Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.

Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder

Aspen Institute Announces Pittsburgh as Inaugural Host for Aspen Ideas Encore

New convening will bring the spirit and breadth of the Aspen Ideas Festival to Pittsburgh in September 2027, with critical seed funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and support from business, civic, and nonprofit leaders throughout the region.

Washington, DC and Pittsburgh, PA, October 21, 2026 — The Aspen Institute today announced the launch of Aspen Ideas Encore: Pittsburgh, a new three-day convening that will, for the first time, extend the distinctive spirit, intellectual curiosity, and breadth of the Aspen Ideas Festival beyond its longtime home in Aspen, Colorado to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The gathering will take place in September 2027, welcoming approximately 800–1,000 participants and nearly 100 local, national, and global speakers to the city.

For more than two decades, the Aspen Ideas Festival has brought together leaders and thinkers spanning business, government, science, technology, academia, journalism, arts and culture, and civil society to engage across perspectives, challenge assumptions, and explore ideas that help us understand today and shape tomorrow.

Aspen Ideas Encore represents the next chapter of that tradition, beginning with the city of Pittsburgh. It will bring the multidisciplinary character of the flagship Festival into communities around the country and pair Aspen’s convening experience with the ideas, people, institutions, and character of the host city. Leaders from around the region, country and world will be invited to experience Pittsburgh, engage with its people and institutions, and consider what Pittsburgh’s evolution can model for other communities.

“For more than 20 years, the Aspen Ideas Festival has demonstrated the extraordinary things that can happen when we bring people together with curiosity and a willingness to engage seriously with ideas and with one another,” said Maria Acebal, Interim President and CEO of the Aspen Institute. “Aspen Ideas Encore gives us an exciting opportunity to carry that tradition into new communities. Pittsburgh—with its history of reinvention, its culture of innovation, and its remarkable civic institutions—is an ideal place to begin.”

“Our ambition is not just to bring an Aspen Ideas event to Pittsburgh, but to create one meaningfully of Pittsburgh,” said Jinhee Kim, Executive Vice President of Public Events and Engagement at the Aspen Institute. “We know what makes an Aspen Ideas experience distinctive, and Pittsburgh knows Pittsburgh. By bringing those strengths together, we have an extraordinary opportunity to create a convening that is intellectually ambitious, deeply connected to place, and a true extension of our flagship Ideas convening.”

Aspen Ideas Encore: Pittsburgh is made possible through the early support of the Richard King Mellon Foundation, which has provided founding support to the new initiative. In addition to providing the lead philanthropic investment to launch Encore, the Foundation has played a formative role in welcoming the Aspen Institute into Pittsburgh, connecting the Institute with civic, philanthropic, business, academic, cultural, and sports leaders across the region, including the office of Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins. The Foundation has helped to establish the Founding Advisory Council that will inform the development of Encore, with critical leadership from co-chairs Sam Reiman and Seán Sebastian.

Members of the Founding Advisory Council include:

  • Sam Reiman, Director and Trustee, Richard King Mellon Foundation  
  • Seán Sebastian, Partner, Birchmere Ventures
  • Alison Beam, Senior Vice President and Chief Government Affairs Officer, UPMC
  • Gregg Behr, Executive Director, Grable Foundation
  • Kenya Boswell, President, Highmark Foundation
  • Eric Boughner, Chairman, BNY Pennsylvania & Regional President, BNY Wealth
  • Lou Cestello, Executive Vice President, Head of Regional Presidents and Regional President of Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania for PNC Bank
  • Chris DeCardy, President, The Heinz Endowments
  • Joan Gabel, Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh
  • Bill Generett, President and CEO, The Pittsburgh Foundation
  • Dan Gilman, Chief of Staff for Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor
  • Gabriella Gonzalez, Program Officer, Richard King Mellon Foundation
  • Kendra Ingram, President and CEO, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
  • Gerardo Interiano, Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs, Aurora
  • Farnam Jahanian, President, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Sally McCrady, Executive Vice President and Director of Community Affairs, PNC Bank
  • Bob Nutting, Principal Owner and Chairman of the Board, Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Dan Onorato, Executive Vice President, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Highmark Health
  • Tricia O’Reilly, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Dave Roger, President and Director, Hillman Family Foundations
  • Jeff Solomon, Special Advisor and Vice Chair, TD Bank U.S. and Board Member UPMC

This council and early partnerships will be instrumental in ensuring that the inaugural gathering is shaped with Pittsburgh from the beginning and reflects the people, ideas, and institutions that make the city distinctive.

A Festival of Ideas and of Place

Programming for Aspen Ideas Encore: Pittsburgh is in development. Initial areas of exploration include workforce and economic development; technology and artificial intelligence; industry; healthcare; and artistic innovation.

Across these areas, Encore will bring together established and emerging voices from Pittsburgh and beyond to examine questions with both local resonance and national and global significance. Programming will include plenary conversations and more intimate discussions alongside unique place-based experiences.

Pittsburgh Helping Shape Encore from the Beginning

“This is an incredible opportunity to showcase a Pittsburgh that the country may think it knows, but that continues to evolve in remarkable ways. Aspen Ideas Encore: Pittsburgh will allow us not only to welcome some of the world’s most interesting thinkers and leaders to our city, but to put Pittsburgh’s own ideas, institutions, and people into conversation with them. We are enormously proud that Pittsburgh has been chosen as the place where this new Aspen Ideas chapter will begin,” stated co-chairs Sam Reiman and SeánSebastian.

Additional information about programming, speakers, venues, partnerships, and opportunities to attend Aspen Ideas Encore: Pittsburgh will be announced in the coming months.

About Aspen Ideas

For more than two decades, the Aspen Ideas Festival has brought together thousands of leaders, thinkers, and attendees in Aspen, Colorado to explore the ideas and issues shaping our world. Through conversations spanning public affairs, business, science, technology, culture, the arts, and more, Aspen Ideas creates opportunities for curiosity, discovery, dialogue, and connection.

About the Aspen Institute

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.

Media Contact:

Jon Purves, Aspen Institute, [email protected]
Tim Reeves, Richard King Mellon Foundation, [email protected]