2010 Overview 2009 AnnuAl repOrt - The Aspen Institute

Aspen Ideas Festival
www.aifestival.org
This annual event in partnership with The Atlantic gathers
together some of the world’s foremost academic,
political, scientific, business, and cultural leaders for a
week-long exchange of ideas on the Institute’s Aspen,
Colorado, campus. Lectures and panel discussions address
wide-ranging topics, including some of the most
pressing issues of the day.
Washington Ideas Forum
www.firstdraftofhistory.theatlantic.com
The Institute and partner The Atlantic host an annual
action-packed two days of interviews and conversations
at the Newseum in Washington, DC, pairing today’s
key newsmakers with the nation’s leading journalists in
an attempt to ask big questions, tease out overarching
themes, and together envision “a first draft of history.”
Aspen Writers’ Foundation
www.aspenwritersfoundation.org
This pioneering arts organization has been bringing
readers and writers together since 1976. Its repertoire of
year-round projects includes the Aspen Summer Words
Writing Retreat and Literary Festival; AWF Reads, a
televised book club; Lyrically Speaking, an interview and
concert series; Scribes and Scribblers, creative writing
camps for children; Story Swap, a cross-cultural storytelling
exchange; Weekly Writers Group, a read-and-critique
forum; Winter Words, an author reading series; and
Writers in the Schools, an educational outreach program.
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McCloskey Speaker Series
www.aspeninstitute.org/aspenevents
This summer program in Aspen features talks by leaders
who have a far-reaching impact on society. Past speakers
have included former Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright, former Speaker of the House of Representatives
Newt Gingrich, journalist Fareed Zakaria, American diplomat
Dennis Ross, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, and global
financier and philanthropist George Soros, among many
others. The series is made possible by a generous donation
from the McCloskey Family Charitable Foundation.
Roaring Fork Valley Community Programs
www.aspeninstitute.org/aspenevents
The Aspen Institute provides Aspen and the surrounding
Roaring Fork Valley with dozens of affordable and
inspiring public events that attract a cross-section of
community members, from high school students and
year-round residents to part-timers and visitors.
Aspen Environment Forum
www.aspenenvironment.org
This annual public convocation in partnership with
National Geographic convenes leaders in business,
government, science, nonprofit organizations, and the
media to exchange ideas, stimulate discussion, and raise
awareness about the relationship between the Earth’s two
most complex systems—human culture and the natural
environment. Topics include climate change, biodiversity,
conservation, energy, clean-technology innovations,
sustainable development, water and ocean resources, and
many other environmental and energy issues.
From left to right: Newark Mayor Cory Booker at a Tisch series event in New York; former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; US
Poet Laureate Kay Ryan at a Washington Ideas Roundtable discussion; Cardiac surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz at the 2009 Aspen Health Forum; NBC
News’ Brian Williams and Gen. David Petraeus at the Washington Ideas Forum; Comedian Lewis Black; Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Lisa Jackson at the 2009 Aspen Environment Forum; 2010 Aspen Institute Harman-Eisner Artist-in-Residence Tobias Wolff.
Bottom right: US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer poses a question at the Aspen Ideas Festival.