusive evening so you get to experience it without the crowds and hassle.

Finally, we know that sometimes the best things about Dent aren’t onstage. They’re at 10 PM, or on the (wine) bus, or in the line for lunch. There’s no better place to make new friends than while playing a laser harp, sitting on a sofa embedded in the roots of a technicolor forest tree, or putting your heads in a tube that forces you to look at another person instead of your phone (to foster human connection). Like going to (a really trippy, meticulously crafted) summer camp, you’ll make deep friends fast at Meow Wolf + Dent 2020.  

If you’re not already signed up to attend Dent 2020 in Santa Fe, March 22-25, 2020, what are you waiting for? Apply to attend here.

Denters are quirky. Denters are curious. Denters are going to be excited about a collective dedicated to outsider creatives, a cave made out of sparkles,  and a start-up leading the “experience economy.”

Meow Wolf began in 2008 as a collective of starving artists who wanted to serve as an alternative to the Santa Fe art establishment. The average age in Santa Fe leans older, so there weren’t a lot of young hipsters throwing dance parties in warehouses. And while there’s a long history of art in Santa Fe (most notably, Georgia O’Keefe’s house and museum), it hasn’t recently been considered a hub for experimental work.

While we might think of Brooklyn or Berlin as the breeding grounds for really out there art, Meow Wolf serves as one of the most notable creative studios. They began by literally dumpster-diving: transforming whatever they could find into installations, initially in an abandoned hair salon. They were a scrappy, somewhat anarchic collective.

Meow Wolf devoted themselves to “immersive” art—or works that not only create interaction with patrons, but surround them and engulf them. Immersive work breaks down the traditional boundaries between artist and audience: the theatrical “fourth wall” or the pesky “no touching” rules at traditional art museums.

Come 2015, Santa Fe resident and Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin teamed up with the Meow Wolf collective, buying an abandoned bowling alley to host the company’s flagship permanent exhibition, The House of Eternal Return. You’ll walk through the back of a refrigerator, look for clues in a washing machine, and walk through a neon forest while freely roaming a 20,000 square foot space searching for clues in a non-linear science-fiction narrative.

House of Eternal Return became a smash hit. In the first year, it tripled its projected revenue, with patrons waiting in sometimes three-hour lines on weekends. Buoyed by the success of “The House” The company has attracted investor funding and now has nine-figure valuation.

With permanent projects opened or soon-to-be-opened in Denver, DC, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, Meow Wolf is beginning to sweep the nation. In Santa Fe, you’ll see where it all began.   

Meow Wolf has made a Dent in the universe. And we want you to join us there. Apply for Dent 2020 here.

Want to get a feel for what it’s like to live in space for months at a time? Ted.com just posted a talk Dent board member Cady Coleman gave on their main stage recently.

The best part? You guessed it, the flying:

My favorite part about living up there was the flying. I loved it. It was like being Peter Pan. It’s not about floating. Just the touch of a finger can actually push you across the entire space station, and then you sort of tuck in with your toes. One of my favorite things was drifting silently through the space station, which was humming along at night. I wondered sometimes if it knew I was there, just silent. But sharing the wonder of that with the crew was also part of what was important to me.

Cady and several Dent Passport members just returned from another near-weightless environment — undersea. We recently visited our friends in Florida who manage the astronaut training facility Aquarius Reef Base. Cady spent 11 days living underwater there prior to her trip to the ISS. While in Florida, we all went on a coral planting expedition hosted by the Coral Restoration Foundation.