The 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival starts Sunday at 4 p.m. Among other events on Sunday evening, journalist and festival curator Tina Brown is scheduled to engage in a discussion with political talk show host and comedian Bill Maher.
Aspen Ideas runs through June 29. “Bright minds for dark times.” That’s the theme of the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival, which begins with opening remarks on Sunday afternoon.
Session 1 kicks into high gear Monday through Wednesday and Session 2 happens Wednesday through Saturday. Scientists, artists, educators, historians, politicians, activists and some of the greatest minds in the world will gather on the campus at the Aspen Institute this week to present, debate, and discuss the most important ideas and issues of our time. Aspen Ideas is the flagship program of the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.
C., whose mission is to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues and helping to “solve the most important challenges facing the United States and the world,” as its website says. Graham Vesey has been with the festival since 2009 and is in his first year as executive director-producer of the event.
“I think that there is an opportunity to bring people together who are doing things in their communities that give us serious hope,” Vesey said. “We bring in the brightest minds who play such an important role in driving humanity. We find the people who are addressing.
