Around the Institute

Young Adult Forum at the 2016 Aspen Ideas Festival

June 27, 2016  • Youth Leadership Programs & Rachel Sverdlove

At the 2016 Aspen Ideas Festival, the Youth & Engagement Programs team hosted the first ever Young Adult Forum. Young people from all over the Roaring Fork Valley, the United States, and the world engaged in an afternoon of dialogue with some of the brightest minds on the Ideas Festival stage. The Forum was an afternoon of Big Ideas for young people: an interactive afternoon that included debates, performances, poetry, presentations and interactive sessions. The Forum tackled questions like how do non-conformists move the world? Participants considered empowerment issues like how to use the Youth Voice to start a movement, and discussed why the youth vote is so critical. Professors, poets, scholars, activities, writers and legislators spent an afternoon with our young people to spark new ideas and inspire action.