The Aspen Institute

Aspen Ideas Festival Ticket Sales For Public Events Begin June 18

Washington DC, June 17, 2008––The Aspen Institute announces that single tickets for the Aspen Ideas Festival go on sale starting June 18, giving the public at large an opportunity to join in the conversation. The Ideas Festival, held on June 30-July 6, 2008, and run in partnership with The Atlantic, convenes more than 250 leaders from the fields of arts, science, culture, religion, philosophy, economics and politics in a deep and inquisitive public discourse on the most invigorating ideas and issues facing the world today.

Even though Aspen Ideas Festival passes are sold out, a number of sessions—from film screenings to breakfast discussions to in-depth lunch conversations—will be open to the community, starting at just $15 per ticket. A full schedule for these public events is available at aifestival.org, and tickets go on sale starting June 18 through the Wheeler Opera House at (970) 920-5770 and www.aspenshowtickets.com, or in person at the Wheeler box office.

Highlights of Ideas Festival sessions open to the public (tickets required) include:

• US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff in conversation with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg
• Alice Waters in conversation with The Atlantic’s Corby Kummer, with dessert served from her cookbook
• Award-winning National Geographic photographer James Balog exploring ice on the run in his “Extreme Ice Survey”
• A global perspective on the US elections from Der Tagesspiegel’s Christoph von Marschall, Ha’aretz’s Ari Shavit, Edward Luce of the Financial Times, and others
• A talk with four young, resilient survivors of genocide, war, and gang violence, moderated by playwright and actor Anna Deavere Smith
• An evening of discussion and performance with singer and songwriter Steve Earle and Studio 360’s Kurt Andersen
• Damian Woetzel, principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, and Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, discussing the surprising benefits of arts education for people of all ages
• A dialogue with Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and columnist for the New York Times
• A film screening of HBO’s The Gates with the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude—one of a series of films and discussions that includes Darfur Now, a documentary about the catastrophe unfolding in the Sudan; Two Million Minutes, a look inside the schools, homes, and hangouts of high school students in China, India, and the US; Brick Lane, a contemporary story of love, cultural difference, and ultimately, the strength of the human spirit; and more.

Other leading speakers that will be participating in sessions open to the public include Majora Carter of Sustainable South Bronx; Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig; actress Tyne Daly; Green for All founder Van Jones; Atlantic Media Political Director Ronald Brownstein; the philosopher Swami Parthasarathy; Segway inventor Dean Kamen; Debi Brooks, co-founder of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research; and Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent for The Atlantic, among many others. Sessions open to he public represent a sampling of the Ideas Festival program tracks, from Climate and Sustainability; Global Dynamics; Religion and the Modern World; American Experience; Global Commerce and the World Economy; and Medicine 2025 to Children and Education; Arts and Culture; The Net Generation; Food, Fuel and Famine; India; and Innovation and Technology.

Extending the dialogue from Aspen to a global audience, daily video highlights from the Ideas Festival will also be posted at www.aifestival.org, and event updates will be featured at www.twitter.com/aspeninstitute and www.facebook.com/pages/The-Aspen-Institute/34493700340.

“In this fourth summer of the Aspen Ideas Festival, we’re immensely pleased that we have gathered together so many new presenters and exciting new topics to address,” said Kitty Boone, Director of Public Programs and Vice President of the Aspen Institute. “We’re glad we can share these experiences broadly through our website and events open to the public.”

For more information about other events open to the public, a complete list of confirmed speakers, and passholder information, please visit www.aifestival.org. Sponsors for the 2008 Aspen Ideas Festival include Allstate, Altria, Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, Chevron, Ernst & Young, Intel, JPMorgan, Mercedes-Benz, and Thomson Reuters.

The Aspen Institute, founded in 1950, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership development initiatives, the Institute and its international partners seek to promote nonpartisan inquiry and an appreciation for timeless values. The Institute is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River near the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Its international network includes partner Aspen Institutes in Berlin, Rome, Lyon, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Bucharest, and leadership initiatives in Africa, Central America, and India.

Since it was founded 150 years ago, The Atlantic has helped shape the national debate on the most critical issues of our times, from politics, business, and the economy, to technology, arts, and culture. The Atlantic’s parent enterprise, Atlantic Media Company, is a Washington, D.C., based publishing company whose flagship properties include The Atlantic, National Journal, and Government Executive. With more than 3 million readers among the ranks of business, politics, government and academia, the publishing properties of Atlantic Media enjoy a prestigious reputation, acquired through 150 years of publishing top-quality American literature and journalism.

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