Comedy Show to Honor Tech Trailblazer
A comedy show next week in Indianapolis will raise money for cancer research in the name of a trailblazer in the city’s tech scene. Comedy Against Cancer will celebrate the life of Denver Hutt, the former executive director of The Speak Easy in Indy who passed away from cancer in 2016. Proceeds from the event, which is being headlined by Indianapolis native Megan Gailey, will benefit immunotherapy research at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center.
Myles Grote, co-founder and chief product officer at Indy-based tech company Upper Hand and one of the event’s organizers, told Inside INdiana Business Reporter Mary-Rachel Redman about the goals of the event.
"The main goal is really to remember Denver," said Grote. "Denver’s family jumped on board and approved this; I wanted to get their buy-in before we moved forward with it. That was really number one is just to not forget what Denver…the impact that she had on the tech community, but also the Indianapolis community. You know, Team Denver when she was fighting her battle with cancer was a really big inspiration for a lot of people."
Grote says Hutt was one of the people to drive the growth of the tech community in Indianapolis. A few months after her passing, Hutt was posthumously awarded the first-ever Community Champion of the Year Award at the TechPoint Mira Awards, which honors the "Best in Tech" annually.
Grote says he hopes to turn the show into an annual event.
"Honestly, in future years, I hope it’s even bigger. Hotel Tango (Artisan Distillery) is hosting the event and we can host, I think, about 120-130 people. I see this event growing every single year and becoming somewhat of a staple in the tech community. In future years, I really hope that the awareness and the buy-in from the tech community is even bigger but this first year, it’s been really solid so I think we’ve got a lot of room to grow and I see the tech community continuing to rally behind it in the future."
You can learn more about the event by clicking here.