Aspen Ideas Festival Announces New Programming Plans for 20th Festival; Passes Available Now

November 20, 2023

Celebrating 20 years, the Aspen Ideas Festival returns to the Rocky Mountains from June 23-29 in partnership with NBCUniversal News Group, guest curated by celebrated journalist, editor, and author Tina Brown

Aspen, CO & Washington, DC, November 20, 2023 – The Aspen Ideas Festival today shared new details about plans for the 2024 event, presented in an exclusive editorial and media partnership with NBCUniversal News Group with programming curated by Tina Brown. Passes for the 20th Festival are on sale now with an early bird discount of 20% when passes are purchased before December 31, 2023. Members of the media who plan on covering the festival are also invited to apply for press credentials to attend. 

The festival is opened by Aspen Ideas: Health from June 20-23, followed by Aspen Ideas Festival 1 from June 23-26, and Aspen Ideas Festival 2 from June 26-29. The festival is organized by the Aspen Institute in the third year of its partnership with NBCUniversal News Group. As part of an ongoing editorial and production collaboration, NBC News, CNBC, MSNBC and Noticias Telemundo journalists will create and moderate informative and engaging conversations throughout the festival. NBCUniversal News Group will further extend the reach of the festival to audiences across the news organization’s wide-reaching broadcast, cable, digital, audio and streaming platforms.

“Aspen Ideas Festival 2024 is a thrilling opportunity to bring to the stage conversations that illuminate from the global thinkers and storytellers who excite me,” said Tina Brown, guest curator of the 2024 festival.

“We look forward to collaborating with the Aspen Institute on the 2024 slate for Aspen Ideas Festival and building off the successes we’ve had in producing impactful and thought-provoking conversations led by our premier journalists across the NBCUniversal News Group,” said Satpal Brainch, Chief Business Officer of NBCUniversal News Group.

The overarching theme of the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival is “Bright Minds for Dark Times,” in which more than 300 speakers will gather with attendees and fellows to make sense of an era of transformation and turbulence unfolding at breakneck speed. At every turn, societies, professions, social norms, and political systems are being disrupted or reimagined. But even as we confront existential dangers, we are sustained by the creative thinkers ablaze with groundbreaking ideas and imaginative solutions who confirm our best impulses and lead us to new understanding.

The programming is aligned around the unique accomplishments and perspectives of invited speakers rather than traditional subject themes. On the Aspen Institute’s historic 40-acre campus, the festival is assembling:

  • Truth Tellers: journalists, activists, and heroes
  • Culture Shapers: authors, artists, filmmakers, historians 
  • Decision Makers: global leaders, politicians, and policymakers
  • Wealth Builders: business leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, and champions of economic mobility
  • Soul Savers: leaders in the spheres of faith, wellness, lifestyle, happiness, family and caregiving
  • Peacemakers: promoters of reconciliation in racial, social, and global conflict
  • Game Changers: innovators at the forefront of AI, tech, urban futures, climate; as well as explorers of land, sea, and space 
  • Explainers of Now: thinkers, philosophers, educators, behavioral scientists, and futurists

In the coming months, organizers will share more information about speakers and the festival experience, including a refreshed plan for evening programming and celebrations to toast the 20th edition. 

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The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

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